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 Nobody
looking at the patterns in peacock feathers can avoid being amazed at
their beauty. One of the latest pieces of research by scientists has revealed
that there is an astonishing design at the basis of these patterns.
Chinese scientists have discovered a delicate mechanism of tiny hairs
in peacock feathers filtering and reflecting different wavelengths of
light. According to a study performed by Fudan University physicist Jian
Zi and colleagues, published in the journal Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences, the feathers' bright colors are produced not by pigments,
but by tiny, two-dimensional crystal-like structures. (1)
Zi and his colleagues used powerful electron microscopes to reveal the
basis of the colors in the feathers. They examined the barbules of the
male green peacock (Pavo rnuticus), in other words the even smaller micro
hairs that come off of barbs emerging from the  central
stem of the feather. Under the microscope, they encountered the lattice
design in the black-and-white picture to the right. This consisted of
rods made of melanin, a protein, bound together with keratin, another
protein. The researchers observed that these two-dimensional structures,
each with a width hundreds of times thinner than a human hair, were arranged
one behind the other on the micro hairs. Using additional optical examinations
and calculations, the scientists examined the spaces between the crystals
and their effects. As a result, it was revealed that the dimensions and
shapes of these spaces in the lattice led to light being reflected at
slightly different angles and thus to a variation in color.
"The male peacock tail contains spectacular beauty because of
the brilliant, iridescent, diversified, colorful eye patterns,"
said Zi, who continued, "when I watched the eye pattern against
the sunshine, I was amazed by the stunning beauty of the feathers."
(2) Zi stated that until their study, the exact physical
mechanism producing the colors in peacock feathers had not been known,
and that although the mechanisms they had revealed were simple, they were
absolutely ingenious.
 Obviously,
there is a very specially regulated design in peacock feather patterns.
The tiny lattices and spaces between them are of the greatest importance
in this design. The adjustment between the spaces is particularly striking.
Were these not so arranged as to reflect light at slightly different angles
to one another, then this variation in color would not take place.
The greater part of the color in the peacock feather is based upon
structural coloration. There is no pigment in those parts of the feather
that exhibit structural coloration, and colors reminiscent of those
on the surface of a soap bubble are able to emerge. The color of human
hair comes from pigment, and no matter how much care a person may take
of his or her hair, it is never as shiny and beautiful as a peacock
feather.
It has also been stated that this intelligent design in the peacock can
be a source of inspiration in industrial design. Andrew Parker, a zoologist
and coloration expert at the University of Oxford, who interpreted Zi's
findings says that discovering so-called photonic crystals in peacock
feathers could allow scientists to adapt the structures for industrial
and commercial applications. These crystals could be used to channel light
in telecommunications equipment, or to create new tiny computer chips.
(3)
It is clear that the peacock has marvelous patterns and a special design,
and that thanks to the imitation of this mechanism, maybe in the near
future, we shall see objects and accessories covered in the brightest
of coatings. Yet how did such a gorgeous, intelligent and inspirational
design first emerge? Could the peacock know that the colors in its feathers
depended on crystals and the spaces between them? Could the feather
have itself brought the feathers on its body into being and later have
decided to add a coloring mechanism to them? Could it then have arranged
that mechanism in such a way as to produce those stunning designs? Of
course, not.
 For
example, if we were to encounter marvelous patterns made out of colored
stones as we walked beside the edge of a river, and if we also saw that
there were eye-like designs arranged like a fan, then we would think that
these had been laid out in a conscious manner, and not that they had appeared
by chance. It would be evident that these patterns, reflecting an artistic
perspective and addressing human aesthetic tastes, had been made by an
artist. The same thing applies to peacock feathers. In the same way that
pictures and designs reveal the existence of the artists who produced
them, the patterns in the peacock feather reveal the existence of the
Creator Who made them. There can be no doubt but that it is God Who brought
together and arranged the crystal-like structures in the peacock feather
and produced such marvelous patterns from them. God reveals His flawless
creation in a verse from the Qur'an:
He is God - the Creator, the Maker, the Giver of Form.
To Him belong the Most Beautiful Names. Everything in the heavens and
Earth glorifies Him. He is the Almighty, the All-Wise. (Qur'an, 59:24)
“To purchase the works of
Harun Yahya, please visit www.bookglobal.net.”
1- Jian Zi et
al, "Coloration strategies in peacock feathers", PNAS 2003;100
12576-12578; http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/100/22/12576?etoc
2- John Pickrell , "Physics Plucks Secret of
Peacock Feather Colors", 17 Ekim 2003, http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/10/1016_031017_peacockcolors.html
3- Ibid.
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