Disorder and photonics have long been seen as natural adversaries and designers of
optical systems have often driven systems to perfection by minimizing deviations from the …

Organic crystals are widely used by animals to manipulate light for producing structural
colors and for improving vision. To date only seven crystal types are known to be used, and …

Highly reflective crystals of the nucleotide base guanine are widely distributed in animal
coloration and visual systems. Organisms precisely control the morphology and organization …

Animals precisely control the morphology and assembly of guanine crystals to produce
diverse optical phenomena in coloration and vision. However, little is known about how …

Recently, the leading cause of preventable blindness is diabetic retinopathy (DR). Although
there are several undiagnosed and non-treated cases of DR, accurate and adequate retinal …

Plastic pollution is increasing dramatically worldwide, causing adverse effects on a wide
variety of marine organisms at all trophic levels. As predators, sharks play a key role in …

Pterins are one of the major sources of bright coloration in animals. They are produced
endogenously, participate in vital physiological processes and serve a variety of signalling …

Crystalline riboflavin (vitamin B2) performs an important biological role as an optically
functional material in the tapetum lucidum of certain animals, notably lemurs and cats. The …

Biological guanine crystals in organisms exhibit excellent optical properties and functions,
including broad-band and narrow-band reflectors, band-tunable reflectors, mirrors, and …

Biomineralization is an important strategy for constructing mineral materials with excellent
structure and properties. Organic biominerals exquisitely manipulate light, whereas …