{"id":10984,"date":"2018-01-10T05:39:26","date_gmt":"2018-01-10T05:39:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=10984"},"modified":"2018-01-11T05:45:35","modified_gmt":"2018-01-11T05:45:35","slug":"super-black-feathers-can-absorb-virtually-every-photon-of-light-that-hits-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/super-black-feathers-can-absorb-virtually-every-photon-of-light-that-hits-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Super-black feathers can absorb virtually every photon of light that hits them"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dakota McCoy<\/a>, Harvard University<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

What do birds and aerospace engineers have in common? Both have invented incredibly dark, \u201csuper-black\u201d surfaces that absorb almost every last bit of light that strikes them. <\/p>\n

Of course scientists worked intentionally to devise these materials. It\u2019s evolution that brought this amazing trait about in birds. My co-lead author Teresa Feo<\/a>, our colleagues Todd A. Harvey<\/a> and Rick Prum<\/a> and I recently investigated the super-black feathers<\/a> in some of the most outlandish animals on earth: the Birds of Paradise<\/a>.<\/p>\n

These are resplendent birds native to Papua New Guinea and surrounding areas. Males are brilliantly colored, with complicated mating dances. Females, who are drab and brown in comparison, carefully inspect the ornaments and dances of males before choosing their mate.<\/p>\n

We wanted to know more about these birds\u2019 super-black plumage and how it works. What mechanism do these feathers employ to be so effective at absorbing light?<\/p>\n

\n \"\"<\/a>
\n A male Superb Bird of Paradise displays his super-black and brilliant blue plumage to an onlooking female.<\/span>
\n Ed Scholes<\/span>, CC BY-ND<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fanciest feathers, under the microscope<\/h2>\n

The Birds of Paradise have evolved many remarkable traits, but none are more mysterious than the males\u2019 velvety black plumage.<\/p>\n

This black is so dark that your eyes cannot focus on its surface; it looks like a cave, or a fuzzy black hole in space. Using optical measurements, we found that these feather patches absorb up to 99.95 percent of directly incident light<\/a>. That\u2019s comparable to human-made very black materials such as solar panels, the lining of space telescopes, and even the \u201cblackest black\u201d material: Vantablack<\/a>, which absorbs 99.96 percent of light.<\/p>\n

\n \"\"<\/a>
\n On the left, a normal black feather from a Lesser Melampitta. On the right, a super-black feather from the Paradise Riflebird.<\/span>
\n Dakota McCoy<\/span>, CC BY-ND<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Normal feathers are flat, and look like fractals; when you zoom in using a microscope, each branch of the feather looks like a tiny, flat feather. Under a powerful scanning electron microscope, we were surprised to see that the super-black feathers look like miniature coral reefs, bottle brushes or trees with tightly packed leaves.<\/p>\n

These tiny, specially shaped bits stick up to form a jagged, complex surface; together they act as microscopic light traps. When light rays strike these surface microstructures, they repeatedly scatter around the shapes and are absorbed, rather than being reflected back to an observer. It\u2019s an iterative process: Each time a scattering event occurs, a portion of the light is absorbed until it\u2019s almost completely absorbed.<\/p>\n

Human-made super-black materials such as \u201cblack silicon<\/a>\u201d also rely on what materials scientists call structural absorption. Like the super-black feathers, their microscopic \u201clight traps<\/a>\u201d are due to a rough surface that scatters light repeatedly, but the actual surface shapes they use are different. Rather than the feathers\u2019 bottle brush shapes, human engineers designed regularly spaced microscopic cones and pits. With almost no exposed flat surface, these structurally black materials are the opposite of a mirror.<\/p>\n

\n \"\"<\/a>
\n Due to its unusual microstructure, the feather from the Paradise Riflebird (on the right) still appears super-black when coated with gold, as compared to a regular black feather (on the left).<\/span>
\n Dakota McCoy<\/span>, CC BY-ND<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Birds of Paradise\u2019s super-black feathers are so good at absorbing light that even when we coated them in gold, a shiny metal, they still looked black. That\u2019s because it\u2019s not the inside of the feather making the color via pigment or ordered nanostructures; instead, just as with human-made black silicon<\/a>, the super black comes from the physical surface structure. Evolution and human ingenuity arrived at the same solution.<\/p>\n

Advantages of super-black feathers<\/h2>\n

But why do these birds have such incredibly dark black patches? What selective advantage caused this trait to evolve? It\u2019s tempting to think that super black somehow helps with camouflage, to keep predators away. In fact, some snakes have super-black scales<\/a> that mimic shadows between leaves, helping them blend into the forest floor. The snake example illustrates evolution by natural selection \u2013 \u201csurvival of the fittest.\u201d<\/p>\n

But other factors can also influence evolution\u2019s course, including random chance or sexual selection. As my colleague Rick Prum points out in his new book \u201cThe Evolution of Beauty: How Darwin\u2019s Forgotten Theory of Mate Choice Shapes the Animal World \u2013 and Us<\/a>,\u201d mate choice is a powerful force driving evolution. In Birds of Paradise, super-black feathers help male birds look more beautiful to a female\u2019s eye.<\/p>\n

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