The gemstone opal could be manufactured synthetically copying a technique employed by a beetle to control the appearance of its outer shell. Researchers from the Department of Zoology at the ...

What is an opal and what does it mean spiritually for the person who wears one? The name opal crystal is derived from the Latin word opalus, which means precious stone. Precious opals are the most ...

Scientists have found opal-like crystals in the Tagish Lake meteorite, which fell to Earth in Canada in 2000. This is the first extraterrestrial discovery of these unusual crystals, which may have ...

Colloidal self-assembly has been investigated as a promising and practical approach for the fabrication of photonic nanostructures, including colloidal crystals, composite and inverse opals, and ...