A recent study by a team of researchers led by Dr.
Vinod Kumar Saranathan from the Division of Science at Yale-NUS
College has discovered a complex, three-dimensional crystal called
the single gyroid within feathers of the blue-winged leafbird. Dr.
Saranathan and his team’s breakthrough came from their
investigation of the feather colors of leafbirds, an enigmatic
group of perching birds endemic to South and Southeast Asia
(including Singapore), one species of which has evolved the unique
crystals in its plumage.
