BOSTON, Feb. 26 (UPI) --Scientists at MIT and Harvard were recently able to detail the photonic structures embedded in the blue-rayed limpet's shell that give the species its signature shiny streaks.

The blue-rayed limpet is a tiny mollusk that lives in kelp beds along the coasts of Norway, Iceland, the United Kingdom, Portugal, and the Canary Islands. These diminutive organisms—as small as a ...

Taking a trick from birds and butterflies, a mollusk shines blue using intricate structures that allow selective reflection of light. But unlike other animals, the blue-rayed limpet, a snail that ...

Limpet shells could provide the inspiration for a new generation of optical biomaterials. Bright blue lines within the structure of the mollusk shells are created through the interaction of a pair of ...

As if in some well-used holiday cottage by the sea, our window sills carry glass vessels – a wine jug here, an outsized goblet there – packed with seashells from the shore. They speak for years of ...