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What does soft matter physics have to do with bird feathers?

Many species of birds have feathers with colors that are the result
of light scattering from a disordered arrangement of nanoscale air
spheres. The feathers appear to be the same color from every angle.
Inspired by these beautiful feathers, we design structures of polymer
nanoparticles that produce color the same way. This is a new way to make
color from nanostructures and could be useful for textiles, coatings,
and cosmetics.