The sensitivity to light seems to correlate with the specialized skeletal structure of the dorsal arm plates (DAPs). These ossicles protect the upper part of each joint in brittlestar arms (Fig. 1c).

Beneath the ocean's surface, simple marine animals called sea sponges grow delicate glass skeletons that are as intricate as they are strong. These natural structures are made of a material called ...

Many living creatures build minerals into their organism so perfectly as to produce structures with truly astonishing properties. It is a combination of calcium carbonate (CaCO 3) and organic matter ...

Figure 1: Smart microlens using a pinned liquid–liquid interface. Here we use three hydrogels to produce the ‘smart’ attribute of the microlens, namely NIPAAm, a temperature-sensitive hydrogel, and AA ...

Microlenses have many applications, such as coupling light into fiber optics, enhancing light source uniformity in microdisplays, and focusing light onto imaging sensors in mobile phone cameras.

The surgeon carefully guides the endoscope through the patient's nasal cavity to the operation zone. It is a delicate procedure for which the surgeon has to prepare in detail before commencing the ...

(Nanowerk News) Researchers in Israel demonstrated a new technique for creating polymer microlenses. While current processes employed for manufacturing large microlens arrays are not compatible with ...

Bubble makers: Han Lin (left) and Baohua Jia at Swinburne’s Centre for Translational Atomaterials were involved in the microlens development. (Courtesy: Swinburne University of Technology) A new and ...

Photonic integrated circuits (PICs) are on the verge of significant disruption through the unlocking of novel applications. This success largely relies on advanced wafer-level miniaturized photonic ...

As a grape slowly dries and shrivels, its surface creases, ultimately taking on the wrinkled form of a raisin. Similar patterns can be found on the surfaces of other dried materials, as well as in ...

Researchers have developed new 3D-printed microlenses with adjustable refractive indices. This property gives them special light-focusing abilities. This achievement by the University of Illinois ...

Angewandte Chemie International Edition – Proteins in focus: Dynamically tunable protein microdevices were built up by a simple “top-down”, maskless, femtosecond laser direct writing approach with ...