Structural colors are produced by wavelength-dependent scattering of light from nanostructures. While living organisms often exploit phase separation to directly assemble structurally colored materials from macromolecules, synthetic structural colors are...
Diatoms are single-celled organisms with a cell wall made of silica, called the frustule. Even though their elaborate patterns have fascinated scientists for years, little is known about the biological and physical mechanisms underlying their organization. In this work, we take a top-down approach and examine the micrometer-scale organization of diatoms from the Coscinodiscus family. We find two competing tendencies of organization, which appear to be controlled by distinct biological pathways. On one hand, micrometer-scale pores organize locally on a triangular lattice. On the other hand, lattice vectors tend to point globally toward a center of symmetry. This competition results in a frustrated triangular lattice, populated with geometrically necessary defects whose density increases near the center.
Attempts to digitize samples and apply artificial intelligence and machine learning methods to analyze crystalloscopic (dried drops of biological fluids) and tesigraphic (dried drops of biological fluids with crystallogenic substance) facies have not yet been successful. In this regard, there is a need to develop a simplified algorithm for describing the facies of biological fluids, which can be used for a unified computer study of the results of crystallization of biological objects, which served as the purpose of the work. To develop and test the method presented in this paper, we used more than 16,000 images of dried biological fluids of the human and animal body, including both crystalloscopic and tesigraphic facies. The algorithm is based on determination of 4 main parameters (crystallizability, structure index, facies destruction degree and clearity of the marginal zone), graded on three-point scales. In addition, a facies integral parameter combining the values of all criteria is proposed.
Diatoms are single-celled organisms with a cell wall made of silica, called the frustule. Even though their elaborate patterns have fascinated scientists for years, little is known about the biological and physical mechanisms underlying their organization. In this work, we take a top-down approach and examine the micron-scale organization of diatoms from the Coscinodiscus family. We find two competing tendencies of organization, which appear to be controlled by distinct biological pathways. On one hand, micron-scale pores organize locally on a triangular lattice. On the other, lattice vectors tend to point globally toward a center of symmetry. This competition results in a frustrated triangular lattice, populated with geometrically necessary defects whose density increases near the center.
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