This butterfly with transparent wings will one day save our eyes

The world has tens of thousands of butterflies, each with a different character and color.

But have you ever thought of a butterfly with a transparent wing? There is such a species! It's called a long-tailed glass butterfly , with strange transparent wings.

The uniqueness of this butterfly lies in the intersection of the wings and the body.

The things that make up the inside of the wings are the tissue system arranged in a dome-shaped structure , into plaques. This arrangement allows light to go straight instead of reflecting.

But that is not enough. The uniqueness of this butterfly lies in the intersection of the wings and the body, with the small nanostructures lying far away from each other. This arrangement helps disperse light in all directions, regardless of which direction the light shines.

And it is this structure that can now make a breakthrough in medicine, specifically the ophthalmology.

Engineers have learned and mimicked the nano-tissue structures of butterfly wings in eye implants in people with glaucoma .

The butterfly wing structure can create a breakthrough in ophthalmology.

Hyuck Choo, electrical and medical engineer at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena said: "There are times when pressure in the eyeball is very high."

"People with glaucoma may have to monitor eye pressure 24 hours in a row to be able to correctly diagnose."

Choo and his team conducted experiments to apply nanoparticles to the rabbit's eyes. Implants inspired by butterflies are three times more accurate than normal flat membranes.

Thanks to that, the pressure is checked more easily. By scattering light like butterflies, this implant will increase fluid in the eye, thereby helping the patient's eyes work better.

This implant may be ready for human trials in the next three years.

Choo and his colleagues have also adjusted the shape of nanostructures to extend the life of the implant. When the body senses a foreign object, it develops a layer of tissue to fasten the implants with the body.

However, the nanostructure of the implant has a sharp enough shape to pierce surrounding cells, harming the eyes - Radwanul Hasan Siddique, another member of the research team said. Therefore, the team created a slightly rough surface instead of a smooth surface for the implant.

Results showed that after 1 month, the rabbit's eyes developed normally.

It is known that this implant may be ready for human trials in the next three years. It can be said that this is a major breakthrough in the treatment of eye diseases, and is also a proof that people can learn a lot from nature.

Glaucoma is a disease that damages the optic nerve, vision loss, and can cause blindness. The reason is that the pressure of fluid in the eyeball increases, destroying the nerve cells.