WEBVTT - How do butterfly wings get their color? 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.920 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:07.520 It's ready. Are you welcome to stuff you should know 0:00:08.119 --> 0:00:16.479 from house Stuff Works dot com? Hey, and welcome to 0:00:16.520 --> 0:00:19.760 the podcast. I'm Josh Clark with me as always as 0:00:19.880 --> 0:00:24.920 Charles W. Chucker's fluttered by Bryant. No, I'm a caterpillar 0:00:25.160 --> 0:00:27.960 and one day I might be a beautiful butterfly. Yes, 0:00:28.840 --> 0:00:32.000 you're you're an Olympic coal. Yes, but you're going to 0:00:32.080 --> 0:00:39.040 be a diamond someday, Chuck. Who's saying that? Uh? Originally 0:00:39.320 --> 0:00:42.159 it was one of those old guys. That's a good one. 0:00:42.479 --> 0:00:47.240 Widespread panic. Did they cover that really? Yeah? It was 0:00:47.320 --> 0:00:50.120 like a nineteen minute version. Yeah, right, it went a 0:00:50.120 --> 0:00:54.400 little long. You could say, how you doing, Chuck? I'm good. 0:00:54.440 --> 0:00:57.440 I have freshly shaved my head like you. No, mind's 0:00:57.480 --> 0:01:00.160 not fresh minds shaggy. Well yeah, but we're both kind 0:01:00.160 --> 0:01:02.560 of onion heads. Now, you look good where I'm usually not. 0:01:02.720 --> 0:01:04.880 You look pretty. Thank you? Did you take a series 0:01:04.880 --> 0:01:10.919 of pictures of yourself? No? Not yet? Okay, that's later. So, Chuck, 0:01:11.040 --> 0:01:14.120 you've heard about this oil spill, right? Yeah? I had 0:01:14.120 --> 0:01:20.840 a feeling you might tie this in devastation, uh, dead wildlife, UM, 0:01:21.319 --> 0:01:27.640 injured economies, Obama's Katrina. Yeah, there's one thing that has 0:01:27.680 --> 0:01:35.039 been conspicuously absent in my um estimation. Beautiful. Nobody's talking 0:01:35.040 --> 0:01:37.840 about iridescence. No one's talking about how pretty the oil 0:01:37.880 --> 0:01:42.640 slick is. It's because it's horribly ugly. It is, unless 0:01:42.720 --> 0:01:45.280 you stay in at a certain angle and then you're like, oh, 0:01:45.360 --> 0:01:48.200 this is kind of nice. Actually, yeah, I know what 0:01:48.240 --> 0:01:51.840 you mean. Yeah, we're headed. We're talking about iridescence in 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:58.680 this one because the shimmery color changing quality called iridescence 0:01:59.240 --> 0:02:05.120 that oils bills feature are in common with something called butterflies, 0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:11.600 the wings of butterflies. And I can tell you that, Um, 0:02:11.600 --> 0:02:15.680 twenty four hours ago, I had no idea why a butterfly, 0:02:16.520 --> 0:02:20.040 the butterfly's wings were iridescent. Now I do. This is 0:02:20.080 --> 0:02:23.480 why I love episodes like this, because it's here, is 0:02:23.560 --> 0:02:27.520 why there's no maybe it's kind of like this, or 0:02:27.560 --> 0:02:29.480 we don't really know, so you and I get the 0:02:29.480 --> 0:02:33.880 conjecture like jackasses all day long? Right, Um, Instead, it's 0:02:34.360 --> 0:02:37.000 science has figured out why this happens, and you and 0:02:37.040 --> 0:02:39.720 I are going to explain it to people. So Chuck, 0:02:40.840 --> 0:02:44.440 let's do that right. Now, let's talk about why a 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:49.720 butterfly's wings are iridescent. Well, there's a couple of reasons 0:02:49.720 --> 0:02:52.480 they have their their striking color. Iridescence is the main one. 0:02:52.880 --> 0:02:54.640 But we probably need to go ahead and get pigment 0:02:55.000 --> 0:02:59.200 and just ordinary color out of the way. Let's pigment, Josh, 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:01.520 is uh coloring matter do you find in like cells 0:03:01.520 --> 0:03:04.000 and tissues? And the deal with pigment is it is 0:03:04.040 --> 0:03:06.840 the same from every angle. You can get up under it, 0:03:06.880 --> 0:03:08.600 you can get on top of it and sneak it 0:03:08.680 --> 0:03:10.280 behind it, you can get all up on that, that 0:03:10.400 --> 0:03:13.120 all up in it, but it always looks the same. Right. 0:03:13.280 --> 0:03:15.160 That's just called that's what they call it ordinary color. 0:03:15.280 --> 0:03:19.280 And the reason why is any given pigment um will 0:03:19.320 --> 0:03:24.080 absorb all colors except one, say, right, like chlorophyll. Sure, 0:03:24.160 --> 0:03:28.320 chlorophyll absorbs all colors except green, which it reflects, which 0:03:28.440 --> 0:03:31.400 causes something to look green like a plant a plant, 0:03:31.520 --> 0:03:36.280 sure is one. Melanine tends to absorb everything but yellow, 0:03:36.960 --> 0:03:40.600 giving things a brownish color. Right. Well, yeah, and that's 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:43.000 albine is um. That means you have no melanin, right, 0:03:43.280 --> 0:03:46.840 You're lacking a pigment. Same with paints, right. These are 0:03:46.840 --> 0:03:49.600 all just pigments. These things don't inherently have a color. 0:03:49.960 --> 0:03:52.880 They just absorb certain colors and reflect others back. Yeah, 0:03:53.000 --> 0:03:56.360 it's pretty standard stuff. Did you know redheads um have 0:03:56.640 --> 0:04:00.440 they think they have an additional um iron based pigment 0:04:01.160 --> 0:04:06.600 their color. Interesting, they're freak issue poor ginger kids. Man, 0:04:06.640 --> 0:04:09.680 they are really taking I love redhead stuf, do you well? 0:04:09.720 --> 0:04:12.400 I mean, okay, yeah, Actually I just like the red, 0:04:12.520 --> 0:04:14.280 like really red headed people is kind of cool looking 0:04:14.280 --> 0:04:16.240 to me. I'll just go and go on record with that, 0:04:16.960 --> 0:04:20.080 like red or orange, because there's a big difference. Man, 0:04:20.760 --> 0:04:24.080 I'm not talking strawberry blond. I'm talking like really really redheads, 0:04:24.160 --> 0:04:28.599 shocking red, shocking ginger redheads. You like staring at them? 0:04:28.680 --> 0:04:32.400 I do? Okay, Um, don't stare too hard, okay. Freaks 0:04:32.440 --> 0:04:36.360 people blind? Alright. So that's that's pigments. They're pretty standard. 0:04:36.960 --> 0:04:41.920 One can argue boring stuff, right. Pigments don't give anything 0:04:41.960 --> 0:04:45.440 iridescence now, they just reflect light. And you know that's 0:04:45.600 --> 0:04:52.600 that iridescence is uh this kind of super spectacular um 0:04:52.880 --> 0:04:57.840 reflection of color, almost shimmery. Yes, that changes, Actually the 0:04:57.839 --> 0:05:01.560 color changes if you move, so your descence is generally 0:05:02.160 --> 0:05:06.080 relegated to the observer. Depending on where you're standing, that 0:05:06.240 --> 0:05:11.040 will change the color, how spectacular color is and um 0:05:11.080 --> 0:05:14.240 again we know why, especially when it comes to butterfly 0:05:14.320 --> 0:05:17.000 wings right, or you know we should mention just a 0:05:17.000 --> 0:05:19.479 couple of others before we move on, like the Japanese 0:05:19.480 --> 0:05:23.240 beetle that green on the wings, Yes, your descent, mother 0:05:23.279 --> 0:05:28.840 of pearl, seashells, some fish scales and like bubbles, peacock feathers. Pa, 0:05:29.000 --> 0:05:30.640 Well that's a huge one. Did I tell you that 0:05:30.680 --> 0:05:34.920 there's a peacock in our neighborhood. No. I was walking 0:05:34.960 --> 0:05:37.000 with Emily the other day walking the dogs the other 0:05:37.040 --> 0:05:40.080 morning and we looked up. We heard this weird sound. 0:05:40.560 --> 0:05:45.720 It sounds like hell yeah. I thought someone was crying 0:05:45.720 --> 0:05:47.359 for help. And I looked up and literally at the 0:05:47.400 --> 0:05:50.240 apex of this roof of this house was a full 0:05:50.320 --> 0:05:55.960 on peacock standing there weird loose or did they keep 0:05:55.960 --> 0:05:58.320 it in the backyard keep peak? Yeah, the guy has 0:05:58.360 --> 0:06:00.800 two peacocks because the neighbor. The neighbor was out and 0:06:00.800 --> 0:06:03.200 I was looking at Yeah, he's got peacocks. I was like, 0:06:03.240 --> 0:06:06.120 that's staring at it like it was a full on redhead. 0:06:06.200 --> 0:06:07.720 I was, and I said that's sort of weird, and 0:06:07.760 --> 0:06:12.240 he went yeah and loud yeah, but so hell yeah yeah. 0:06:12.360 --> 0:06:14.600 But it was iridescent and it was fascinating. They are 0:06:14.640 --> 0:06:19.240 they're gorgeous and actually peacock feathers led to um the 0:06:19.279 --> 0:06:24.960 investigation of iridescence and Newton. Eventually Thomas Boyle was the 0:06:25.000 --> 0:06:27.400 one who went catching that's the way it happens. So 0:06:27.440 --> 0:06:30.880 we were talking about Robert Boyle. Sorry, Robert Boyle, thanks, 0:06:31.600 --> 0:06:36.480 one of the Boil brothers exactly. Um. We were talking 0:06:36.520 --> 0:06:42.160 about how pigments reflect just one color, right, Transparent objects 0:06:42.240 --> 0:06:47.040 have the ability to reflect all colors, right, um. With 0:06:47.080 --> 0:06:50.360 an oil slick with a bubble, you have two surfaces, 0:06:50.839 --> 0:06:53.920 right you have we'll talk about a bubble. We'll talk 0:06:53.920 --> 0:06:57.160 about the oil slick. The oil slick is oil floating 0:06:57.160 --> 0:06:59.640 on water, right, yes, um, you have. So you have 0:06:59.760 --> 0:07:04.200 the the top film of the oil slick. Lights passing 0:07:04.240 --> 0:07:07.039 through all the sums bouncing back, which you will see 0:07:07.200 --> 0:07:10.520 right with your um, and some can make it to 0:07:10.800 --> 0:07:13.280 the water beneath the stuff that passes through the top 0:07:13.320 --> 0:07:16.120 film and then can be reflected back and can be 0:07:16.200 --> 0:07:20.920 reflected back right now, if the light that's reflected from 0:07:20.960 --> 0:07:25.120 the top is also reflected from the bottom if they're 0:07:25.760 --> 0:07:29.720 in sync, if the phases match up, right, and it 0:07:29.800 --> 0:07:32.560 phases the position of the trough and the crest. Because 0:07:32.600 --> 0:07:35.760 remember light exists on a wavelength, right, so picture it 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:38.120 is like a regular wave or like a roller coaster 0:07:38.280 --> 0:07:40.920 if you're a little more simple, and like you said, 0:07:40.960 --> 0:07:43.600 if they match up as if they were on top 0:07:43.640 --> 0:07:46.360 of each other, then you're gonna get your deskce right. 0:07:46.440 --> 0:07:49.440 So Chuck, follow me on this one to the ends 0:07:49.440 --> 0:07:54.800 of the Earth. Alright, So go beep boop beep. Okay. 0:07:54.800 --> 0:07:58.160 So the beep that's a crest, and then the boop 0:07:58.480 --> 0:08:02.240 that's a trough off trough. Okay, so start going beep 0:08:02.280 --> 0:08:07.320 boop beepoop. So and this is this is Chuck being 0:08:07.360 --> 0:08:12.440 a wave of light, a wavelength of light, right um reflecting. 0:08:12.480 --> 0:08:15.280 He's just reflected the moment he starts. He's reflected off 0:08:15.320 --> 0:08:22.200 the surface of a transparent object. Bee booepoo. Right. Okay. 0:08:22.320 --> 0:08:24.560 So now I'm like coming in and I'm going to 0:08:24.600 --> 0:08:28.040 come in and start after I've just reflected off the 0:08:28.080 --> 0:08:30.800 bottom surface of say an oil slick, right, all right, 0:08:30.840 --> 0:08:32.319 So you want me to do this again, So Chuck 0:08:32.600 --> 0:08:34.800 has already reflected off the top surface. I made it 0:08:34.840 --> 0:08:37.800 through the bottom surface, and now I'm reflecting awful. Okay, 0:08:38.280 --> 0:08:42.760 so boo boo. Now let's say I come in and 0:08:42.880 --> 0:08:49.640 like halftime beepoo beep beep. It's all screwed up. That 0:08:49.679 --> 0:08:53.360 sounds awful. It does sound awful, and in when you're 0:08:53.400 --> 0:08:58.160 speaking of light, it sounds like this, right, nothing, they 0:08:58.200 --> 0:09:02.480 cancel each other out. But if I can't, if if 0:09:02.520 --> 0:09:06.000 my phase is equal to yours, but say a full 0:09:06.040 --> 0:09:10.319 measure behind, it sounds like this, go ahead, bee boop 0:09:10.480 --> 0:09:15.600 bee boo bee boop beep boopy. Right, So it sounded nice. 0:09:15.640 --> 0:09:18.400 It sounded louder. It didn't sound nice, but it sounded louder. 0:09:18.440 --> 0:09:22.080 It wasn't all discordant, right, So what just happened was 0:09:22.120 --> 0:09:27.120 we amplified the beat boop right, right, yeah, yeah, exactly. 0:09:27.200 --> 0:09:31.400 This is called um what is it? Constructive interference? That's right, 0:09:31.600 --> 0:09:33.480 and that's I don't want to say good and bad, 0:09:33.520 --> 0:09:35.679 because it's really scientists would say it is neither good 0:09:35.760 --> 0:09:37.760 nor bad. But I'm gonna say that's the good kind 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:42.200 because that's what gives you iridescence. The bad kind would 0:09:42.200 --> 0:09:44.679 be destructive interference, and that, like you said, that cancels 0:09:44.679 --> 0:09:48.640 each other out, making something like less not less iridescent, 0:09:48.679 --> 0:09:53.320 not iridescent at all. Right, So that's it close, that's 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:58.800 not entirely it, right because consider this chuck light. Light 0:09:58.880 --> 0:10:03.240 as we see it exists on a spectrum. Right. So, Um, 0:10:03.360 --> 0:10:06.319 on one hand, you have about a wavelength of four 0:10:06.720 --> 0:10:10.960 nimes violet light. On the other end of the spectrum 0:10:11.000 --> 0:10:13.880 that we can see is red light, which is has 0:10:13.880 --> 0:10:17.880 a wavelength about seven nimes. Right, okay, Um, if you 0:10:17.960 --> 0:10:21.920 go a little beyond the violet, you get bluer than 0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:25.120 blue a k A ultra violet, which we all love. Right. 0:10:25.760 --> 0:10:28.480 If you go beyond the red, uh, you have redder 0:10:28.520 --> 0:10:31.920 than red or infrared. Right. We can't see either of those, 0:10:31.960 --> 0:10:34.240 but we can't see within that spectrum for violet to red. 0:10:34.720 --> 0:10:38.079 And it's based on wavelength, if we um, if you 0:10:38.160 --> 0:10:42.800 take white light right like sunlight, and you put it, 0:10:43.559 --> 0:10:47.840 if you projected onto a transparent object, all of the colors. 0:10:47.880 --> 0:10:50.160 Remember the Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon album cover. 0:10:50.400 --> 0:10:52.760 Of course, it's white light going into a prism and 0:10:52.760 --> 0:10:56.120 then coming out in its separate forms, in all its 0:10:56.200 --> 0:10:59.320 psychedelic glory. Right now, imagine that that's static, Like it's 0:10:59.440 --> 0:11:03.480 it's not changing position. If you are shooting a beam 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:07.840 of white light onto a bubble, depending on where you stand, 0:11:08.880 --> 0:11:13.679 the angle of reflection, right of refraction, I'm sorry, Um, 0:11:13.960 --> 0:11:17.120 depends on what color you're going to see. So if 0:11:17.160 --> 0:11:20.080 you move across your angle, you're going to see a 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:27.319 different color. And hence this explains the color changing of iridescence. Right. So, like, 0:11:27.559 --> 0:11:29.440 you know, have you ever seen the big bubble wines 0:11:29.480 --> 0:11:33.400 where they can both the really huge bubbles the huge bubbles. Uh, 0:11:33.520 --> 0:11:36.000 if you ever do that, do a little experiment and 0:11:36.440 --> 0:11:38.880 look at it from different angles, jump around, walk around, 0:11:39.280 --> 0:11:42.160 and you're gonna see some color change. Have you ever 0:11:42.160 --> 0:11:45.040 seen a bubble pop in SloMo? That Super SloMo? No, 0:11:45.200 --> 0:11:47.840 but isn't wasn't that an episode of that one show 0:11:48.080 --> 0:11:51.280 Time Work? Yeah? Yeah, the Discovery Show. It is super cool, dude. 0:11:51.400 --> 0:11:53.120 If you look at it in slow motion, you like 0:11:53.160 --> 0:11:56.280 would pop the bubble, and you know, when you see 0:11:56.280 --> 0:11:58.040 it in regular motion, it looks like it just pops 0:11:58.040 --> 0:12:00.679 in a big burst, But from where you touch it 0:12:00.880 --> 0:12:04.360 spreads and an arc all around the whole thing, and 0:12:04.400 --> 0:12:07.600 you see it slowly popping as it goes around. It's 0:12:07.600 --> 0:12:10.000 just really cool. Nice. It's neither here nor there though, 0:12:10.280 --> 0:12:13.840 but it's still pretty like you're a descence. Right. So 0:12:14.040 --> 0:12:18.520 what we have now is um if if that if 0:12:18.679 --> 0:12:24.720 light from white light uh hits a transparent object, and 0:12:24.880 --> 0:12:28.360 it's a multilayered transparent objects, say like oil on type 0:12:28.400 --> 0:12:30.600 of water, or one side of a bubble and the 0:12:30.640 --> 0:12:33.440 bottom side of the bubble, some light's gonna reflect off, 0:12:33.559 --> 0:12:35.280 some's gonna make it through the bottom. Some of that 0:12:35.320 --> 0:12:39.080 will reflect off, most will will go through. But if 0:12:39.679 --> 0:12:42.280 the light from the bottom and the top are in 0:12:42.400 --> 0:12:46.320 phase with one another, in an even phase, right, separated 0:12:46.360 --> 0:12:50.120 by one two, three four five wave links rather than 0:12:50.440 --> 0:12:53.400 you know, one point three five wavelengths, they'll be in 0:12:53.440 --> 0:12:57.200 phase and they'll amplify each other. If it's white light, 0:12:57.440 --> 0:13:00.240 then we're going to see, depending on our ang goal 0:13:00.800 --> 0:13:06.719 all the colors of the rainbow. You're in this iridescent state, right. Okay, 0:13:06.760 --> 0:13:09.240 So what does this have to do with butterfly wings? 0:13:09.520 --> 0:13:13.880 I'll tell you, buddy. Okay. Butterfly wings are transparent, and 0:13:14.040 --> 0:13:17.280 the deal is why they look so striking compared to 0:13:17.400 --> 0:13:20.080 let's say, a bubble, which is pretty but not as 0:13:20.120 --> 0:13:23.080 striking as a butterfly. It's because there are many, many 0:13:23.120 --> 0:13:25.800 more layers stacked on top of each other that the 0:13:25.880 --> 0:13:28.400 light has to go through. When all those are in phase, 0:13:28.880 --> 0:13:31.760 you get like super iridescence. Right. So with a with 0:13:31.800 --> 0:13:33.840 a bubble, you have two chances right at the top 0:13:33.840 --> 0:13:36.760 and the bottom two lousy chances. Right. With a butterfly wing, 0:13:36.840 --> 0:13:40.800 the the cuticle of the scale of a butterfly wing, say, 0:13:40.880 --> 0:13:44.640 has maybe a dozen So every every beam of light, 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:48.080 every wavelength of light has you know, a dozen chances 0:13:48.120 --> 0:13:54.079 to reflect back, say half of those are in phase. Yeah, 0:13:54.280 --> 0:14:00.400 and also depending on how because the surfaces. Um, if 0:14:00.440 --> 0:14:02.760 you look at a butterfly cuticle, it looks kind of 0:14:02.800 --> 0:14:06.720 like a Christmas tree, right, so there's like a it 0:14:06.760 --> 0:14:10.280 looks like a Christmas tree, basically like a lego Christmas tree. 0:14:10.280 --> 0:14:16.880 Will say, but the scales, actually I'm out the scales. Yeah, yeah, 0:14:16.920 --> 0:14:19.400 the scale cuticles that make up the scales. Yeah, that's kitan. 0:14:19.560 --> 0:14:21.040 That's the same thing we have in like our hair, 0:14:21.080 --> 0:14:28.280 it's protein in our fingernails. Nice okay, sorry, Um, So 0:14:28.520 --> 0:14:31.120 as it goes down the tree, you know, they get wider, 0:14:31.280 --> 0:14:33.920 These surfaces get wider, and each one can can bounce 0:14:34.160 --> 0:14:39.080 light back off, but they're spaced evenly. So let's say 0:14:39.120 --> 0:14:43.240 that the space in between is two d nanimeters and 0:14:43.360 --> 0:14:48.560 blue light is four hundred nanometers in wavelength. Since the 0:14:49.240 --> 0:14:52.640 two hundred is half of four hundred, it's going to 0:14:52.680 --> 0:14:56.760 give blue light a better chance to reflect back in phase, 0:14:57.240 --> 0:15:00.520 which is why I stay on like the blue morphoe butterfly, 0:15:01.040 --> 0:15:05.120 which has a space of two between the scales. The 0:15:06.120 --> 0:15:10.440 space and the scales appears so blue because blue has 0:15:10.480 --> 0:15:14.600 a likelier chance of reflecting back in phase and being 0:15:14.720 --> 0:15:18.440 amplifying in this iridescent manner, and the morpho doesn't that 0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:22.200 actually venture into ultra the ultra violet spectrum? Yeah, remember 0:15:22.240 --> 0:15:25.040 the angle. Yeah, so if you're looking, let's say, at 0:15:25.120 --> 0:15:27.760 the right is red and at the left is violet. 0:15:27.800 --> 0:15:30.640 If you move too far to the left, everything's gone 0:15:30.760 --> 0:15:33.120 because you've moved out of the visible spectrum of light. 0:15:33.120 --> 0:15:35.360 And now what you're seeing is the brown pigment, but 0:15:35.440 --> 0:15:38.840 who can see it is the butterfly. Yeah, the monarchs 0:15:39.360 --> 0:15:43.360 are actually in their migration, their huge migration every year. 0:15:43.440 --> 0:15:48.640 They use ultra violet markings. Uh, ultra violet um light 0:15:49.000 --> 0:15:53.240 for guide posts basically, right, Yes, they do, and uh 0:15:53.280 --> 0:15:57.160 it Also the other effect or the other reason, um 0:15:57.280 --> 0:15:59.920 that you have this iridescence and on the scales is 0:16:00.120 --> 0:16:03.080 it soaks up heat because butterflies are cold blooded, so 0:16:03.120 --> 0:16:06.080 they rely on like the sun to be able to function. 0:16:07.040 --> 0:16:09.080 So the fact that they're soaking up this heat from 0:16:09.120 --> 0:16:11.840 the sun allows them to fly, right, which is pretty cool. 0:16:11.920 --> 0:16:14.520 And we also remember pigment, don't forget still plays a 0:16:14.600 --> 0:16:17.480 role in this too, right, So if you have if 0:16:17.520 --> 0:16:21.920 you have a butterfly scale that's um constructed, contains chlorophyll, 0:16:22.440 --> 0:16:26.800 so you have um a green pigment. Yes, let's go 0:16:26.840 --> 0:16:30.440 with blue. Okay, Now let's go with yellow. Okay, say 0:16:30.600 --> 0:16:33.760 say it's a butterfly scale. It's constructive melanin. So you 0:16:33.800 --> 0:16:38.480 have yellow already, which it's reflecting back yellow and monochromatic 0:16:39.080 --> 0:16:42.680 blue light. It's going to it's going to appear to 0:16:42.720 --> 0:16:47.680 us as green because color mixing still has has an effect, right, 0:16:48.240 --> 0:16:52.080 So pigment structural color green. Can we talk about the 0:16:52.080 --> 0:16:53.880 wings for a second too, because I know people are 0:16:53.880 --> 0:16:55.360 going to write in and say that's really cool, but 0:16:55.520 --> 0:16:57.240 is it true that butterflies will die if you touch 0:16:57.280 --> 0:17:02.000 their wings? Sort of not completely? You can touch a 0:17:02.040 --> 0:17:04.280 butterfly wing. Like, if you've ever touched a butterfly wing, 0:17:04.280 --> 0:17:06.440 you'll notice you have like powder on your hands. Yeah, 0:17:06.440 --> 0:17:08.320 those are the scales. Those are the scales. They are 0:17:08.320 --> 0:17:11.159 that fine that they kind of disintegrate into powder. And 0:17:11.760 --> 0:17:15.520 in theory, you can touch a butterfly wing without killing them, 0:17:15.640 --> 0:17:18.680 but if you break it. They have little veins. They're 0:17:18.680 --> 0:17:21.880 all connected by little veins, So essentially, if you disconnect 0:17:22.280 --> 0:17:24.480 the veins from the fore wing and the hind wing, 0:17:25.119 --> 0:17:27.239 that's when the butterfly is gonna die. And they're so 0:17:27.280 --> 0:17:31.120 tender that it's really easy to happen. So in effect, 0:17:31.240 --> 0:17:33.560 you probably will kill a butterfly if you mess with 0:17:33.600 --> 0:17:36.040 their wings, but if you just happen to graze against it, 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:39.840 maybe not. No need to squish it after just such 0:17:39.840 --> 0:17:42.920 a slight intrusion, right, Yeah, And moss, I think get 0:17:42.960 --> 0:17:46.800 a bum wrap because they're not as pretty. Yeah, because 0:17:46.800 --> 0:17:51.160 they're mainly mel what what was it, melitan, melanin melanin 0:17:51.640 --> 0:17:56.080 mainly like brown and yellow, black and white. And they 0:17:56.160 --> 0:17:59.280 also have a frenulum, which is a spine, and butterflies 0:17:59.320 --> 0:18:02.879 don't have that. Right. Also, moths tend to be fatter 0:18:03.119 --> 0:18:05.480 and fly at dusk or at night. Well, yeah, and 0:18:05.480 --> 0:18:07.680 that's why butterflies get all the credit, because you're out 0:18:07.680 --> 0:18:09.680 on a nice spring day in the garden and butterflies 0:18:09.680 --> 0:18:11.800 were everywhere, and then at night you're hanging out by 0:18:11.800 --> 0:18:14.240 the porch and you're freaked out by the moths everywhere, 0:18:14.840 --> 0:18:17.560 like going towards the light. Well not only that, um, 0:18:17.600 --> 0:18:21.199 there's there. The structure of a moth's wing is very, 0:18:21.280 --> 0:18:26.360 very similar to the structure of butterflies transparent filmy scales. 0:18:27.359 --> 0:18:30.000 For some reason, I guess it's because they do fly 0:18:30.080 --> 0:18:33.280 at night. They are not iridescent. They don't appear iridescent, 0:18:33.359 --> 0:18:35.560 although they would in sunlight. But they're part of the 0:18:35.600 --> 0:18:43.080 same family scientifically, big happy family. Yeah, what was the family? Uh, Lepidoptera? 0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:47.880 Was that lepidoptera? Lipidoptera. There's like a hundred and fifty 0:18:47.880 --> 0:18:52.960 thousand varieties within that family and lepidoptera I means scaled 0:18:53.080 --> 0:18:55.840 wings boom. Yeah, it's a great place to finish, don't 0:18:55.840 --> 0:18:59.119 you think? Sure? You got to we recap Oh, I 0:18:59.160 --> 0:19:02.119 don't think so. The party we explained it, well, I 0:19:02.119 --> 0:19:04.800 think so, all right, because I feel more confused than 0:19:04.840 --> 0:19:07.919 I did before. Well, you brought sound into it, but 0:19:07.960 --> 0:19:09.280 I thought that was a very clever way to go 0:19:09.280 --> 0:19:11.119 about it. Well, thanks a lot. If you want to 0:19:11.200 --> 0:19:14.280 learn more about butterfly wings and they're striking colors, type 0:19:14.280 --> 0:19:17.560 in butterflies striking colors in the handy search bar, how 0:19:17.560 --> 0:19:21.159 stuff works dot Com brings up a pretty cool article 0:19:21.200 --> 0:19:24.920 by Jennifer Horton. Hey, Chuck, chucks me from the future. 0:19:25.359 --> 0:19:28.480 The future are idiot. Past seals have no idea whe're 0:19:28.520 --> 0:19:31.200 doing this right now, right, but we do because we're 0:19:31.240 --> 0:19:34.080 from the future, indeed, and you know what we're here 0:19:34.119 --> 0:19:37.840 to do, don't you. We're interrupting our podcast for a reason. 0:19:38.280 --> 0:19:42.159 T Shirt Winners announced. This is one of the if 0:19:42.200 --> 0:19:44.080 you were a winner that you were guaranteed I mentioned 0:19:44.119 --> 0:19:47.400 on the show, and this fulfills that application. Yes, this 0:19:47.520 --> 0:19:49.840 is um. We've got the lawyers behind us that their 0:19:49.840 --> 0:19:54.960 briefcases in bullwhips, right, yes, and uh, Chuck, we picked five. 0:19:55.560 --> 0:19:57.800 I'm glad we picked five because we had like more 0:19:57.800 --> 0:20:00.560 than seventy jries, right. I wanted to pick ten. I 0:20:00.640 --> 0:20:03.920 wanted to pick twenty three. Um, and we actually did 0:20:03.960 --> 0:20:05.679 have like a top twenty three at one point and 0:20:05.720 --> 0:20:07.960 finally whittled it down time and time again, and we 0:20:08.000 --> 0:20:11.320 came up with the five winners and they're announced on 0:20:11.520 --> 0:20:14.639 the blog. There's an image gallery on how Stuff Works. 0:20:15.040 --> 0:20:17.000 You can go onto our blogs at how stuff works 0:20:17.000 --> 0:20:20.560 dot com and look for the blog post entitled we 0:20:20.680 --> 0:20:23.240 Got your T shirt. We got your stuff you should 0:20:23.240 --> 0:20:26.919 Know T shirt contest winners right here, uh, and that'll 0:20:26.920 --> 0:20:29.159 take you into the site to check them out. You 0:20:29.200 --> 0:20:32.360 can also get the shirts on the Discovery channel store 0:20:32.440 --> 0:20:34.480 right yeah, there for sale. Yeah. You just go onto 0:20:34.720 --> 0:20:38.080 the I Think store dot Discovery dot com and do 0:20:38.160 --> 0:20:39.840 a search for stuff you Should Know and it brings 0:20:39.920 --> 0:20:43.240 up all five of these magnificent T shirts. Right. So, 0:20:43.600 --> 0:20:48.560 the names of the winning designers, the five brilliant individual 0:20:48.640 --> 0:20:53.720 human beings who created these amazing designs, right, Their names 0:20:53.720 --> 0:20:57.160 are what chuck Well first, these are in no particular order. 0:20:57.200 --> 0:20:59.880 By the way, Um, we have Peter Feek or fight 0:21:00.440 --> 0:21:03.720 Or We've been debating endlessly and he did a really 0:21:03.800 --> 0:21:06.480 cool design of this old school microphone and it's sort 0:21:06.480 --> 0:21:10.120 of logo looking. It makes us look like we're really pros. Yeah, 0:21:10.160 --> 0:21:13.200 I call it hot Mike Hot Mike, Yeah, I like it. Uh. 0:21:13.200 --> 0:21:17.440 And then of course there's Suki Anderson. Yeah, out of Kentucky, 0:21:17.480 --> 0:21:20.880 I believe, I think, and she made what I think 0:21:20.960 --> 0:21:24.040 is the coolest picture I've ever seen in my life. Yeah, 0:21:24.200 --> 0:21:26.639 it's the baby with the fly on its forehead. Yes, 0:21:27.000 --> 0:21:31.040 and don't worry. Yeah. I said on the blog that 0:21:31.119 --> 0:21:33.800 it's it's unsettling and comforting at the same time, and 0:21:33.800 --> 0:21:36.159 it's very hard to achieve. Agreed. So that was one 0:21:36.160 --> 0:21:38.200 of our favorite ones. And then we went with Brad 0:21:38.280 --> 0:21:41.399 Wilson's brain design, which is awesome. Yeah, we got a 0:21:41.440 --> 0:21:44.640 lot of brain designs, so you guys were thinking along 0:21:44.720 --> 0:21:47.080 the same lines, which means you're all smart and cool. 0:21:47.680 --> 0:21:50.320 And that was the brain as as a representation of 0:21:50.400 --> 0:21:53.080 our show is really, I think, pretty cool, and this 0:21:53.200 --> 0:21:55.680 was what we thought looked best on a T shirt. 0:21:55.680 --> 0:21:58.600 Brad nailed it. Yeah, he nailed it definitely. Uh. Matt 0:21:58.640 --> 0:22:01.280 Stevenson came up with what I've dubbed the wood cut 0:22:01.400 --> 0:22:05.120 parade right right, Our fans are gonna love this one. Yeah. 0:22:05.160 --> 0:22:10.440 It's a it's a series of medieval characters I would say, skeleton, bishop, 0:22:10.880 --> 0:22:16.520 a monk, a jester, um and they are carrying banners 0:22:17.000 --> 0:22:19.920 let's say s y s K. They're leading the parade. 0:22:20.160 --> 0:22:23.000 The stuff you should know parade from medieval times. Yeah, 0:22:23.040 --> 0:22:24.439 and I said on the site it looks like a 0:22:24.480 --> 0:22:27.720 paraded one to hide behind a tree and watch. It's awesome. 0:22:27.800 --> 0:22:30.600 It's very cool. And then lastly, Chuck, I'm going to 0:22:30.760 --> 0:22:32.800 leave this one to you because I can't pronounce this 0:22:32.840 --> 0:22:36.159 guy's last name. Yes, we have Scott y A C 0:22:36.520 --> 0:22:40.520 y s h Y, and I'm gonna say, yeah, yeah, 0:22:40.600 --> 0:22:46.680 yakin ya kishin, Scott, whatever your last name, let's try 0:22:46.720 --> 0:22:49.520 that one to Scott Yukishan if that is you. You 0:22:49.560 --> 0:22:51.639 are one heck of a designer, my friend. And you 0:22:51.760 --> 0:22:54.800 did the very cool caricature of Josh and I and 0:22:55.000 --> 0:22:58.760 from our mouths and balloons. You have different caricatures of 0:22:58.800 --> 0:23:02.560 different episodes and so much camaraderie between us. You know, 0:23:02.640 --> 0:23:04.600 we just look like we are having a heck of 0:23:04.600 --> 0:23:07.560 a time gaining the podcast as a sixties illustration. It's 0:23:07.640 --> 0:23:09.719 very cool. One of my favorite ones to super awesome. 0:23:09.720 --> 0:23:13.640 So Scott, Matt, Brad, Suky, Peter, thank you very much 0:23:13.720 --> 0:23:15.720 to all of you guys, uh and thank you to 0:23:15.840 --> 0:23:20.119 everybody who sent in. From something created in rich text 0:23:20.200 --> 0:23:24.280 format to something that was obviously made by a professional 0:23:24.320 --> 0:23:27.640 graphic designer, we appreciate all of you, guys, and thank 0:23:27.680 --> 0:23:29.879 you very much for taking the time to lend us 0:23:29.920 --> 0:23:33.600 your brains and creativity. That's awesome that we were blown away. 0:23:33.600 --> 0:23:35.600 It was very cool. You're all very talented. Okay, and 0:23:35.600 --> 0:23:38.840 now let's go back to our stupid um selves from 0:23:38.840 --> 0:23:41.840 the past. I predict that it's going I'm gonna say 0:23:41.960 --> 0:23:44.840 some assin I thing about the handy search bar. Watched. 0:23:47.119 --> 0:23:50.760 Uh that means since I said handy searchbar, Chuck, are 0:23:50.800 --> 0:23:56.240