This is the blue morpho butterfly, which has a cool alien-sounding name, but also has inspired a new biomimetic fabric that refracts light like the butterfly’s wings. It’s just one of the eco ...

fabrics and cosmetics. A new study has revealed that the stunning iridescent wings of the tropical blue Morpho butterfly could expand the range of innovative technologies. Scientific lessons ...

Their result is this new bio-bot. How it works: The team molded a butterfly shape out of gel and then added iridescent nanocrystals. After that, they added a layer of heart cells taken from a rat.

While a more beautiful solar panel certainly wouldn’t be a bad thing, you might be wondering why Yang went through all this trouble to make panels that imitate the butterfly.