Art is often inspired by nature, and it seems the same can be said for technology. The journal Nature Communications stays on top of these sorts of trends and just published findings that could seriously upgrade the surface of your next smartphone, tablet or even your next pair of glasses. Through studying the wings of glasswing butterflies, German researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) are on their way to creating a material that reflects almost no light, which would make it the first truly glare-free display screen technology on the market.

One of the most interesting discoveries made by the research team was the reason why these glasswing butterflies were able to eliminate most reflection. Using an electron microscope, they were able to scan the butterfly’s wings and get an up-close and personal look at their pillar-like nanostructures, which they found were arranged irregularly and at random heights. In a complete departure from our general understanding of what makes things work as a whole, this structure thrives through a system of organized chaos. Radwanul Hasan Siddique, who discovered the effect, stated in his findings that “in contrast to other natural phenomena, where regularity is of top priority, the glasswing butterfly uses an apparent chaos to reach effects that are also fascinating for us humans”. In nature this “invisibility cloak” of sorts is likely used as a survival tool, making the butterfly less visible to its predators. In technology, it’s going to add significant visibility to your poolside smartphone browsing.

The material is still in the conceptual phase as scientists continue to work on an exact replica of the surface itself. Initial prototypes have been shown to have the added benefits of being both self-cleaning and water-repellent, so in addition to eliminating glare, you can say good-bye to annoying smudges, too. The research team hopes that the recreation of their synthetic version will be completed soon, at which point they can begin to work on the practical implementation of the process. So thanks butterflies, for taking the squint out of my outdoor tablet reading and eliminating the need to ever carry around glass cleaner in my laptop bag again.