Explore the world of color with these amazing "factoids" about color. You'll find unusual snippets of information from the world of nature, vision, psychology, business, and from all dimensions of our lives.
Humans, apes, most old world monkeys, ground squirrels, and many species of fish, birds, and insects have well-developed color vision. However, it's worth noting that 7 or 8 percent of human males are relatively or completely deficient in color vision.
Humans with the most common form of color-blindness and mammals with poor color vision are unable to differentiate between reds and greens. They see the world as a blend of blues, yellows, and greys.
Mammals with limited color vision or none at all include mice, rats, rabbits, cats, and dogs. Nocturnal animals - such as foxes, owls, skunks, and raccoons - whose vision is specialized for dim light seldom have good color vision. By comparison, humans are color-blind in dim light.
Factoids Part 1
Hue and Cry: Stressed Turkey Colors
The meaning of red and green at Christmas
... and why Santa wears red
Red and green mean it's Christmas time. These colors might not tell the story of divine birth, but they do tell a story of the Christian past.
Green, experts say, might be a throwback to the pagan winter festivals when greenery was used. Also, green comes from the pine tree and the holly, which retain their color in winter.
Factoids Part 2
The colors of the Olympic logo
The official Olympic logo was created by Baron Pierre de Coubertin in 1913. It consists of five interlacing rings of blue, yellow, black, green, and red. At least one of these colors is found in the flag of every nation. According to the Olympic Charter, the five-ringed symbol "represents the union of the five continents and the meeting of athletes from throughout the world at the Olympic Games: Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas and Oceania. On the other hand, Pierre de Coubertin never said nor wrote that the colors of the rings were linked with the different continents.
Factoids Part 3
Pink Fish
Fish in the North Sea have sunburned skin and blistering as a result of the thinning ozone layer. British researchers report that young fish are the most affected due to their lack of scales that would otherwise deflect the sun's harmful rays. Ian McFadzen, a research ecotoxicologist with England's Plymouth Marine Laboratory said the fish have no protection against the rays and that they have not needed to evolve one until man influenced the atmosphere.
What's next?
Factoids Part 4
Factoids from the past. They're oldies but goodies and still true
Blue blood a lifesaver
The sapphire blue blood of the horseshoe crab is the world's only known substance that can be used to test for contaminants in every drug and every vaccine in the world. The crabs are "bled" by a fast and painless process. 24 hours later, they are returned to the ocean."LAL," the protein ingredient in the crab's blood, is dropped into a new batch of drugs. If the mixture is contaminated, it clots instantly. The same process is used for every intravenous substance and artificial limb in the U.S., as required by the FDA.Prior to the discovery of "LAL," drugs were tested for contaminants by injecting them into a rabbit. If the rabbit died or got sick, the lab disposed of the drug. Lab technician, Jay Nichols, sums up the horseshoe crab's magic, "No other animal contributes so much to science without dying in the process."
