Circularly Polarized Beetles?!

Chirality is a really important concept in chemistry, but did you know that even light can be chiral? Circularly polarized light (or CPL) actually traces out a helical path, and the helix can be either left- or right-handed (which means it must be chiral)! CPL has a lot of cool applications in chemistry, but you can even find it in nature. June beetles have chiral microstructures that reflect circularly polarized light of a specific handedness. If a view a beetle with a filter that blocks this type of light, you can see that it looses that beautiful, iridescent-green coloration.