This glowing green shell belongs to a species of "cluster-wink snail" that lives in the ocean. Its special molecular composition makes it the perfect material to filter light. Already, scientists are thinking about ways to manufacture it for this purpose. The snail that lives inside this shell has the power to glow, and it illuminates as a defense mechanism when predators are near - possibly to make itself appear larger. Though its shell appears a dull, opaque yellow in ordinary light, it's actually made of a heretofore unknown material that's precisely tuned to disperse the exact wavelength of light the snails are emitting. The shell becomes almost transparent when the green bio-luminescence streams through it.
If engineers can artificially reproduce the material in this shell, we could conceivably have tinted windows, sunglasses, or optical instruments designed only to let one color of light through.
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