Fly Eyes Used For Solar Cells

disco_tracy writes "Researchers took corneas from blow flies, fixed them on a glass substrate, added a polymer to protect the shape and then coated nine-eye arrays in nickel within a vacuum chamber. The result was a master template that retained those useful nanoscale features and can be used to make solar cells."

Re:man...peta's gonna have a heart-attack

[Anonymous Coward]

I believe you meant to refer to PETI?

Re:man...peta's gonna have a heart-attack

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

Their leadership might; but the vast majority of their membership won't be painting themselves red or stripping in public(pity...) about it.

Blowflies are very much out of the "nature red in tooth and claw" school, only nastier. They need substantial amounts of protein to successfully lay their eggs and develop their horrid maggots. The nicest ones deal with this by hunting down and infesting carrion. The less pleasant ones don't like to wait. In tropical areas, this so-called "fly-strike"(infestation of wounds/sores/damp areas by live maggots feeding on host tissue) is a nontrivial health threat to both humans and animals. I leave the google-images-ing of "flystrike" "Myiasis" and "screwworm" to the reader; but it isn't pretty.

PETA's leadership are genuinely odd ducks; but their rank and file are mostly tactless idealists who are all warm and fuzzy about animals(you'll notice, for instance, that the idea that pets=slavery doesn't feature strongly in fundraising/membership drive literature). Even if they aren't idealistic/fuzzy enough to care about poor children in dusty countries who have maggots in their eye sockets, the fact that these insects will infest, and kill slowly and painfully, all sorts of cute fuzzy animals should do the trick...

Re:So those nasty things might be useful?

[justinlee37]

I've often wondered why we think that every creature was made by a supreme being with a specific purpose in mind.