Page 123 - Biomimetics: Technology Imitates Nature

Harun Yahya

Peacock Feathers and Self-Changing Display Signs

In a peacock's feathers, the ker-
atin protein together with the
brown feather pigment melanin, the
only pigment these feathers con-
tain, allow light to refract so that we
can see the color. The light and dark
colors we see in feathers derive
from the directional layering of ker-
atin. Peacock feathers' exceedingly
bright hues stem from this structural feature.
Nature inspired one Japanese company to develop reusable display
signs, whose surfaces are structurally altered under ultraviolet light
which changes the materials’s crystalline alignment, thus eliminating cer-
tain colors so as to display the desired message. These signs can be used
over and over and imprinted with new images. This eliminates the cost of
producing new signs, as well as the need for using toxic paints. 83

121