brochosomes produced by leafhopper (IMAGE)
Caption
Pictured are brochosomes produced by leafhopper G. serpenta. Brochosomes are hollow, nanoscopic, buckyball-shaped spheroids with through-holes distributed across leafhoppers’ body surfaces. Lin Wang et al. studied the relationship between the optical properties and the geometric designs of the brochosomes. The authors found that the through-holes of these hollow buckyballs play an important role in reducing the reflection of light. This is the first biological example showing short wavelength, low-pass antireflection functionality enabled by through-holes and hollow structures.
Credit
Lin Wang and Tak-Sing Wong/Penn State
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License
CC BY-NC-ND