Butterfly wings and Peacock feathers have something in common; Structural color. This is the difference in colors between varying materials in an object. If you look at the butterfly to the left, you can see that veins and structural areas of the wing are black, and the wing surface is a bright green. Typically, this is caused because the wings contain nanostructured substance called chitin, which refracts light giving the subject an iridescent color. Scientists from General Electric have harnessed these nanostructures, and coated them with carbon nanotubes which allow the chitin to absorb more light. This better shows the light that hits the wing, effectively turning it into a very sensitive infrared display. Although it's not being used at the moment, significant effort is being put forth to get this technology into products as soon as possible.
Check out this video of a butterfly wing under an electron microscope. You can see the individual 'pixels' that could be used.
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