1 00:00:03,120 --> 00:00:06,000 Speaker 1: Welcome to stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuff 2 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:13,280 Speaker 1: Works dot com. Hey, welcome to Stuff to well your mind. 3 00:00:13,320 --> 00:00:15,960 Speaker 1: My name is Robert lamp and Um Julie Douglas. Julie, 4 00:00:16,239 --> 00:00:21,400 Speaker 1: we are podcasting on a very gray day. Fog has 5 00:00:21,480 --> 00:00:24,520 Speaker 1: not lifted for days, right that the sky is just 6 00:00:24,600 --> 00:00:30,760 Speaker 1: totally gray. My son keeps asking where sign where? Where 7 00:00:30,760 --> 00:00:33,400 Speaker 1: where do you go? And I have to begin to 8 00:00:33,479 --> 00:00:37,839 Speaker 1: explain rudimentary celestial mechanics to it, and the need to 9 00:00:37,880 --> 00:00:40,920 Speaker 1: test the same question again and then ask where where 10 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:43,400 Speaker 1: is the blue sky? Well? And I think that is 11 00:00:43,440 --> 00:00:47,200 Speaker 1: the power of the blue sky in our lives, right, 12 00:00:47,320 --> 00:00:50,400 Speaker 1: It's depicted everywhere, It's we we were talking about this. 13 00:00:50,479 --> 00:00:55,080 Speaker 1: In children's books. You don't often see gray skies depicted. 14 00:00:55,160 --> 00:00:57,680 Speaker 1: You see blue skies. Will you do? In the Lorax, 15 00:00:58,120 --> 00:01:01,720 Speaker 1: which is my son's favorite book for seemingly forever, now, 16 00:01:02,520 --> 00:01:04,679 Speaker 1: very blue skies as well? Well? You have to because 17 00:01:04,720 --> 00:01:07,959 Speaker 1: of the small took skies of course, yes, Um, But 18 00:01:08,640 --> 00:01:10,520 Speaker 1: you know, I think blue is one of those really 19 00:01:10,560 --> 00:01:15,440 Speaker 1: important colors to us because on some physical level but 20 00:01:15,480 --> 00:01:20,080 Speaker 1: also subconscious level, it in end caps our visual field 21 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:22,240 Speaker 1: that we think of when we think about our existence. 22 00:01:22,280 --> 00:01:24,240 Speaker 1: It's the color of the sky and the color of 23 00:01:24,280 --> 00:01:27,880 Speaker 1: the ocean. Um. And yet this is the thing about 24 00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:33,280 Speaker 1: blue is the ultimate magician, appearing mostly as an illusion, 25 00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:35,679 Speaker 1: which will discuss in a bit. Yeah, it's a it's 26 00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:39,440 Speaker 1: a powerful color. Uh. You know, we're gonna get into 27 00:01:39,959 --> 00:01:42,880 Speaker 1: some of the color theory in a bit that. Yeah. 28 00:01:42,920 --> 00:01:45,160 Speaker 1: I mean, it's the it's the color ultimately of the 29 00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:47,240 Speaker 1: of the sky and ocean. It's kind of the color 30 00:01:47,319 --> 00:01:51,720 Speaker 1: of emotion itself. I mean, people seeing the blues. Uh. 31 00:01:51,760 --> 00:01:56,440 Speaker 1: Picasso went through his blue period. Like I can't like 32 00:01:56,560 --> 00:01:58,560 Speaker 1: when I think of blue in terms of its just 33 00:01:58,680 --> 00:02:01,120 Speaker 1: emotional power, So I always end up picturing the uh 34 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:05,160 Speaker 1: the picture of the Picasso did the old guitarist, you know, 35 00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:08,239 Speaker 1: where the very also kind of gray looking guitarist is 36 00:02:08,280 --> 00:02:11,200 Speaker 1: sending there his head bowed and looks old and tired 37 00:02:11,280 --> 00:02:15,880 Speaker 1: and sad, and he's just you know, caked in blue shades. Um. 38 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:19,399 Speaker 1: I Also, I feel like with blue, I think back 39 00:02:19,440 --> 00:02:22,160 Speaker 1: a lot two times when I was a kid looking 40 00:02:22,200 --> 00:02:25,200 Speaker 1: up at like a really clear blue sky and there 41 00:02:25,240 --> 00:02:28,720 Speaker 1: being something comforting but also kind of oppressive about it, 42 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:31,160 Speaker 1: you know. And uh, And I think about that a 43 00:02:31,200 --> 00:02:33,480 Speaker 1: lot too, especially if I'm if I'm far from home 44 00:02:33,480 --> 00:02:35,040 Speaker 1: and I look up and see that blue sky, there's 45 00:02:35,080 --> 00:02:39,240 Speaker 1: something there's something comforting and universal about it, but also 46 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:42,200 Speaker 1: universal and in the same way that death is universal. 47 00:02:42,440 --> 00:02:45,880 Speaker 1: You know, it's that relentless blue and it's the relentless 48 00:02:45,960 --> 00:02:48,560 Speaker 1: light of the sun. Right, there's nothing to filter it. 49 00:02:49,440 --> 00:02:52,720 Speaker 1: I mean, is it any wonder that modern Mongolians still 50 00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:56,760 Speaker 1: pray to uh munk punk Kingary the eternal blue sky? 51 00:02:56,840 --> 00:03:01,400 Speaker 1: Is it any wonder? Ultraman Ultramarine is the pigment often 52 00:03:01,440 --> 00:03:03,880 Speaker 1: reserved to paint the mantle of a virgin Mary. By 53 00:03:03,919 --> 00:03:07,400 Speaker 1: the way, so she is typically seen with a very 54 00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:11,960 Speaker 1: blue color scheme. Indeed, so there are all sorts of associations. 55 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:15,639 Speaker 1: For me, it's Miles Davis kind of blue, so in 56 00:03:15,680 --> 00:03:19,840 Speaker 1: that synesthesia sense. Okay, so you listen to Miles Davis 57 00:03:19,880 --> 00:03:22,520 Speaker 1: seeing the blues and you actually kind of well, he 58 00:03:22,600 --> 00:03:26,919 Speaker 1: has an album called kind of Blue and um, so 59 00:03:27,160 --> 00:03:29,359 Speaker 1: I always think of it's a sort of rainy night 60 00:03:29,760 --> 00:03:34,399 Speaker 1: music and it's a it's a very concentric patterned um 61 00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:37,800 Speaker 1: type of album, and that each song builds on this 62 00:03:37,920 --> 00:03:40,240 Speaker 1: familiar pattern, which kind of messes with it a bit. 63 00:03:40,640 --> 00:03:44,280 Speaker 1: But so for me, it's that that's space of jazz 64 00:03:44,320 --> 00:03:48,000 Speaker 1: and blues and melancholy. And again, I feel like I've 65 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:50,520 Speaker 1: been talking about this a lot lately, the space the 66 00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:55,640 Speaker 1: absence um. But you know, again, the blue can be anything. 67 00:03:55,680 --> 00:03:58,880 Speaker 1: It can be that baby blue, um, it can be 68 00:03:58,920 --> 00:04:02,960 Speaker 1: Prussian blue, Turk boys blue, very hippyish to me, hey, 69 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:05,440 Speaker 1: And indeed than you have that whole literally gray area 70 00:04:05,440 --> 00:04:08,240 Speaker 1: where blue touches gray and then you lose yourself and 71 00:04:08,360 --> 00:04:13,560 Speaker 1: like the German grays and German blues melding together bahlsi 72 00:04:13,640 --> 00:04:18,839 Speaker 1: and blues yah. On the color spectrum, it's wedged between 73 00:04:18,960 --> 00:04:22,760 Speaker 1: violet and green. It has a wavelength between four hundred 74 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:27,080 Speaker 1: and fifty and four hundred nanometers, and blues with a 75 00:04:27,200 --> 00:04:31,080 Speaker 1: higher frequency and a shorter wavelength gradually look more violet, 76 00:04:32,040 --> 00:04:35,520 Speaker 1: while those with a lower frequency and a longer wavelength 77 00:04:35,560 --> 00:04:39,560 Speaker 1: gradually appear more green. Now pure blue that kind of 78 00:04:39,640 --> 00:04:42,440 Speaker 1: you said, have that sort of existential angst too. In 79 00:04:42,480 --> 00:04:47,000 Speaker 1: the middle has a wavelength of four hundred and seventy nanometers. 80 00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:49,039 Speaker 1: And we'll discuss this later, but this just happens to 81 00:04:49,120 --> 00:04:54,160 Speaker 1: be the range of um of color that we perceive 82 00:04:54,520 --> 00:04:56,800 Speaker 1: the most with the human eye. And of course I 83 00:04:57,000 --> 00:05:00,040 Speaker 1: should also mention that blue is my son's face, a 84 00:05:00,160 --> 00:05:03,560 Speaker 1: color which I find curious because we've my wife and 85 00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:06,039 Speaker 1: I have done no like coaxing along those lines, like 86 00:05:06,120 --> 00:05:08,839 Speaker 1: his his room is green, and we're not we're not 87 00:05:08,880 --> 00:05:11,440 Speaker 1: shoving a lot of like blue for boys, pink for 88 00:05:11,480 --> 00:05:14,960 Speaker 1: girls kind of thing down his throat. But he's he's 89 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:18,240 Speaker 1: he's just, without question, latched onto blue is his favorite color. 90 00:05:18,240 --> 00:05:20,640 Speaker 1: And you ask him he likes blue. If he get 91 00:05:20,680 --> 00:05:24,240 Speaker 1: picks out his own shirt animal designs aside, he's going 92 00:05:24,279 --> 00:05:26,479 Speaker 1: to go for blue every time. Yeah, my daughter who's 93 00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:29,640 Speaker 1: six years old, also loves blue. I love blue. And 94 00:05:29,680 --> 00:05:32,000 Speaker 1: what this is pointing to is that there's sort of 95 00:05:32,080 --> 00:05:37,800 Speaker 1: a universal um gravitational force of blue over us. In 96 00:05:37,920 --> 00:05:41,480 Speaker 1: two thousand and eleven, Deluxe Paints conducted a survey involving 97 00:05:41,480 --> 00:05:44,960 Speaker 1: response from thirty different countries and found that across cultures, 98 00:05:45,040 --> 00:05:51,120 Speaker 1: blue was the preferred color among men and among women. 99 00:05:51,640 --> 00:05:53,880 Speaker 1: Now you're probably wondering, what else, what about the other 100 00:05:53,920 --> 00:05:57,560 Speaker 1: colors out there? The second favorite colors are red and green, 101 00:05:57,920 --> 00:06:02,440 Speaker 1: followed by orange, brown, brown, and purple. Brown is good. 102 00:06:02,440 --> 00:06:04,800 Speaker 1: Brown is an earth tone. My yoga man is brown, 103 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:09,320 Speaker 1: so is poop all right, and then yellow is the 104 00:06:09,440 --> 00:06:14,080 Speaker 1: least favorite color, preferred only by five percent of people. Wow, 105 00:06:14,120 --> 00:06:17,400 Speaker 1: I'm so glad that yellow is half the color on 106 00:06:17,440 --> 00:06:20,919 Speaker 1: our our logo. But there, yeah, but we didn't choose that. 107 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:23,760 Speaker 1: We just it's for you five percent out there. We're 108 00:06:23,760 --> 00:06:28,040 Speaker 1: looking after you. Another interesting finding is that both men 109 00:06:28,080 --> 00:06:33,400 Speaker 1: and women increasingly dislike orange as they age. Interesting. I've 110 00:06:33,400 --> 00:06:37,480 Speaker 1: heard before about orange being an unsettling color, like um, 111 00:06:37,520 --> 00:06:41,240 Speaker 1: if I remember correctly, the torture chamber in David Cronenberg's 112 00:06:41,320 --> 00:06:45,200 Speaker 1: video Drone is orange and color because they designed it 113 00:06:45,240 --> 00:06:48,279 Speaker 1: with some color theory in mind that said that orange 114 00:06:48,320 --> 00:06:51,640 Speaker 1: is a very unsettling color and is ideal if you 115 00:06:51,720 --> 00:06:56,400 Speaker 1: have an interrogation. I'm setting inmates right sometimes wear orange? 116 00:06:56,440 --> 00:07:00,080 Speaker 1: Or is that just? Is that just the show was 117 00:07:00,760 --> 00:07:03,720 Speaker 1: they would show up if they escape, because again, who 118 00:07:03,760 --> 00:07:06,159 Speaker 1: would wear orange? Who's gonna wear a full orange jumpsuit? 119 00:07:06,200 --> 00:07:10,840 Speaker 1: And unless they've escaped from prison? If I'm like orange 120 00:07:10,880 --> 00:07:15,480 Speaker 1: a lot, yeah, I mean I'm not opposed to it. 121 00:07:15,520 --> 00:07:18,440 Speaker 1: I did go to a university whose color was orange, 122 00:07:18,440 --> 00:07:19,960 Speaker 1: and that kind of turned me against it a little bit, 123 00:07:19,960 --> 00:07:22,200 Speaker 1: I guess, but you know, but by and large, I 124 00:07:22,240 --> 00:07:25,800 Speaker 1: don't have anything against orange. Alright, Okay, well let's think 125 00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:31,080 Speaker 1: about six hundred million years ago, when things were just 126 00:07:31,200 --> 00:07:34,600 Speaker 1: business as usual. The sun was shining in the Earth 127 00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:40,679 Speaker 1: was absorbing and reflecting that light, and uh, really, nobody 128 00:07:40,760 --> 00:07:43,480 Speaker 1: knew any better about what sort of colors were being 129 00:07:43,480 --> 00:07:46,720 Speaker 1: produced because there was no organism that could perceive that 130 00:07:46,840 --> 00:07:48,720 Speaker 1: light and color yet. Yeah. I mean, as far as 131 00:07:48,760 --> 00:07:52,160 Speaker 1: the organisms actual pigmentation goes, you could have bright red, 132 00:07:52,280 --> 00:07:55,360 Speaker 1: you could have a gray organism over here, sort of 133 00:07:55,360 --> 00:07:59,280 Speaker 1: translucent over here. But it doesn't really matter because what 134 00:07:59,520 --> 00:08:01,960 Speaker 1: limited kind of perception is going on is really just 135 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:05,240 Speaker 1: more about light and dark. It's not it's about about it. 136 00:08:05,360 --> 00:08:06,840 Speaker 1: So the sun is up, the sun is down, the 137 00:08:06,880 --> 00:08:10,840 Speaker 1: moon is out. It's that kind of navigational, uh, sensory input. 138 00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:13,880 Speaker 1: But in terms of what color anything is, it does 139 00:08:13,920 --> 00:08:17,120 Speaker 1: not matter at all. Yeah. And now think about the 140 00:08:17,160 --> 00:08:20,880 Speaker 1: Earth and all of the vegetation and the creatures that 141 00:08:20,920 --> 00:08:24,680 Speaker 1: we're leaving living on it. Six hundred million years ago, 142 00:08:24,800 --> 00:08:27,680 Speaker 1: a lot of the colors and plants and animals um 143 00:08:27,880 --> 00:08:31,160 Speaker 1: came from and continued to come from, pigments, colored chemicals 144 00:08:31,160 --> 00:08:35,080 Speaker 1: that absorb certain wavelengths of light. And these pigments while 145 00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:38,520 Speaker 1: we think of them is more like ornamental today because um, 146 00:08:38,880 --> 00:08:41,199 Speaker 1: you know, we've largely hacked them that way our evolution 147 00:08:41,240 --> 00:08:44,520 Speaker 1: has um. They have been helpful in other ways. Granules 148 00:08:44,520 --> 00:08:47,840 Speaker 1: of melanin, for example, help keep bird feathers strong and 149 00:08:47,920 --> 00:08:52,120 Speaker 1: help protect human skin from the sun. And chlorophyll is 150 00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:55,760 Speaker 1: a chemical that helps plants trap light for photosynthesis. It 151 00:08:55,840 --> 00:08:59,839 Speaker 1: also makes them look green. Yeah, because we often we 152 00:09:00,240 --> 00:09:03,080 Speaker 1: like a colorful bird and we instantly think, oh, what's 153 00:09:03,080 --> 00:09:05,840 Speaker 1: colored this way for attention? It's all about a visual 154 00:09:05,880 --> 00:09:10,000 Speaker 1: presentation or it's about camouflage. But their actual structural properties 155 00:09:10,160 --> 00:09:12,120 Speaker 1: that are essential here, Yeah, and we tend to think 156 00:09:12,120 --> 00:09:15,680 Speaker 1: of them more as like color currency. Now again, peacock's 157 00:09:15,760 --> 00:09:21,120 Speaker 1: this this amazing display that is meant to attract a mate. 158 00:09:21,640 --> 00:09:26,280 Speaker 1: But those are things again that got hacked in evolution. Um, 159 00:09:26,320 --> 00:09:30,920 Speaker 1: it wasn't until a predator with eyesight showed up on 160 00:09:30,920 --> 00:09:35,839 Speaker 1: the scene that this became important. Color became important, and indeed, 161 00:09:35,840 --> 00:09:38,200 Speaker 1: according to the NPR story how Animals Hack the Rainbow 162 00:09:38,200 --> 00:09:41,240 Speaker 1: and got stumped on blue, this animal is probably like 163 00:09:41,280 --> 00:09:45,520 Speaker 1: a super fast shrimp creature. It's suddenly it has eyes, 164 00:09:45,600 --> 00:09:48,280 Speaker 1: it can see, it can pick up on colors. And 165 00:09:48,360 --> 00:09:51,440 Speaker 1: so if you happen to belong to a species of say, 166 00:09:51,600 --> 00:09:57,120 Speaker 1: bright red, little floaty, slimy invertebrate creatures up and all. 167 00:09:57,160 --> 00:09:59,520 Speaker 1: Now it hadn't mattered that you're bright red, but suddenly 168 00:09:59,559 --> 00:10:04,240 Speaker 1: here's this superpowered super predator shrimp and you're just sticking 169 00:10:04,240 --> 00:10:09,240 Speaker 1: out like a sore delicious thumb. Right. And as eyesight 170 00:10:09,440 --> 00:10:13,679 Speaker 1: evolves in creatures and as other creatures respond to it, 171 00:10:13,760 --> 00:10:18,840 Speaker 1: then you begin to see animals organism starting to actually 172 00:10:18,880 --> 00:10:23,040 Speaker 1: go after camouflage, go after other tactics that would help 173 00:10:23,080 --> 00:10:25,960 Speaker 1: them to survive with the colors that they have. Yeah, 174 00:10:26,040 --> 00:10:29,080 Speaker 1: I mean, and it's it really gets just increasingly complex. 175 00:10:29,400 --> 00:10:31,960 Speaker 1: Uh as as organisms evolved, so you end up with 176 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:35,680 Speaker 1: just this this perplexing maze of interactions that we continue 177 00:10:35,720 --> 00:10:38,520 Speaker 1: to try and understand where you have bright colors on 178 00:10:38,520 --> 00:10:40,680 Speaker 1: one creature or saying stay away from me, and the 179 00:10:40,720 --> 00:10:42,920 Speaker 1: other hand is saying come closer, have a taste, and 180 00:10:42,920 --> 00:10:45,920 Speaker 1: then other times they're saying, please confuse me with the 181 00:10:45,960 --> 00:10:48,400 Speaker 1: other creature that this color just like me that happens 182 00:10:48,400 --> 00:10:51,520 Speaker 1: to be poisonous. It gets very complicated, very Yeah, you 183 00:10:51,520 --> 00:10:55,040 Speaker 1: have the whole pantone spectrum in there, and a bunch 184 00:10:55,080 --> 00:10:58,040 Speaker 1: of reasons for them. As you have just pointed out 185 00:10:58,080 --> 00:11:01,480 Speaker 1: a few Now, the majority of color earths are produced 186 00:11:01,480 --> 00:11:04,199 Speaker 1: by pigments, now particles of the color chemicals that we 187 00:11:04,240 --> 00:11:08,200 Speaker 1: talked about, and these are found within specialized cells. And 188 00:11:08,240 --> 00:11:11,560 Speaker 1: these include melanins, which are found in nearly all organisms 189 00:11:11,559 --> 00:11:14,920 Speaker 1: and produce more of the earth tones that you see 190 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:17,439 Speaker 1: that that are pretty common even to us, right as humans. 191 00:11:17,960 --> 00:11:23,120 Speaker 1: And then you have carotenoids, which or carotenoids which produce 192 00:11:23,240 --> 00:11:26,280 Speaker 1: colors primarily in the red to yellow end of the spectrum. 193 00:11:26,440 --> 00:11:31,760 Speaker 1: So think about say, flamingos, they're pink because they're eating 194 00:11:31,800 --> 00:11:36,359 Speaker 1: carotenoid rich shrimp. Yeah, you look at like a baby flamingo. 195 00:11:36,800 --> 00:11:39,280 Speaker 1: They're not pink. They're not born pink, they're born kind 196 00:11:39,320 --> 00:11:42,000 Speaker 1: of gray. It's only through that diet that they end 197 00:11:42,120 --> 00:11:47,160 Speaker 1: up uh stealing the pigments and incorporating them into their diet, right, 198 00:11:47,520 --> 00:11:51,120 Speaker 1: And it's a really easy way to eat pink b pink. Right. 199 00:11:51,480 --> 00:11:53,640 Speaker 1: Then you would think the same thing would apply to 200 00:11:53,760 --> 00:11:56,400 Speaker 1: colors like blue and green, but it would be wrong 201 00:11:56,640 --> 00:12:01,160 Speaker 1: because it's really hard to replicate these colors into the 202 00:12:01,280 --> 00:12:05,199 Speaker 1: skin or feathers through diet. By the way, if if 203 00:12:05,280 --> 00:12:10,520 Speaker 1: humans eat enough carotenoids, generally through carrots, you can actually 204 00:12:10,720 --> 00:12:13,640 Speaker 1: adjust the color in your eyes just a little bit, 205 00:12:13,679 --> 00:12:18,160 Speaker 1: but nothing on the scale of changing your actual skin color. Um. 206 00:12:18,240 --> 00:12:20,840 Speaker 1: Of course, if you eat beats, which also have carotenoids, 207 00:12:20,920 --> 00:12:24,480 Speaker 1: you will see other color alternations take place. We talked 208 00:12:24,480 --> 00:12:27,440 Speaker 1: about this in the Biospheriens, Right, they had a diet 209 00:12:27,480 --> 00:12:31,400 Speaker 1: of sweet potatoes so much so that their skins, right, 210 00:12:31,559 --> 00:12:35,959 Speaker 1: they actually eat enough sweet potatoes to change their skin color. Yeah, 211 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:39,360 Speaker 1: if your diet is extreme, Um, you can actually get 212 00:12:39,440 --> 00:12:42,480 Speaker 1: in on the flamingo ritual here if you want to 213 00:12:42,480 --> 00:12:46,640 Speaker 1: do that, a diet a sweet potatoes, sweet potatoes only. Now, 214 00:12:46,679 --> 00:12:50,839 Speaker 1: even I were talking about how the fact that green 215 00:12:50,960 --> 00:12:57,440 Speaker 1: isn't created in skinner feathers easily seems counterintuitive because you 216 00:12:57,480 --> 00:13:00,280 Speaker 1: look around and you look at the earth and it's 217 00:13:00,320 --> 00:13:03,000 Speaker 1: just full of green vegetation, right, Yeah, I mean, it's 218 00:13:03,040 --> 00:13:05,240 Speaker 1: one thing to think about blue as being this sort 219 00:13:05,280 --> 00:13:10,120 Speaker 1: of difficult to obtain pigment because you know, mine instantly 220 00:13:10,160 --> 00:13:12,960 Speaker 1: turns back to say the Radio Lab episode where they 221 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:15,640 Speaker 1: talked about the possibility that the sky isn't really blue, 222 00:13:15,640 --> 00:13:18,920 Speaker 1: that it's all just about us being told that it's blue. 223 00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:22,160 Speaker 1: And I think about Oliver Sacks and as the book Hallucinations, 224 00:13:22,559 --> 00:13:26,040 Speaker 1: you know, seeking after indigo and uh and and taking 225 00:13:26,120 --> 00:13:30,600 Speaker 1: hallucinogens in order to to perceive like pure inhuman indigo. 226 00:13:30,920 --> 00:13:33,400 Speaker 1: And then you you've taken all that information, you can say, 227 00:13:33,400 --> 00:13:35,040 Speaker 1: all right, I can see where blue would not really 228 00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:38,240 Speaker 1: be a thing per se in in in the course 229 00:13:38,280 --> 00:13:41,800 Speaker 1: of evolution. But green, yeah, green is everywhere. Green would 230 00:13:41,800 --> 00:13:44,760 Speaker 1: it would be vital to your ability to camouflage yourself. 231 00:13:44,800 --> 00:13:46,920 Speaker 1: And in fact, we see so many different green creatures, 232 00:13:47,800 --> 00:13:51,280 Speaker 1: but when you get right down to it, we don't 233 00:13:51,320 --> 00:13:55,200 Speaker 1: really have that much green, uh in the natural world. No. 234 00:13:55,360 --> 00:13:57,360 Speaker 1: And in fact, there's a bit of color mixing for 235 00:13:57,400 --> 00:13:59,840 Speaker 1: some animals. So if you see a green frog out 236 00:13:59,840 --> 00:14:02,760 Speaker 1: in nature, it's not necessarily that they're eating a bunch 237 00:14:02,800 --> 00:14:05,640 Speaker 1: of chlorophyll and they're they're turning green. It's that they're 238 00:14:05,640 --> 00:14:09,120 Speaker 1: actually color mixing within the skin and using those pigments 239 00:14:09,320 --> 00:14:13,600 Speaker 1: pigments to produce that that green coloration. Yeah, it's a 240 00:14:13,679 --> 00:14:16,160 Speaker 1: yellow pigment and a blue structural color and the two 241 00:14:16,320 --> 00:14:20,800 Speaker 1: end up combining into this green effect. Yeah. Now, um, 242 00:14:20,840 --> 00:14:23,720 Speaker 1: so far in terms of blue, only two vertebrates have 243 00:14:23,840 --> 00:14:26,920 Speaker 1: been found that have blue coloring as a result of 244 00:14:27,040 --> 00:14:32,120 Speaker 1: cellular pigment called cyanaphores, and both the mantarin fish and 245 00:14:32,200 --> 00:14:37,520 Speaker 1: the closely related psychedelic mandarin called the picturesque dragonette, are 246 00:14:37,680 --> 00:14:44,160 Speaker 1: vividly colored fish native to coral reefs in the Pacific Ocean. Indeed, 247 00:14:44,200 --> 00:14:46,560 Speaker 1: but then it turns out that some of the sort 248 00:14:46,560 --> 00:14:50,520 Speaker 1: of more iconic blue creatures are are not really blue 249 00:14:50,520 --> 00:14:53,360 Speaker 1: at all. For instance, the blue morphoe butterfly, which is 250 00:14:54,120 --> 00:14:58,840 Speaker 1: beautiful creature, very picturesque example of blue. This is the one, 251 00:14:59,440 --> 00:15:02,840 Speaker 1: for instance, you've find it in Costa Rica, places like that, 252 00:15:02,920 --> 00:15:05,680 Speaker 1: and uh, and there was the famous situation where someone 253 00:15:06,520 --> 00:15:09,960 Speaker 1: forget which publication cinephotographer down to get a picture of one, 254 00:15:10,200 --> 00:15:13,200 Speaker 1: and they're actually very difficult to picture, to photograph their 255 00:15:13,200 --> 00:15:16,160 Speaker 1: wings open while they're they're they've landed, and so the 256 00:15:16,160 --> 00:15:19,360 Speaker 1: photographer just got a dead one and pinned it up 257 00:15:19,440 --> 00:15:21,280 Speaker 1: and then took the picture and it was there's like 258 00:15:21,320 --> 00:15:23,680 Speaker 1: a mild controversy over it, but it's a it's a 259 00:15:23,760 --> 00:15:29,520 Speaker 1: very blue looking wing surface. But it turns out that 260 00:15:29,560 --> 00:15:33,040 Speaker 1: you have tiny transparent structures on the surface of their 261 00:15:33,040 --> 00:15:36,520 Speaker 1: wings that bounce light in just the right way to 262 00:15:36,680 --> 00:15:39,960 Speaker 1: give them the appearance of this vibrant, rich blue. It's 263 00:15:40,040 --> 00:15:43,360 Speaker 1: really brilliant because on one side they're brown, and the 264 00:15:43,360 --> 00:15:45,040 Speaker 1: effact that's what you end up getting when you try 265 00:15:45,080 --> 00:15:46,840 Speaker 1: to photograph them. Most of the time, you just set 266 00:15:46,880 --> 00:15:49,440 Speaker 1: these brown wings and the effect of it being brown 267 00:15:49,520 --> 00:15:52,520 Speaker 1: on that side is to absorb all the other color 268 00:15:52,520 --> 00:15:56,360 Speaker 1: from the other wavelengths, so orange and yellow. And in 269 00:15:56,400 --> 00:15:59,040 Speaker 1: the meantime, on the other side, as you say, it's 270 00:15:59,160 --> 00:16:02,560 Speaker 1: got there was any transparent structures, and that is what 271 00:16:02,720 --> 00:16:05,760 Speaker 1: bounces the light. And of course, as we sort of 272 00:16:05,800 --> 00:16:09,320 Speaker 1: alluded to at the beginning of this, blue is the 273 00:16:09,360 --> 00:16:13,440 Speaker 1: wavelength that comes through the best, and so that's what's 274 00:16:13,480 --> 00:16:16,360 Speaker 1: bounced off the most through the atmosphere and off of 275 00:16:17,280 --> 00:16:20,760 Speaker 1: their wings, or at least one side. Now, if you 276 00:16:20,840 --> 00:16:24,840 Speaker 1: doubt this as an optical illusion, as the ultimate optical illusion, 277 00:16:25,160 --> 00:16:27,160 Speaker 1: you could grind up their wings and you would see 278 00:16:27,200 --> 00:16:30,400 Speaker 1: that there was not a speck of blue pigment in them, 279 00:16:30,480 --> 00:16:33,760 Speaker 1: only brown. If you wanted to grind up that seems terrible, 280 00:16:33,800 --> 00:16:35,960 Speaker 1: but yeah, well, ground up butterfly wings. Imagine that's an 281 00:16:36,040 --> 00:16:38,520 Speaker 1: ingredient and in some sort of which is brew I 282 00:16:38,520 --> 00:16:43,120 Speaker 1: mean sure, sure, yeah, but yeah, the crazy thing about 283 00:16:43,160 --> 00:16:45,760 Speaker 1: this is it all comes around essentially to meta materials. 284 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:49,360 Speaker 1: You know, we're constantly running across new new studies have 285 00:16:49,400 --> 00:16:51,320 Speaker 1: been published new findings where they have some sort of 286 00:16:51,320 --> 00:16:55,080 Speaker 1: crazy new meta material where we're manipulating uh, surface structures 287 00:16:55,120 --> 00:16:57,560 Speaker 1: at a at a very minute level, and in doing so, 288 00:16:57,640 --> 00:17:01,840 Speaker 1: we're changing the ability of the substance to you know, 289 00:17:01,880 --> 00:17:06,160 Speaker 1: absorb or to shed a substance you know, shed water, 290 00:17:06,160 --> 00:17:08,800 Speaker 1: absorb water, or in the way that admit it manipulates light. 291 00:17:08,840 --> 00:17:11,920 Speaker 1: I instantly think back to the Tavanta black that we discussed. 292 00:17:11,920 --> 00:17:14,439 Speaker 1: You know, we have this menty materials that make this 293 00:17:14,440 --> 00:17:18,320 Speaker 1: this uh, this substance appear the surface appear blacker than 294 00:17:18,600 --> 00:17:23,719 Speaker 1: any natural black in our world. And essentially you have 295 00:17:24,080 --> 00:17:26,040 Speaker 1: you know, nature has been doing this since time out 296 00:17:26,080 --> 00:17:28,840 Speaker 1: of mind. It's been been working at that that minute 297 00:17:28,840 --> 00:17:34,600 Speaker 1: scale to manipulate the way the way that we perceive color. Yeah. 298 00:17:34,600 --> 00:17:38,359 Speaker 1: You and I were talking about solar sales earlier, and 299 00:17:38,400 --> 00:17:40,040 Speaker 1: we were saying, we're like, we're so proud of ourselves 300 00:17:40,040 --> 00:17:43,960 Speaker 1: as humans for creating this this material that can reflect 301 00:17:44,119 --> 00:17:47,200 Speaker 1: light and can do a bunch of things in the meantime, 302 00:17:47,240 --> 00:17:50,960 Speaker 1: you have these butterfly wings that are doing the same 303 00:17:50,960 --> 00:17:54,639 Speaker 1: sort of things on this smaller scale, albeit uh for 304 00:17:54,760 --> 00:17:57,639 Speaker 1: different reasons. Now, there's a two thousand and twelve study 305 00:17:58,320 --> 00:18:01,560 Speaker 1: that found that some birds use bubble laced keratin. This 306 00:18:01,640 --> 00:18:03,280 Speaker 1: is the same sort of stuff that you find in 307 00:18:03,359 --> 00:18:07,000 Speaker 1: human fingernails in the barbs of their feathers, and it 308 00:18:07,119 --> 00:18:09,119 Speaker 1: scatters the light from the feather in a way that 309 00:18:09,200 --> 00:18:14,000 Speaker 1: happens to look blue to humans. And Northern Woodlands Magazine 310 00:18:14,040 --> 00:18:16,840 Speaker 1: said a simple way to test this out is to 311 00:18:17,680 --> 00:18:20,680 Speaker 1: take a blue feather, hold it up to the sky 312 00:18:20,720 --> 00:18:23,480 Speaker 1: so that's back lit, and with the sunlight streaming through 313 00:18:23,480 --> 00:18:26,040 Speaker 1: the feather rather than bouncing off its surface, the blue 314 00:18:26,080 --> 00:18:28,840 Speaker 1: color vanishes and you just get this sort of drab 315 00:18:28,920 --> 00:18:31,639 Speaker 1: grayish brown. But if you bring the feather down so 316 00:18:31,680 --> 00:18:33,879 Speaker 1: that the light bounces off of it and scatters the 317 00:18:33,920 --> 00:18:37,760 Speaker 1: blue wavelengths of light, the feather then appears blue once again, 318 00:18:37,800 --> 00:18:43,119 Speaker 1: and this is called structural coloration. You know, then the 319 00:18:43,119 --> 00:18:46,280 Speaker 1: more we study this, the more it seems clear that, 320 00:18:46,480 --> 00:18:49,520 Speaker 1: you know, we have this this naive version of reality 321 00:18:49,560 --> 00:18:52,600 Speaker 1: in which they're just these pure colors, sort of Crayola 322 00:18:52,720 --> 00:18:55,280 Speaker 1: understanding of the world. You have all these pure colors 323 00:18:55,280 --> 00:18:59,520 Speaker 1: floating around, and some pages are are our color with 324 00:18:59,560 --> 00:19:02,720 Speaker 1: certains and others with other crayons. But it's really it's 325 00:19:02,720 --> 00:19:05,040 Speaker 1: almost like there are no real colors at all. When 326 00:19:05,080 --> 00:19:07,680 Speaker 1: you start breaking it down, it just gets it gets, 327 00:19:07,720 --> 00:19:10,520 Speaker 1: this gets so murky. Well, so when you consider other 328 00:19:10,960 --> 00:19:14,520 Speaker 1: organisms out there, like bees there they are perceiving ultra 329 00:19:14,640 --> 00:19:19,800 Speaker 1: violet lights that that we don't um. But yeah, I agree, 330 00:19:19,840 --> 00:19:21,720 Speaker 1: it's kind of funny to think of all the things 331 00:19:21,800 --> 00:19:25,040 Speaker 1: that are going on that we do not perceive. Because 332 00:19:25,080 --> 00:19:28,120 Speaker 1: I was thinking about again that feather, because you've got 333 00:19:28,160 --> 00:19:32,600 Speaker 1: that keratin structure, and there's a layer of melanin and 334 00:19:32,760 --> 00:19:35,560 Speaker 1: that is also working with the So the caratin is 335 00:19:35,560 --> 00:19:38,800 Speaker 1: bouncing off stuff and the melanin is absorbing red and 336 00:19:38,920 --> 00:19:41,480 Speaker 1: yellow wavelengths. So all that is going on, but we 337 00:19:41,640 --> 00:19:45,600 Speaker 1: don't see it. Now, if you want to talk about 338 00:19:45,600 --> 00:19:49,480 Speaker 1: a really fantastic blue that occurs in nature, or again 339 00:19:49,600 --> 00:19:52,960 Speaker 1: appears to occur in nature, uh, and we're talking like 340 00:19:53,040 --> 00:19:58,000 Speaker 1: supernormal stimuli level of blue, then you have the berry 341 00:19:58,040 --> 00:20:04,719 Speaker 1: of the Polia condensed sata plant, which has an exceedingly blue, 342 00:20:04,760 --> 00:20:09,880 Speaker 1: like reflectively intense blue that is just more potent than 343 00:20:10,119 --> 00:20:14,320 Speaker 1: any other living creatures. Blue. Yeah, yeah, that's that's what 344 00:20:14,560 --> 00:20:17,479 Speaker 1: uh old Rick Steiner, a physicist says about it. It It 345 00:20:17,600 --> 00:20:20,280 Speaker 1: says that it's reflectivity is really more intense than any 346 00:20:20,280 --> 00:20:23,320 Speaker 1: living thing. And he said most services reflect just a 347 00:20:23,400 --> 00:20:26,360 Speaker 1: small percentage of the light that hits them. However, this 348 00:20:26,480 --> 00:20:31,400 Speaker 1: berry reflects thirty of the light. The berry skin itself 349 00:20:31,440 --> 00:20:34,880 Speaker 1: has no pigment, no colored cells, or I should astric 350 00:20:34,920 --> 00:20:39,199 Speaker 1: that um. But all the cells are coiled in the 351 00:20:39,280 --> 00:20:42,159 Speaker 1: sort of twist, and the cells form sheets just like 352 00:20:42,240 --> 00:20:44,560 Speaker 1: the skin of an onion, and that allows light to 353 00:20:44,640 --> 00:20:47,160 Speaker 1: filter down through the layers in a way that creates 354 00:20:47,200 --> 00:20:50,000 Speaker 1: again that structural coloration that I was talking about with 355 00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:53,399 Speaker 1: the feather. And there's just a few cells in the 356 00:20:53,400 --> 00:20:57,560 Speaker 1: berry skin that do reflect other colors, and that is 357 00:20:57,600 --> 00:21:02,119 Speaker 1: what gives the fruit what Center calls a pick selated glow. Wow, 358 00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:04,240 Speaker 1: so you have you have a few pigments in there, 359 00:21:04,280 --> 00:21:06,840 Speaker 1: but then most of it is just completely structural color. 360 00:21:06,920 --> 00:21:08,720 Speaker 1: You look at this thing again, you think of it 361 00:21:08,760 --> 00:21:12,399 Speaker 1: in Crayola terms, and you think, wow, that that berry 362 00:21:12,480 --> 00:21:15,080 Speaker 1: is really painted with a nice blue. But there's there's 363 00:21:15,119 --> 00:21:19,440 Speaker 1: it's it's mostly just a matter of structurally altering the 364 00:21:19,760 --> 00:21:23,000 Speaker 1: way that the lights playing with it. Yeah, and there's 365 00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:24,680 Speaker 1: a good reason for this too. I mean, this is 366 00:21:24,720 --> 00:21:28,840 Speaker 1: a very tiny berry, so in a sense, it needs 367 00:21:28,880 --> 00:21:31,119 Speaker 1: to do this. It needs to be able to reflect 368 00:21:31,520 --> 00:21:34,520 Speaker 1: more white so that it can have the sort of 369 00:21:34,600 --> 00:21:38,440 Speaker 1: brilliant blue that as a beacon two birds to come 370 00:21:38,440 --> 00:21:41,080 Speaker 1: and eat it and spread it, spread the seeds. It's 371 00:21:41,119 --> 00:21:43,439 Speaker 1: it's basically like the it's the smaller business that has 372 00:21:43,480 --> 00:21:47,639 Speaker 1: blown its entire advertising budget on a really catchy Super 373 00:21:47,640 --> 00:21:50,320 Speaker 1: Bowl at Yeah, I was gonna say it's a snapple 374 00:21:50,400 --> 00:21:53,639 Speaker 1: of sodas. Maybe I'm not sure if that fits. All Right, 375 00:21:53,640 --> 00:21:55,560 Speaker 1: we're gonna take a quick break and when we come back, 376 00:21:55,800 --> 00:21:59,679 Speaker 1: we will discuss more about the color blue, uh, particularly 377 00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:10,840 Speaker 1: how plays into your eyes. All right, we're back, And 378 00:22:11,240 --> 00:22:14,080 Speaker 1: before we talk about the color blue of eyes and 379 00:22:14,080 --> 00:22:17,480 Speaker 1: and whether it actually even exists, we should talk about 380 00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:21,400 Speaker 1: the blue sky and whether it actually exists. Right, Yeah, 381 00:22:21,440 --> 00:22:26,439 Speaker 1: you get into this discussion. He's the sky actually really blue? 382 00:22:26,480 --> 00:22:28,879 Speaker 1: And where do we even get that idea? Is it 383 00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:31,280 Speaker 1: just something that we we hear about. We hear people 384 00:22:31,280 --> 00:22:33,879 Speaker 1: talk about the blue sky, Like didn't I don't remember 385 00:22:33,880 --> 00:22:35,919 Speaker 1: telling my son that the guy is blue. Did he 386 00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:37,600 Speaker 1: indeed just pick that up from a book where he 387 00:22:37,640 --> 00:22:40,960 Speaker 1: sees a more vivid depiction of blue and it looks 388 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:43,480 Speaker 1: like his shirt that he's told as blue. Did somebody 389 00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:46,439 Speaker 1: at school say, hey, this guy is blue? Or is 390 00:22:46,480 --> 00:22:49,600 Speaker 1: there an innate blueness to the sky? Well, you've probably 391 00:22:49,640 --> 00:22:52,680 Speaker 1: heard the explanation before that, because the earth is covered, 392 00:22:52,760 --> 00:22:56,000 Speaker 1: you know, with water, that it's the This sky is 393 00:22:56,040 --> 00:22:59,320 Speaker 1: just reflecting that back. But that's not actually what's happening. 394 00:23:00,119 --> 00:23:03,200 Speaker 1: Think about the absence of light actually, and think about 395 00:23:03,240 --> 00:23:05,119 Speaker 1: what happens when we don't have light up in the 396 00:23:05,160 --> 00:23:07,840 Speaker 1: sky when it's dark. You know, you get the stars 397 00:23:07,880 --> 00:23:10,280 Speaker 1: coming out, and the sky appears to be a black 398 00:23:10,440 --> 00:23:13,320 Speaker 1: velvet color because of course we don't have any light 399 00:23:13,320 --> 00:23:16,240 Speaker 1: from the sun. But once the sun is up and 400 00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:19,720 Speaker 1: the rays of light play with particles in the air, 401 00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:23,800 Speaker 1: right that the gas molecules, then you have this interaction 402 00:23:24,560 --> 00:23:29,200 Speaker 1: of light and particles, and it looks kind of split 403 00:23:29,240 --> 00:23:31,680 Speaker 1: that white light. For a second, let's put it through 404 00:23:31,680 --> 00:23:33,880 Speaker 1: a prism. If we do that, we know we get 405 00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:36,720 Speaker 1: Roy G. BIV. And we know that each of those 406 00:23:36,720 --> 00:23:41,720 Speaker 1: color components of this rainbow of colors has different wavelengths, 407 00:23:42,400 --> 00:23:45,399 Speaker 1: And it turns out that the shorter the wavelength, the 408 00:23:45,520 --> 00:23:49,560 Speaker 1: more these colors will scatter in the atmosphere when the 409 00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:53,800 Speaker 1: sun is up, you know, during the day, and the 410 00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:56,960 Speaker 1: more our eyes will perceive them. I mean, that's sort 411 00:23:57,000 --> 00:23:59,800 Speaker 1: of the short and dirty answer here. Yeah, So essentially 412 00:24:00,080 --> 00:24:03,360 Speaker 1: about the scattering of that blue light, and that's why 413 00:24:03,440 --> 00:24:05,880 Speaker 1: we perceive this guy is blue. Yeah, because think about 414 00:24:05,920 --> 00:24:10,600 Speaker 1: You've got oxygen and nitrogen molecules dominating the atmosphere and 415 00:24:10,840 --> 00:24:16,600 Speaker 1: they're relatively small, and so these are interacting really well 416 00:24:16,880 --> 00:24:21,120 Speaker 1: with the wavelengths of indigo. Yes, and you're probably thinking 417 00:24:21,200 --> 00:24:24,600 Speaker 1: right now, indigo. Well, then why why doesn't this guy 418 00:24:24,800 --> 00:24:28,920 Speaker 1: appear much darker like indigo to us? Well, the second 419 00:24:29,119 --> 00:24:31,879 Speaker 1: part of the answer to why this guy is blue 420 00:24:32,119 --> 00:24:35,080 Speaker 1: is that the mechanics of our eyes are pretty flawed. 421 00:24:35,240 --> 00:24:39,639 Speaker 1: We can't actually perceive that color as it is, and 422 00:24:39,720 --> 00:24:43,800 Speaker 1: so are I. Our machinery does a little bit of 423 00:24:43,840 --> 00:24:46,800 Speaker 1: pigmentation itself. It takes some of that white light, mixes 424 00:24:46,840 --> 00:24:49,359 Speaker 1: it with indigo, and you get more of a blue color. Now, 425 00:24:49,600 --> 00:24:54,080 Speaker 1: the more white there is, the more that color will change. Right, 426 00:24:54,119 --> 00:24:57,320 Speaker 1: The less like there is, the more that color will change. 427 00:24:57,320 --> 00:24:59,399 Speaker 1: On a different spectrum, so you get the brighter blues, 428 00:24:59,480 --> 00:25:02,000 Speaker 1: darker blue, if you get great now, if you if 429 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:04,479 Speaker 1: you want to go over this material again, we do 430 00:25:04,600 --> 00:25:07,480 Speaker 1: have a video about the sky and wine is blue 431 00:25:07,520 --> 00:25:09,560 Speaker 1: and wine appears to be blue. I will be sure 432 00:25:09,600 --> 00:25:12,840 Speaker 1: to include a link to that video on the landing 433 00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:15,080 Speaker 1: page for this episode. It's stuff to Blow your Mind 434 00:25:15,119 --> 00:25:20,520 Speaker 1: dot com. So this naturally flows into the idea of 435 00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:25,679 Speaker 1: eye color. Old blue eyes, old blue eyes. Frank Sinatra, 436 00:25:27,440 --> 00:25:29,720 Speaker 1: who you know, has you could say the skies and 437 00:25:29,880 --> 00:25:33,240 Speaker 1: his eyes in a sense, because the same thing is 438 00:25:33,359 --> 00:25:36,879 Speaker 1: kind of happening in the eyeball. Yeah, what we're saying here, Sorry, 439 00:25:37,040 --> 00:25:40,359 Speaker 1: so not your fans. Frank's eyes were not really blue, 440 00:25:40,359 --> 00:25:43,639 Speaker 1: and in fact, nobody's eyes are really blue or green. 441 00:25:44,359 --> 00:25:49,840 Speaker 1: Really Hazel's home, because mine are supposedly green. Sorry dude, Yeah, 442 00:25:49,840 --> 00:25:53,640 Speaker 1: I mean mine are kind of gray green. Um. The 443 00:25:53,640 --> 00:25:56,480 Speaker 1: the the only true chosen ones out there are people 444 00:25:56,560 --> 00:26:00,120 Speaker 1: with the with brown eyes, the only people who are 445 00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:02,960 Speaker 1: not trying to pull one over us with an optical 446 00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:08,680 Speaker 1: illusion of different colored eyes. And this is because irises 447 00:26:08,720 --> 00:26:12,560 Speaker 1: are made up of three layers, a thin top and 448 00:26:12,680 --> 00:26:16,720 Speaker 1: back layer with a spongy layer in between called the stroma, 449 00:26:16,840 --> 00:26:20,719 Speaker 1: and any layer can have pigmentation in it, and there 450 00:26:20,720 --> 00:26:22,760 Speaker 1: are a few different colors of pigmentation that come into 451 00:26:22,760 --> 00:26:26,240 Speaker 1: play here. So most people have either dark brown or 452 00:26:26,440 --> 00:26:29,919 Speaker 1: yellow pigment in at least one of these layers, and 453 00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:32,919 Speaker 1: the combination of yellow and brown go into making brown 454 00:26:33,080 --> 00:26:36,959 Speaker 1: and amber colored eyes. So brown people have these pigments 455 00:26:37,240 --> 00:26:39,640 Speaker 1: um and each layer of the iris giving the eye 456 00:26:39,640 --> 00:26:43,280 Speaker 1: a strong brown color. But when you don't, when you 457 00:26:43,320 --> 00:26:49,960 Speaker 1: have sort of different genetic uh deposits of this pigment 458 00:26:50,840 --> 00:26:53,120 Speaker 1: in the eye and in the different layers, you have 459 00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:56,480 Speaker 1: variation of eye color. Because what I'm talking about here 460 00:26:57,440 --> 00:27:00,439 Speaker 1: is is that that brown, let's say that's in the 461 00:27:00,440 --> 00:27:04,760 Speaker 1: back layer, could be absorbing all the different spectrum of light. Right. 462 00:27:05,119 --> 00:27:08,000 Speaker 1: But let's say that you didn't have any pigmentation in 463 00:27:08,040 --> 00:27:12,479 Speaker 1: this trauma, all right, but you have molecules hanging out 464 00:27:12,520 --> 00:27:15,919 Speaker 1: in this trauma. Well, what's happening there is that again 465 00:27:16,040 --> 00:27:19,639 Speaker 1: that blue light is bouncing around in there because all 466 00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:21,399 Speaker 1: the other ones are all the other wavelengths of the 467 00:27:21,400 --> 00:27:24,720 Speaker 1: other colors are absorbed by the brown. And then you 468 00:27:24,760 --> 00:27:27,440 Speaker 1: have the particles in this trauma that are basically reflecting back, 469 00:27:27,480 --> 00:27:30,200 Speaker 1: you know, sort of like the blue sky effect. Wow. 470 00:27:30,480 --> 00:27:33,560 Speaker 1: And and this is of course called the the tin 471 00:27:33,640 --> 00:27:36,600 Speaker 1: doll effect. Yes, yeah, and and again it is fascinating 472 00:27:36,600 --> 00:27:39,280 Speaker 1: because it is pretty much the same scenario that's happening 473 00:27:39,320 --> 00:27:41,760 Speaker 1: with the blue sky. It's happening in your eyes, as 474 00:27:42,080 --> 00:27:44,080 Speaker 1: weird and kind of magical as that sounds, and it's 475 00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:46,119 Speaker 1: kind of beautiful too in a way, even though it's 476 00:27:46,119 --> 00:27:48,840 Speaker 1: an illusion. And like right now, if you're a green stare, 477 00:27:48,920 --> 00:27:50,919 Speaker 1: you're trying to pull an optical illusion on me. And 478 00:27:50,960 --> 00:27:54,880 Speaker 1: in fact, green, by the way, is the blue that's 479 00:27:54,880 --> 00:27:58,440 Speaker 1: refracted and a small amount of yellow pigment in that 480 00:27:58,520 --> 00:28:02,240 Speaker 1: layer that are in ing. Wow. So, whether you're looking 481 00:28:02,320 --> 00:28:05,920 Speaker 1: up into the eternal blue sky uh and uh and 482 00:28:06,160 --> 00:28:08,080 Speaker 1: and trying to find some sort of logic there, or 483 00:28:08,119 --> 00:28:10,440 Speaker 1: you're just looking into the the eyes of a friend 484 00:28:10,520 --> 00:28:15,680 Speaker 1: or loved one, you're you're essentially seeing an illusion. Yes, yeah, yeah. 485 00:28:15,760 --> 00:28:17,960 Speaker 1: And babies can often have blue eyes for a few 486 00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:20,840 Speaker 1: days or months after birth because the melanin the darkening 487 00:28:20,880 --> 00:28:24,080 Speaker 1: pigment of the eyes hasn't fully developed in this stroma 488 00:28:24,280 --> 00:28:27,920 Speaker 1: so um. And I've also read that the blue even 489 00:28:27,920 --> 00:28:31,639 Speaker 1: in a person's seemingly blue eyes that will actually can 490 00:28:31,800 --> 00:28:34,359 Speaker 1: con fade over time as they age. Well, yeah, and 491 00:28:34,359 --> 00:28:36,639 Speaker 1: that's because of them. I believe the size of the 492 00:28:36,680 --> 00:28:40,240 Speaker 1: molecules in their eyes in the amount of refraction or 493 00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:42,560 Speaker 1: reflecting that goes on. Now, if you want to learn 494 00:28:42,560 --> 00:28:45,440 Speaker 1: more about this, this is a there's a great article 495 00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:48,920 Speaker 1: by Esther Ingle Arcis writing for I O nine and 496 00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:53,600 Speaker 1: the article is called physics prove that nobody has blue eyes. So, 497 00:28:53,960 --> 00:28:55,920 Speaker 1: as you said in an email to me earlier, take 498 00:28:56,000 --> 00:28:59,200 Speaker 1: that Snatra. Yeah, you know. It reminds me that Brent 499 00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:02,400 Speaker 1: Spiner had played Data on Star Trek did an album 500 00:29:02,960 --> 00:29:05,160 Speaker 1: of I think just like kind of you know, crooner songs, 501 00:29:05,200 --> 00:29:08,760 Speaker 1: and they called it Old Yellow Eyes because as Data 502 00:29:08,800 --> 00:29:11,440 Speaker 1: on Star Trek the next Generation, he has like yellow 503 00:29:11,640 --> 00:29:16,720 Speaker 1: android eyes. There you go, that's beautiful. Yeah, yeah, he has. 504 00:29:16,520 --> 00:29:20,800 Speaker 1: The Data was a beautiful, beautiful character. I like Lord two. 505 00:29:20,840 --> 00:29:24,240 Speaker 1: He was all right, Now, what's the effect of someone 506 00:29:24,320 --> 00:29:26,880 Speaker 1: with blue eyes staring at you? I guess it would 507 00:29:26,880 --> 00:29:29,719 Speaker 1: be different for each person in their personal experience with 508 00:29:29,800 --> 00:29:34,280 Speaker 1: blue But of course there exists a study to look 509 00:29:34,360 --> 00:29:39,920 Speaker 1: into the psychological effects of blue, especially when it versus red. Yes. Indeed, 510 00:29:40,960 --> 00:29:44,000 Speaker 1: get into these these color theories studies. You know, how 511 00:29:44,040 --> 00:29:47,480 Speaker 1: does how does the color of a room affect someone's demeanor? 512 00:29:48,360 --> 00:29:50,280 Speaker 1: There even if you were not going to discuss them really, 513 00:29:50,320 --> 00:29:56,080 Speaker 1: but you know, they look at the how Olympic athletes perform, 514 00:29:56,200 --> 00:30:00,000 Speaker 1: how well they perform they're wearing blue versus red? Um, 515 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:05,360 Speaker 1: but in particular, uh, yeah, how does blue effects, say, uh, 516 00:30:05,680 --> 00:30:09,000 Speaker 1: performance on a on a test? Right? Well, there's a 517 00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:12,720 Speaker 1: two nine study publishing the journal Science, which are where 518 00:30:12,760 --> 00:30:16,320 Speaker 1: researchers at the University of British Columbia conducted tests with 519 00:30:16,840 --> 00:30:20,440 Speaker 1: six hundred people to answer the question does does does 520 00:30:20,480 --> 00:30:23,840 Speaker 1: cognitive performance vary depending on whether you're looking at red 521 00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:28,640 Speaker 1: or you're looking at blue and uh surprisingly or unsurprisingly, 522 00:30:28,640 --> 00:30:32,240 Speaker 1: and depending on how how much of value place on colors. 523 00:30:32,280 --> 00:30:34,920 Speaker 1: The red groups did better on tests of recall and 524 00:30:34,960 --> 00:30:38,720 Speaker 1: attention to detail, you know, such as remembering specific words, 525 00:30:38,880 --> 00:30:42,560 Speaker 1: checking spelling and punctuation, you know that kind of you know, 526 00:30:42,720 --> 00:30:46,240 Speaker 1: fine tuning of material. But the blue groups they did 527 00:30:46,240 --> 00:30:51,320 Speaker 1: better on tests that required imaginative inventive freethinking, you know, 528 00:30:51,360 --> 00:30:55,760 Speaker 1: coming up with with remarkable new ways to utilize this proper, 529 00:30:55,840 --> 00:30:59,200 Speaker 1: that proper that element. Yeah, and if you're wondering about 530 00:30:59,280 --> 00:31:02,160 Speaker 1: the mechanist, I'm here of how it was done. The 531 00:31:02,200 --> 00:31:07,240 Speaker 1: participants performed tasks with words or images displayed against red, blue, 532 00:31:07,360 --> 00:31:11,880 Speaker 1: or neutral backgrounds on computer screens. UM. And I believe 533 00:31:11,880 --> 00:31:14,640 Speaker 1: there have been studies too in which people were housed 534 00:31:14,640 --> 00:31:17,480 Speaker 1: in blue or red rooms, certainly pink ones. We've talked 535 00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:21,160 Speaker 1: about that before. UM, But I'm not surprised that blue 536 00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:24,360 Speaker 1: would be perceived as a creativity booster because I think 537 00:31:24,400 --> 00:31:26,840 Speaker 1: there's a calming effect here at play, and we know 538 00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:30,480 Speaker 1: that when your brain can settle in calm, then it 539 00:31:30,520 --> 00:31:32,080 Speaker 1: feels like it had a little bit more room to 540 00:31:32,160 --> 00:31:36,360 Speaker 1: play and to use its imagination. Yeah, and plus you 541 00:31:36,360 --> 00:31:38,280 Speaker 1: could say, all right, if you're if you're staring up 542 00:31:38,280 --> 00:31:42,480 Speaker 1: at a clear blue sky, then you probably you know 543 00:31:42,680 --> 00:31:45,000 Speaker 1: there's there's not as much mystery there, like all is 544 00:31:45,040 --> 00:31:48,040 Speaker 1: pretty much exposed. If you're staring at the blue water scene, 545 00:31:48,040 --> 00:31:49,760 Speaker 1: you're presumably not in the water, and then you don't 546 00:31:49,760 --> 00:31:52,200 Speaker 1: have to worry about what's underneath it. Maybe it allows 547 00:31:52,200 --> 00:31:55,640 Speaker 1: a little just just clearing of the of the work 548 00:31:55,680 --> 00:31:58,600 Speaker 1: desk of the mind. Well, it's interesting too in my 549 00:31:58,720 --> 00:32:03,640 Speaker 1: headspace app, just the meditation app that we um use 550 00:32:05,040 --> 00:32:08,280 Speaker 1: the andy put a comb. The person who leads the 551 00:32:08,320 --> 00:32:12,080 Speaker 1: guided Meditations always talks about getting in that blue sky space. 552 00:32:12,760 --> 00:32:16,080 Speaker 1: He says to look at any thoughts as he sort 553 00:32:16,120 --> 00:32:21,280 Speaker 1: of gray clouds passing by. So already there's this idea that, yeah, 554 00:32:21,280 --> 00:32:23,680 Speaker 1: you're you're in some sort of other I don't want 555 00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:27,480 Speaker 1: to say altered state, but other space in which there's 556 00:32:27,520 --> 00:32:32,080 Speaker 1: a sort of clarity. Likewise, red would be easy association. 557 00:32:32,120 --> 00:32:34,320 Speaker 1: There is, of course blood. In fact, if you had 558 00:32:34,320 --> 00:32:36,240 Speaker 1: a list associations for red, I would say, like the 559 00:32:36,240 --> 00:32:39,080 Speaker 1: first fifty or sixty would all just be blood, one 560 00:32:39,160 --> 00:32:42,240 Speaker 1: listed after another. Yeah. My daughter has said she doesn't 561 00:32:42,280 --> 00:32:45,440 Speaker 1: like the color red because she thinks about blood. Yeah, 562 00:32:45,680 --> 00:32:49,880 Speaker 1: but of course she has been exposed to a lot 563 00:32:49,920 --> 00:32:54,520 Speaker 1: of Star Wars and Ninjago and I don't know, well, 564 00:32:54,760 --> 00:32:58,120 Speaker 1: just with life Savers, right, the Sith Lords all used 565 00:32:58,200 --> 00:33:02,800 Speaker 1: red light stavers, if I'm not mistaken. All the the 566 00:33:02,920 --> 00:33:05,160 Speaker 1: Jedi they do they use all used blue, and then 567 00:33:05,240 --> 00:33:06,600 Speaker 1: Luke had a green one, or is it the other 568 00:33:06,600 --> 00:33:10,920 Speaker 1: way around? I cannot remember, but I do recall that 569 00:33:11,040 --> 00:33:13,800 Speaker 1: Darth Maul has the right living red lightsaber, but not 570 00:33:13,840 --> 00:33:16,040 Speaker 1: only that he has the red and black markings on 571 00:33:16,160 --> 00:33:20,240 Speaker 1: his face which are very ferocious looking. Yes, yeah, so 572 00:33:20,280 --> 00:33:24,400 Speaker 1: he's Yeah, he's definitely a good spokes creature for the 573 00:33:24,440 --> 00:33:27,200 Speaker 1: color red, like very much just taking on red. It's 574 00:33:27,240 --> 00:33:31,240 Speaker 1: this red, demonic aggressive color as opposed to a more 575 00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:33,480 Speaker 1: you know, a more peaceful Jedi would presumably have a 576 00:33:33,520 --> 00:33:37,320 Speaker 1: blue lightsaber interest in nice soothing blue tones. Well, and 577 00:33:37,360 --> 00:33:40,960 Speaker 1: if you decided to decorate your face with blue instead 578 00:33:40,960 --> 00:33:42,960 Speaker 1: of red and black, will you'd just be part of 579 00:33:42,960 --> 00:33:46,160 Speaker 1: the blue man group. Right, There's not much threatening even 580 00:33:46,160 --> 00:33:48,360 Speaker 1: if even if you really look at him and you 581 00:33:48,400 --> 00:33:51,160 Speaker 1: start getting a little creaked out, you can only feel 582 00:33:51,200 --> 00:33:54,160 Speaker 1: so threatened by the blue Man group, you know. Final 583 00:33:54,280 --> 00:33:56,320 Speaker 1: final note on that, there was an article in The 584 00:33:56,320 --> 00:33:58,520 Speaker 1: New York Times potion two thousand nine by Pam Belloic 585 00:33:58,800 --> 00:34:04,280 Speaker 1: titled reinvent wheel blue Room diffusing a bomb red room Um. 586 00:34:04,400 --> 00:34:07,160 Speaker 1: She pointed out that at the New York Times at 587 00:34:07,160 --> 00:34:10,759 Speaker 1: the time there were no blue rooms. There were red rooms, 588 00:34:10,800 --> 00:34:14,279 Speaker 1: but no blue rooms. So you can imagine, especially you 589 00:34:14,280 --> 00:34:16,640 Speaker 1: have tight deadlines in place, it's all about like getting 590 00:34:16,640 --> 00:34:18,920 Speaker 1: the story right, getting the story out on time, that 591 00:34:18,960 --> 00:34:22,839 Speaker 1: it would probably be a pretty red room environment. Yeah, 592 00:34:22,840 --> 00:34:26,520 Speaker 1: then the saying the article that the walls were painted 593 00:34:26,520 --> 00:34:30,160 Speaker 1: a tomato soup red. Yeah. Yeah, again, keep keeping you 594 00:34:30,160 --> 00:34:32,719 Speaker 1: on your toes, keeping you aggressive, I can, I could 595 00:34:32,719 --> 00:34:36,040 Speaker 1: see that in the place though. And lusty and lusty 596 00:34:36,239 --> 00:34:38,400 Speaker 1: that's the other association with red. Yeah, And there there 597 00:34:38,400 --> 00:34:40,600 Speaker 1: have been some interesting studies along those lines that you know, 598 00:34:40,719 --> 00:34:43,279 Speaker 1: that show that you know, man sees a woman that 599 00:34:43,320 --> 00:34:45,879 Speaker 1: gets the red background or in a red outfit. Uh, 600 00:34:45,920 --> 00:34:48,919 Speaker 1: there's going to be more. He's gonna interpreter is more 601 00:34:49,239 --> 00:34:52,800 Speaker 1: beautiful or sexual? Uh, that sort of thing. Yeah, red 602 00:34:52,960 --> 00:34:54,759 Speaker 1: is a very fascinating color. And I think this all 603 00:34:54,800 --> 00:34:58,480 Speaker 1: just points to this idea that these colors are working 604 00:34:58,560 --> 00:35:02,719 Speaker 1: on us in sub conscious ways, um, in ways that 605 00:35:02,800 --> 00:35:06,360 Speaker 1: we cannot even perceive given the machinery that we have 606 00:35:06,400 --> 00:35:10,080 Speaker 1: in our eyeballs. And so we may cover a couple 607 00:35:10,200 --> 00:35:13,480 Speaker 1: of other colors, UM be interested to know from you guys, 608 00:35:13,560 --> 00:35:16,359 Speaker 1: if you have a favorite that you'd want to know about. Well, 609 00:35:16,400 --> 00:35:18,560 Speaker 1: you know, it gets right into symbolism too, because we 610 00:35:18,560 --> 00:35:22,319 Speaker 1: we end up loading in associations with certain colors, uh, 611 00:35:22,560 --> 00:35:27,440 Speaker 1: sports teams, cultural things such as Marty Grass. When we 612 00:35:27,440 --> 00:35:31,520 Speaker 1: were getting test colors and test designs for our website 613 00:35:31,680 --> 00:35:33,799 Speaker 1: a while back, one of the designs we were given 614 00:35:33,840 --> 00:35:37,279 Speaker 1: was a brilliant like purple and gold design, and I 615 00:35:37,320 --> 00:35:39,239 Speaker 1: think we both just said, now, that's just that looks 616 00:35:39,280 --> 00:35:41,400 Speaker 1: like we're celebrating Marty Grass. It's not really what we're 617 00:35:41,400 --> 00:35:44,439 Speaker 1: gonna go for. Um, there's a lot of that at play. 618 00:35:44,480 --> 00:35:46,759 Speaker 1: Like someone might say I like these colors because they 619 00:35:46,760 --> 00:35:48,759 Speaker 1: look kind of Rastafarian, and others might say that it 620 00:35:48,800 --> 00:35:50,440 Speaker 1: looks a little too rastera for what I'm trying to 621 00:35:50,440 --> 00:35:54,279 Speaker 1: do here. Uh, please keep those colors to yourself. Yeah, 622 00:35:54,360 --> 00:35:58,440 Speaker 1: for my money, it's pink, because recently you had sent 623 00:35:58,520 --> 00:36:01,120 Speaker 1: me an article with the tie I don't this pink 624 00:36:01,280 --> 00:36:04,600 Speaker 1: even exist? Or pink doesn't exist, And there's all the 625 00:36:04,719 --> 00:36:07,839 Speaker 1: sort of implications that pink has had, and historically it's 626 00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:10,799 Speaker 1: fascinating color. So maybe maybe we'll get around to do that. 627 00:36:10,840 --> 00:36:12,640 Speaker 1: One in the West used to be a man's color 628 00:36:12,719 --> 00:36:17,239 Speaker 1: and then when we lost it. Yeah, yeah, it's hard 629 00:36:17,239 --> 00:36:20,160 Speaker 1: to think of that now. All right, all right, so 630 00:36:20,160 --> 00:36:24,360 Speaker 1: there you go. Blue. Uh, an exploration of the color blue, 631 00:36:24,680 --> 00:36:26,480 Speaker 1: what it means to us and how we perceive it 632 00:36:26,840 --> 00:36:29,640 Speaker 1: and and where it came from. Now, if you would 633 00:36:29,640 --> 00:36:32,840 Speaker 1: like to explore more on this topic, or other topics, 634 00:36:32,840 --> 00:36:36,200 Speaker 1: other color related topics. Be sure to check out stuff 635 00:36:36,239 --> 00:36:38,799 Speaker 1: to Blow your Mind dot com. That's our mothership. That's 636 00:36:38,800 --> 00:36:41,080 Speaker 1: where we'll find all the podcast episodes, all the blog post, 637 00:36:41,120 --> 00:36:42,920 Speaker 1: all the videos. There's a search bar at the top 638 00:36:42,960 --> 00:36:44,799 Speaker 1: of that. So there's a topic that you're interested in, 639 00:36:44,840 --> 00:36:47,239 Speaker 1: go plug the word insto what we have on on it, 640 00:36:47,280 --> 00:36:49,359 Speaker 1: and if you don't find anything, well, get in touch 641 00:36:49,400 --> 00:36:51,600 Speaker 1: with us and let us know you want some coverage 642 00:36:51,680 --> 00:36:54,399 Speaker 1: on that topic. In the meantime, you can share your 643 00:36:54,760 --> 00:36:57,239 Speaker 1: blue or red or pink thoughts with us, and you 644 00:36:57,280 --> 00:37:00,560 Speaker 1: can do that by sending an email to below the 645 00:37:00,560 --> 00:37:06,000 Speaker 1: mind of at how stuff works dot com. For more 646 00:37:06,040 --> 00:37:08,680 Speaker 1: on this and thousands of other topics, visit how stuff 647 00:37:08,680 --> 00:37:13,440 Speaker 1: works dot com. H