article_snippet: ‘optical interference’ between different wavelengths of reflected light from tiny crystals, Swiss researchers claim.
article_snippet: the crystals are arranged in layers within the iridophores.
article_snippet: Physicist Jeremie Teyssier, from the University of Geneva in Switzerland, said: ‘Physicist Jeremie Teyssier, from the University of Geneva in Switzerland discovered that the animal changes the animal colours via the active tuning of a lattice of nanocrystals.
article_snippet: The scientists also uncovered a second deeper layer of iridophores containing larger and less ordered crystals which reflect infrared light, which The scientists reported in the study, published in the journal Nature Communications.
article_snippet: scientists modelled what changes might be produced by shifting the spacing of the crystals and found scientists could simulate and explain the colour changes.