NOT A JOKE - A NEW STATE OF MATTER DISCOVERED INSIDE CHICKENS' EYES

 

A new state of matter has been discovered in the eye of a chicken.

Never before seen in biology, 'disordered hyperuniformity' is an arrangement of particles that allows material to behave like both a crystal and a liquid.

Along with eggs, soup and rubber toys the list of the humble rooster's most lasting legacies may eventually include optics that can transmit light with the efficiency of a crystal and the flexibility of a liquid.

 

DISORDERED HYPERUNIFORMITY

Materials in this state are like crystals in the way they keep the density of particles consistent across large spatial distances.

But these systems are also like liquids because they have the same physical properties in all directions.

Researchers say this may be the first time disordered hyperuniformity has been observed in a biological system.

Previously it had only been seen in physical systems like liquid helium and simple plasmas.

For chicken eyes, the researchers speculate this cone arrangement allows the birds to evenly sample incoming light

Read more -
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2567765/How-chickens-eye-revealed-new-state-matter.html
 
Read more and see illustrations on Princeton University report
http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S39/32/02E70/

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