Researchers at ETH Zurich have created a material traversed by a network of channels the size of micrometres in the same way as the microstructure of a bird's feather. To do so they have developed a ...

The iridescent shimmer that makes birds such as peacocks and hummingbirds so striking is rooted in a natural nanostructure so complex that people are only just beginning to replicate it ...

Female tanager birds dig flamboyant males. So to build plumage that really pops with orange or red or yellow, a male has to eat fruits and absorb their carotenoids. The fancy feathers he produces then ...

(Nanowerk News) The eastern bluebird is a special bird. The blue of its feathers is unique. However, this colour is not based on pigments but on the special structure of the feather. Viewed under the ...

Birds are pretty amazing creatures, and one of the most amazing things about them and their non-avian predecessors are feathers. Engineers and scientists are finding inspiration from them in ...

What makes a blue jay blue or a cardinal red? Color, a crucial element in nature, is most evident in the amazing hue and pattern variations in more than 10,000 bird species around the world. How birds ...

On the open savannas of East Africa, a flock of vulturine guinea fowl looks almost unreal. Bodies are patterned with crisp black and white lines. Chests and backs glow a deep, cobalt blue. Against the ...

The fashion world, in nature, is constantly changing! Birds are undergoing phenotypic transformations each time they fly back ...

The eastern bluebird is a special bird. The blue of its feathers is unique. However, this colour is not based on pigments but on the special structure of the feather. Viewed under the microscope, the ...

The researchers found an evolutionary tweak in feather nanostructure that has more than doubled the range of iridescent colors birds can display. This insight could help researchers understand how and ...