"It's a good model to use because you can tell whether a mouse's environment is affecting the expression of its genes just by looking at its coat colour," says Chong.
Dr Peter Vukusic of Exeter University is an expert in the 'structural colour' that appears in butterfly wings and will help GE to model how the structure reacts with different gases.
To create a heat map, simply take any model of the system and shade or colour different areas of the model to indicate the ease or complexity of working on different each area.