Deconstructing beetles elucidates origins of colour

In work just published in Materials Today Advances, members of the group, led by Laura Ospina-Rozo, report new results into the optical and near-infrared properties of beetle elytra. We showed that some scarab beetles use composite, non-chiral structures to reflect light where the elytra consist of a broadband reflective structure overlain by a green filter. The green near-infrared reflective elytra may enable both camouflage and passive cooling.