POLK COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — A 20-year-old student at Florida Polytechnic University is a published scientist after he and his professor discovered peacock feathers can be used in laser physics.

“Essentially, what we found was that you can use peacock feathers to create miniature lasers,” said Anthony Fiorito, a senior engineering physics major at Florida Polytechnic University.

The research found that the feathers, when infused with special fluorescent dye, can emit laser light at specific, consistent colors.

"I do remember, it was very funny because we were trying to think of different things that have structural color and we were like, oh yeah, peacock feathers,” said Fiorito.

Fiorito worked on the research with Dr. Nathan Dawson, associate professor of engineering and physics at Flor

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