MIT boffins create device that 'paints' iridescent structural color in real time

The feathers of a hummingbird, the wings of a butterfly, and the sparkle of an opal are all examples of nature's ability to produce structural, iridescent colors that typically require lab-grade materials and techniques to replicate. An MIT team says it has found a way to make that process far more accessible.

Naming their tech MorphoChrome, the team from MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) has created a handheld system that uses laser light to paint iridescent programmable structural colors onto commercially available holographic photopolymer film that can then be integrated into both flexible and rigid objects. 

If you're not familiar with structural color and the iridescence it creates, you might not understand why that's such a big deal, so here's a quick explanation. 

Iridescent, shifting colors found in nature and in man-made objects are the result not of pigments, but physical nanostructures ...