Color
7 articles-
What Color Really Evolved For
The finding that melanosomes are so common inside animals’ bodies may overhaul our very understanding of the function of melanin, the pigment responsible for color in feathers and other external features.Photograph by Aline Dassel / Pixabay Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . What color were the dinosaurs? If you […] -
The Reality of Color Is Perception
An argument for a new definition of color. -
Why the Dark Side of the Force Had to Be Dark
You don’t have to look very hard to see that our culture has some pretty powerful associations between colors and feelings. As a recent example, the new Pixar film Inside Out has characters representing emotions, and the color choices for these characters—red for anger, and blue for sadness—feel right. Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. […] -
A Material So Dark That It Looks Like a Black Hole
Even when applied to a highly reflective surface like aluminum foil, Vantablack renders the entire surface, including creases, all but invisible.Surrey Nanosystems via Wikipedia Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . Color is such a powerful and evocative sensation—one of the first that we learn to describe as children—that we […] -
The Quest to Understand—and Mimic—Nature’s Trickiest Colors
The West Indian Ocean coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae)AlessandroZocc via Shutterstock Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . It was an image in a book of a sparkly blue fish—a West Indian Ocean coelacanth—that inspired German painter Franziska Schenk to begin a project that would occupy much of her adult life. “It […]
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How a Rubber Hand Can Help Fight Racial Bias
maxstockphoto via Shutterstock Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . I am a light-skinned woman, I grew up in the Southern United States, and I harbor negative stereotypes about dark-skinned people. I dislike this about myself. I would like to pretend that this is not true, but I have proof.About […]
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Organized Chaos Makes the Beauty of a Butterfly
Take a look at a butterfly’s wing, and you can learn a lesson about life. Not that it’s beautiful, or fragile, or too easily appreciated only when it’s fading—though all that is true, and evident in a wing. Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . Look very close, at the […]