Saturday, January 22, 2011

Insect Eyes Inspire More Efficient Solar Power

Moths not only see well in the night, they also keep a low profile and that technology is now making its way into solar cell design. As one report explains:

The eyes of moths, which allow them to see well at night, are also covered with a water-repellent, antireflective coating that makes their eyes among the least reflective surfaces in nature and helps them hide from predators in the dark. Mimicking the moth eye's microstructure, a team of researchers in Japan has created a new film, suitable for mass-production, for covering solar cells that can cut down on the amount of reflected light and help capture more power from the sun.

It is yet another example of nature’s remarkable designs finding application in engineering work.

12 comments:

  1. Biomimicry - Design Found In Life and Nature
    https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AYmaSrBPNEmGZGM4ejY3d3pfNDBkZ3Nwcnd0Yw&hl=en

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  2. Hunter says:

    "It is yet another example of nature’s remarkable designs finding application in engineering work. "

    Guys, please don't jump onto Hunter.

    IMPORTANT:

    The right of Religious Freedom gives Hunter the right to believe that it was created even if there is scientific evidence for how it evolved (which I don't know right now if does or does not exist - but, just in case...).

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  3. emil,

    It was as quiet as a churchyard here until you piped up.

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  4. emil:
    ====
    The right of Religious Freedom gives Hunter the right to believe that it was created even if there is scientific evidence for how it evolved (which I don't know right now if does or does not exist - but, just in case...).
    ====

    Uh, even if there was no right of Religious Freedom, Cornelius can think anything he wants under the right of Freedom of Thought, which in my opinion is much more important than the former. Actually, I'd say that Religious freedom is an instance of Freedom of Thought.

    Also, I have no problems with this post. I could have written something similar myself, although the word "design" would have been intended in a different, metaphorical way, as is common outside the Cornelius' sphere.

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  5. Mentally strike over the last "the" of my last post.

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  6. emil: ...even if there is scientific evidence to support the speculations for how it coud possibly have evolved (which I don't know right now if does or does not exist - but, just in case...).

    there. fixed that for you, emil.

    fyi, using precise language when posting comments will go a long way in avoiding confusion and misunderstandings.

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  7. Steve said...

    "I'm another clueless Creationist who has never studied evolutionary biology but feels compelled to attack the solid science supporting ToE because it threatens my narrow fundamentalist Biblical views"


    there. fixed that for you, Steve.

    fyi, using precise language when posting comments will go a long way in avoiding confusion and misunderstandings.

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  8. emil:
    ...even if there is scientific evidence for how it evolved

    Cool!!
    Please share with the rest of us!!
    Have you got a link?

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  9. Those of you who are curious about the moth eyes:

    Light on the moth-eye corneal nipple array of butterflies.

    The paper is free.

    They explain how it works and talk about suggestions how this might have been evolved, from where it might have come, and discuss open questions about it.

    Please, do not miss words such as "suggests, seems, possibly, not quite sure, might be, ...."
    There are quite a few of them.

    However, the feature can be found in some variation in other insects as well and did not just appear out of the "blue" in moths.

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  10. Emil:

    "Light on the moth-eye corneal nipple array of butterflies.

    The paper is free. They explain how it works and talk about suggestions how this might have been evolved, from where it might have come, and discuss open questions about it."

    Let me see how tuned I am to some evolutionist logic (not Emil's necessarily):

    1) "They explain how it works"

    And this is evidence for evolution, right?

    2) "...and talk about suggestions how this might have been evolved..."

    So talking about "suggestions" (or talking about "evidence") is evidence for evolution, right?

    3) "Please, do not miss words such as "suggests, seems, possibly, not quite sure, might be, ...."

    We will not, really. We need just to avoid taking Evolution as an "open question", right?

    4) "However, the feature can be found in some variation in other insects as well and did not just appear out of the "blue" in moths."

    And what's the conclusion for this? "Can't you see? Evolution did it". Right?

    Well, how well did I do?

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  11. It is interesting to learn about other creatures eyes and how they work. As a pilot my eyes are very important to me, and at the altitudes I fly I need to protect my eyes from uv rays with my randolph engineering aviator sunglasses which block out 100% of uv rays for me.

    Not as good as insect eyes, I guess!

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  12. Earth's greatest source of renewable energy is the Radiant Energy that comes from the Sun, most often referred to as Solar Energy or Solar Power.

    Solar Power Queensland

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