Want To Wear Something Blacker Than Black? Now You Can, Thanks To Birds-Of

When you think “birds-of-paradise”, your mind may jump to the bright, rainbow plumage of species like Diphyllodes magnificus or Paradisornis rudolphi . But equally present in the natural world is the exact opposite – a black so deep that it reflects less than 0.5 percent of the light that touches it – and now, scientists know how to make it for ourselves. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.

“Wildlife often uses a combination of colors in their skin, scales, and feathers to both attract mates and avoid predators,” begins a new paper from researchers at Cornell University’s Department of Human Centered Design – and “the various nano/microstructures that produce ultrablack have been studied and replicated synthetically