A Lucky Haul, an Evasive Fish, and the Ultra-Black Materials of the Future
A new study shows that some fish can absorb up to 99.5% of all light — on par with Vantablack and the darkest known materials.
Evolution has the extraordinary ability to devise multiple solutions to a single problem. In the dense forests of Papua New Guinea, a male bird of paradise (Lophorina superba) approaches a potential mate, puffs out its chest, and spreads its feathers into an intimidating fan. Its ultra-black feathers are accentuated with a deep shade of green, made to impress the onlooking female. The superba’s plumage is such a deep black that it absorbs up to 99.95% of all light, on par with the darkest materials ever studied.
Now hop a few islands west, to the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra, where the Rajah Brooke’s Birdwing, a butterfly, touts wings with a similar shade of black. First documented by Alfred Russell Wallace in 1855, it was only recently that scientists analyzed the ultra-black Birdwing, which reflects less than 0.3% of incident light at certain wavelengths.
Though these creatures share “ultra-black” features, that is also where their similarities end. Ultra-black butterflies achieve their coloration via two layers of thin, honeycomb structures on their wings, which effectively trap light. Birds of paradise, conversely, scatter and deflect…
