Moth Eyes

Just finished this guy last night, decided to post the original scan, before I go in and do some digital stuff - it's part of a series I'm doing on Biomimetics. This ones about moths and thier eyes which are covered in a nanostructured film that eliminates reflections, allowing moths to see well in the dark, as well as to not be seen by predators. The structure consists of a hexagonal pattern of tiny bumps, each of them roughly 200nm high (nanometers - really, really small) and spaced 300nm apart. The way it works has something to do with the fact that the bumps are smaller than the wavelength of visible light, which creates this anti-reflective effect... I'm not exactly an expert on the subject, but I'm always inspired by science and technology - and especially interested in this idea of learning from nature. We're finding out with modern science that nature really is the most advanced form of technology out there (it has had 3.8 billion years to develop, after all) and we're finally beginning to be able to understand that on a meaningful level, and make use of the knowledge.