Come fa il camaleonte a cambiare colore? Da oggi lo sappiamo, grazie a un gruppo di ricercatori dell'Università di Ginevra: con una rete di nanocristalli sotto la pelle, il Furcifer pardalis (il nome scientifico dell'animale) riesce a passare da una pigmentazione a un'altra, per esempio quando vuole corteggiare la femmina oppure attaccare un rivale.
Questi piccoli cristalli sono disposti in strati alternati con il citoplasma, in cellule denominate iridofore. Quando l'animale è calmo, i cristalli si addensano e riflettono il colore blu. In caso di eccitazione, la rete si tende e riflette i colori dal giallo al rosso.
Il camaleonte pantera è in grado di operare la transizione da un colore ad un altro nel giro di un paio di minuti. Lo studio, realizzato da biologi e fisici guidati dai professori Michel Milinkovitch et Dirk van der Marel, è stato pubblicato sulla rivista "Nature Communications".
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