Blue Animals Aren't Actually Blue Except for One Mind-Blowing Example

[@whatdamath]

Hello wonderful person! So I'm taking a short break, drinking eggnog, frolicking in the snow and such. Which means a few of the videos you'll be seeing are older and have never been posted before In this one we'll talk about the colour blue in nature and why it mostly doesn't exist Happy holidays!

[@MyraSeavy]

So glad you're enjoying your time with the family! Sounds fun! ❤❤❤

[@Stoic_Horo]

Have a glorious break, if you get to see snow, please 🙏 appreciate snow, for me. As I have never seen snow before. I have seen hail though, so that is pretty close.

[@malamstafakhoshnaw6992]

Merry Christmas 🎄🍷

[@eestiny9734]

Happy holidays!🎅

[@mischavanasperen3063]

Enjoy and happy holidays, wonderful Anton!

[@robertoneill1979]

I remember watching a program years ago about a car manufacturer (possibly Nissan) who were trying to produce an iridescent blue material to use as upholstery. They were trying to replicate the appearance of certain butterfly wings I believe. The solution proved to be a lot more difficult than anticipated, involving many different layers of fine woven materials which, when combined, created that irridescent blue look by reflecting and refracting light. Again, the materials themselves were colourless; there were no blue pigments involved. But the result was a pretty blue iridescence... not quite as striking as the butterfly wings, but a reasonable facsimile.

[@bloodaid]

What’s ”facsimile”?

[@My-Pal-Hal]

​@@bloodaid Facsimile,.. Is a word anyone over the age of an embryo knows, or can easily look up.

[@francescodefilippo190]

​@@bloodaidan exact copy. I don't know if you call it that way but this is why it was called fax the copy of a document

[@TheHoveHeretic]

​@@francescodefilippo190Don't .... an entire generation has grown up since fax machines went dodo-wise!

[@GrandPrixDecals]

@@bloodaid facsimile is a common word, no Google?

[@feedbackzaloop]

So this butterfly pigment - pterobilin - is an unreacted leftover from larvae where it aids development timing. In many other butterflies it was present in larvae state too but got transformed into phorcabilin (greenish pigment) completely, since it is photo and heat sensitive. Somehow in that particular part of the olivewing it stays protected from further chemical reactions.

[@Gary-k2g]

You know stuff. Color me jealous. 😮

[@ralphstern2845]

Thank you for the extra info

[@SentientNebula]

That's incredibly interesting

[@feedbackzaloop]

@@Gary-k2g some random facts backed up with googling. Hope some biochemists come over and paint the whole _picture._

[@cosmicraysshotsintothelight]

@@Gary-k2g That also has to be an expensive, rare pigment.

[@selfproclaimednobody4614]

You forgot about Smurfs.

[@atomic_wait]

And Tobias Funke.

[@harryface1633]

Smurf berries turn them blue.

[@gora-ji]

Now that’s what’s I’m Smurfing about!

[@jlavigne1155]

They're demons

[@seancdavidson]

*Smurves

[@kalmest]

50 years ago my grade 3 teacher taught there was no blue in nature but didn’t go further. I’ve been interested all along because of blue eyes. Thanks for teaching the whole answer. Love your show

[@JonS]

But there is blue. The fact that it come from nano-structure, not pigment doesn't mean it's not blue, especially as blue a sensation is purely based on psychovisual perception.

[@cbott2001]

People who say this have never been fishing.

[@avsystem3142]

No one ever said there was no blue in nature, there obviously is. It is just that, except rarely, there is no blue pigment in nature. That is not the same thing. Most animal/vegetable blue appearances are due to microstructures on the surfaces, not pigments.

[@Devo491]

So many butterflies have vivid blue in their wings due to structural trickery, but this one maverick said 'I got this!'.

[@azurejester]

Man sometimes the episodes are almost hypnotic. This stuff is so interesting! Very, very cool. You're a real rock n rolla 🤙

[@UnicornOfDepression]

"I'm blue, Da ba dee da ba di." "Actually, you are not." - tiny ass frog

[@ronen44444447]

Another straight banger Anton! That was really interesting

[@EstamosDe]

4:06 we humans can also store pigments in our skin, betacarotene will give our skin an orange color, while lycopene will give it a red color and lutein will give it a yellow color (And we can mix those colors to get a fake tan, and also to protect our skin, since those 3 molecules are antioxidants and protect us against aging and some cancers, including prostate cancer in the case of lycopene, that also helps a little against balding)

[@rikospostmodernlife]

We can turn blue from coloidal silver, tho that seems to be another form of structual color

[@WarrenLacefield]

@@rikospostmodernlife Yeah, but that one (coloidal silver) sounds dangerous (but maybe not so much, it's in cosmetics and some "supplements").

[@tomhossain2099]

@@WarrenLacefieldit’s not really dangerous except French warlocks might try to eat you.

[@SAOS451316]

@@WarrenLacefieldColloidal silver is pretty dangerous and yet it's in such things because it's profitable. Any kind of colloidal element should be avoided as a general rule. There are real people who have taken these quack cures and turned blue because of them and it causes all manner of health problems.

[@DG-iw3yw]

Pretty sure you have to go to hospital to fix if you ingest colloidal silver

[@MagnusQuake]

this is incredible. these sort of finds are very interesting to learn about. keep em coming champion

[@baigandinel7956]

"The blue animal is not actually blue." Almost starting to veer into philosophy a bit with that one.

[@GaryWeston-yx3ln]

Really bad philosophy.

[@jackesioto]

They say the ancients lacked blue.

[@DeltafangEX]

But what color are the curtains and what does it mean?

[@Bryan-yq9pz]

Philosophy? That's quite a stretch 😂

[@JonS]

@@jackesioto yeah, that's not true. It's just a myth that went rampant on the internet a few years ago. It's mostly from a misinterpretation of Homer's ancient Greek. Ancient Greeks had different words for different types of blue, but just didn't have a collective word for them that's equivalent to our blue set.

[@lightreign8021]

If you take a peacock or hummingbird feather and crush it flat with a hammer it stops being colorful because you broke the prism effect in the tiny scales. (No animals were harmed in this experiment.)

[@fwiffo]

Nanoparticles of gold are purple. Bulk gold is still gold.

[@katherinethomson8824]

I first learned about this when I had some pet parakeets, and then when I was trying to create a garden with blue flowers. Most garden catalogs at the time (pre-internet) were claiming that their various flowers were blue when they were actually some version of purple. It is nice to have the details fleshed out a bit more so that I now have a better understanding of how this non-pigment blue color is produced.

[@abcxyz1557]

Maybe your soil was too acidic?

[@gordonwallin2368]

Merry Christmas, Anton, and all the best for the New Year. Cheers from the Pacific West Coast of Canada.

[@abcxyz1557]

We seem to have gone down the same rabbit hole in this one Anton. 😁 You did fail to mention that the lack of true blue is a rule of terrestrial animals, and that there are numerous examples in the sea. Where there are trace amounts of nearly every mineral in the water to utilize.

[@TarisRedwing]

Have a good New Year Anton.

[@someguy-k2h]

Blue was treasured in the old world, but it was never the color of royalty. Purple is the most difficult of all colors to create in nature. Purple pigments were worth several times their weight in gold. That is why all of the royal houses used purple, Tyrian purple to be exact. This was considered the most costly color and reserved only for those of nobility. The second color was gold. Not yellow, but actual gold. It was leafed, and woven into fabrics to show power and wealth. The third color was not blue but white. A pure and untarnished white, representing purity, that was not accessible to normal people without chlorine. You could get whitish with lye and sunlight, but it's not pure white. Blue came in a distant 4th, as it can be made from woad or madder.

[@fwiffo]

Purple is much more common in nature than blue. A lot of the things we call "blue" like blueberries, bluebells, etc. are actually violet or purple.

[@alpheuswoodley8435]

Krishna just saw this, but He loves you anyway

[@someguy-k2h]

@@fwiffo But they don't stay purple. When you make a paint or fabric dye out of them, they turn red.

[@someguy-k2h]

@@alpheuswoodley8435 Tell Krishna thanks for me. You know, that blue color of Krisna isn't natural, it was caused by two poisonings, the witch Putana and the 5 headed snake, which caused his black skin to turn blue.

[@navIgator8p]

The titles in the timeline look like a table of contents for a semester long university class. Then, it's condensed into one video. That's amazing. My big winner was structural coloration.

[@gbennett58]

Also human eyes are blue or green for the same reasons; no blue or green pigment. Microstructures in the iris produce those colors.

[@sootymammal2891]

Blue or green eyes are from a lower melanin amount in the iris

[@gbennett58]

@@sootymammal2891 That explains why albinos, who have no melanin, have red irises.

[@AlexFlockhart]

I mean anything that looks blue uses "tricks of light" to look blue one way or another, whether containing pigments or not.

[@genepozniak]

No. Blue paint is blue because it absorbs all the other colors except blue, which it reflects back into your eyes.

[@AlexFlockhart]

@genepozniak Yes, and the sky scatters blue light through Raleigh scattering, which reflects into your eyes. Butterfly wings and feathers have nanostructures that interfere with wavelengths until blue light is the only one reaching your eyes. In my opinion all examples are things that are blue if blue light is what our eyes see.

[@Reginaldesq]

Yes, although properties of light rather than tricks. A pigment filters or blocks (subtracts) some colours. The structures referred to in the video seem to bend light to separate the colours (like a rainbow) and then only present the angle that shows blue.

[@davidlamb7524]

​@@Reginaldesq Very neatly summed up !

[@thhseeking]

Now I have Mike Oldfield & Maggie Reilly in my head for the rest of the day :P

[@crack1270]

9:02 those are not fiber optic cables but rather Cat 5 or 6 cables

[@steveb0503]

The joy of "stock" images...

[@jamesleatherwood5125]

You never rest, do you?! Thanks for all your dilligence!

[@silicon1138]

Wonderful video as ever. Always informative, always mind blowing. Thank you Anton.

[@a.k.1902]

"International Klein Blue" is my favourite colour! Thanks for all the great content.

[@MichaelPaulWorkman]

This is getting into hyper intelligent shade of blue territory

[@PeterFuentes-DigitalLife]

Quiet! Or the universe will reset itself! It’s happened before.

[@therealjamespickering]

At least he didn't go 50 Shades of Blue on us.

[@davidmcnaughty4889]

"We're able to sort of REFLECT on this". Very punny.

[@TRFan26]

I don’t think we’re the ones doing the reflecting. 😊

[@jimcurtis9052]

Wonderful as always Anton. Thank you. 👍🙂

[@hawkbartril3016]

Another really cool video from the mighty Anton who's bringing all these amazing mind expanding topics. He just doesn't stop. I don't know how he does it, but I'm so glad he does.

[@eternaldoorman5228]

What a beautiful video! And none of those images were false color!

[@condatis6175]

Next time a kid asks why is the sky blue, you can answer "it's not".

[@abcxyz1557]

That's in fact, true. It's the Rayleigh Effect. 🧐

[@tonyleukering8832]

It's slightly confusing when you mention "Blue Jays" that the bird on the screen is an Indigo Bunting. However, my main point is: "Ain't life wonderful!" Plants and animals... and other classes of organisms have coopted an incredible variety of physical and chemical processes for various "selfish" reasons... and all of it purely by chance! Biology is the most fascinating science around.

[@shanevonharten3100]

So no blue tongue lizard in Australia, or blue ringed octopus, no blue groper or any other fish in Australia lol

[@Sector14b]

Interesting, I was wondering how the blue ringed octopus (also squid, cuttlefish, some scale fish) were able to "switch it on" when stressed. Fish have scales so maybe some sort of spasm thing, but the cephalopods....hmmm... no idea.

[@Pesmog]

I guess also the small number of creatures that have blue blood (such as horseshoe crabs, squid, snails etc) are also doing some sort of trick with light as well.

[@DG-iw3yw]

psilocybin is blue :)

[@byronedwards8157]

It’s the microwave lasers! They’re turning the blue frogs GAY! 🐸🔵

[@smelltheglove2038]

Dude is right way more than he is wrong.

[@RiteMoEquations]

​@@smelltheglove2038That's why he got bankrupted for slandering people.

[@condatis6175]

Many cultures had no word for blue exactly because of its elusive character. There were no blue pigments or dyes to work on the daily, so no word for it until late in the civilization's development. Greece and its 'wine dark sea' is a prime example. Dr James Fox wrote a book on the history of colour if anyone's interested in a good read.

[@Demiurge13]

This is weird to me because anytime you look up you see the blue sky and uf you are by water you see the blue sea. It's odd that some cultures didn't have a word for blue when they are constantly being confronted with it

[@condatis6175]

@@Demiurge13 that was Fox's point. Blue was in people's world for sure, but not in their, em, instrumental world I suppose you could say. They did not 'handle' it, as such, and so, I guess, because its importance was peripheral, its naming was neglected. I think the assumption was that language developed for practicalities before abstract aesthetic concerns.

[@Reginaldesq]

@@Demiurge13 I think its quite possible to see the colour, recognise the colour but not have a word for it. Example: the only blue thing you see is the sky. Water is clear, so when you see its blue you think its a reflection of the sky, just like you see yourself in still water. So, its like your word for blue and you word for sky are the same but, since nothing else you come across is blue, you only have a word for sky.

[@zippythinginvention]

I thought the blue animal was going to be horseshoe crabs...

[@SentientNebula]

Their blood is, but that's just a side effect of how they carry oxygen

[@Neuroszima]

​​but that would mean there exist a chemical that actually is blue contrary to his clickbait title, which in turn is actually true.

[@SentientNebula]

@@Neuroszima it's cute when you act like you know what your talking about

[@hope1575]

I guess blood doesn't count 🤷

[@SentientNebula]

@@hope1575 correct

[@marcosdenizatrailhiker2037]

What about the Norwegian blue? I’ve heard it as exceptional plumage.

[@claytontaylor2800]

Two minor corrections - the singing bird is a bunting, not a Blue Jay, and the research facility is the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. Otherwise, very interesting. Do they have any explanation of how the Olive-wing butterfly actually manufactures the blue pigment?

[@jpdemer5]

Check out the Wikipedia entry on the pigment (Pterobilin). The blue flower pigment is Delphinidin. And that's pretty much it for natural organic pigments. Fun fact: blueberries use the structural trick, and not a blue pigment, to appear blue.

[@D1N02]

So how about the Smurfs, how do they blow your mind Anton?

[@JackSmith-wg4mf]

And also Blue Sweet Peppers, imagine that !!

[@Neuroszima]

I think in Started Valley I also planted ancient fruit, which are blue! How these not get covered on this channel is beyond me :D

[@xavierdemerson1913]

amazing stuff , good job , happy New Year !

[@vadjkole7108]

I really enjoyed this viddo Anton, definitely a different type of topic, but it was so very interesting to see how special something as simple as a color occurrimg in nature could truly be. And the backing videos were like scirnce asmr!

[@JH-pt6ih]

Same with human blue eyes. No blue pigment.

[@SewingBoxDesigns]

Husky blue eyes.

[@lovefist.2.0]

Cat blue eyes

[@yvonnemiezis5199]

You look good in all colors Anton👍🎄

[@derekk8523]

Everyone knows birds are liars

[@chuckevans2792]

😂Lyre birds anyway. Pretend to be a chainsaw.

[@RiteMoEquations]

Birds aren't even real.

[@abcxyz1557]

r/birdsarentreal

[@iamlsusam]

What about Blue Crabs 🦀

[@feedbackzaloop]

Same as green snakes turning blue: lack of yellow pigment under an iridescent shell.

[@Nefertiti0403]

9:32 He Said there’s only ONE exception that is the butterfly. So this means every ANIMAL THAT LOOKS BLUE is using a those structures to make it look blue. This includes blue crabs. He said there’s only ONE exception. He already gave you the answer 😅

[@arnorrian1]

Yep, Crustacyanin!

[@abcxyz1557]

​@@Nefertiti0403There actually are chemically blue creatures in the oceans. Bwah! bwah! 🎺

[@Nefertiti0403]

@ LISTEN Kid, I’m Going by what Anton said! He said there is only ONE animal, that they know of that actually has real blue for the color! That IS the BUTTERFLY. If This didn’t Apply to ocean animals then he would’ve had said so. He’s not dumb. AND IF YOU ARE TRULY INTERESTED THEN GO DO YOUR RESEARCH! It’s That Simple! Go down to the library or use google.

[@daveknight8410]

Merry Christmas happy new year 😊

[@rahinc]

Comedian George Carlin commented in his act that there are no blue foods.

[@mbpoblet]

There's blue ice cream. It tastes blue.

[@chadblechinger5746]

Science has said long ago that nature produces blue , we have just not found it very appealing for the appetite over the course of evolution. I am not going to pretend to know the nuts and bolts on this one but I am sure I read it in a magazine in middle school or somewhere about that time.

[@davidlamb7524]

There are blue foods. In Asia butterfly pea flowers add blue colour to rice dishes for example. Also blueberries, blue cheese, blue corn, blue potatoes etc. George was very smart but did not know everything.

[@rahinc]

@@davidlamb7524In his show, somebody asked him about blueberries, and he replied, they’re not blue, they’re purple.

[@Scaliad]

Yeah, I can't actually see past my retinas either...

[@jackhalloween7373]

When humans drink mass quantities of tincture of silver their skin turns blue.

[@simoncleret]

Very pale people have veins that look blue

[@banishedbr]

@@simoncleret can confirm, i can take a pic rn hu3

[@baigandinel7956]

So we won't need those fancy artificial scales after all?

[@Thom4ES]

Lordy dont drink tinicture of silver...its metal...its reactive ...its effects are unknown ...and moistly irreversable....at best

[@Neuroszima]

​@@baigandinel7956 just silver and tons of bluelooking veins according to comment section then XD

[@danoblue]

Very interesting topic. Now I wonder why these animals find blue to be important enough to have evolved a complicated system of producing that color.

[@Coys01]

Excellent stuff Merry Christmas

[@jonathanrys6921]

Many of these species have blue coloring and are found in central to south America: Nessaea aglaura Doubleday [1848] - common olivewing, northern nessaea or Aglaura olivewing Nessaea ecuadorensis Talbot 1932 Nessaea batesii C. & R. Felder 1860 - Bates olivewing Nessaea magniplaga Röber 1928 Nessaea hewitsonii C. & R. Felder 1859 - Hewitson's olivewing Nessaea obrinus Linnaeus 1758 - obrina olivewing Nessaea faventia Fruhstorfer 1910 Nessaea latifascia Röber 1928 Nessaea romani Bryk 1953 Nessaea regina Salvin 1869 Nessaea thalia Bargmann 1928

[@stefaniasmanio5857]

Hi. What a wonderful video!! Thank you Anton!❤❤❤❤❤

[@chrisgriffith1573]

Many birds have the "iridescence" of colors, not just for blue, but for many separated colors, Black Birds also have iridescence, with various structures to produce a spectral array of color in one spot- including blue.

[@thomass2935]

That was super cool Anton!! I never understood before how blue worked, let alone that it's only produced naturally by one animal :)

[@partyboypelosi]

two animals - the butterfly and the human ;)

[@jil8091]

Blue being the favorite color makes sense. A clear sky, a clean lake or ocean. It gives us a feeling of safety and longing.

[@philiphumphrey1548]

Some anthocyanins are blue, but only in neutral or slightly alkaline solution. The problem is they are unstable in those conditions, they're only stable at slightly acidic pH when they are pink. This is a problem for the food industry that would love an entirely natural blue food colourant.

[@user-yv6vx]

I was hoping for more of an explanation of what we know about how the butterfly makes a blue pigment and what it is, also hoping to see iridovirus mentioned. Fascinating to see it in a rollie pollie. But great video as always!

[@navIgator8p]

I'm needing a helmet when watching Anton's videos. 8) I ask myself, why the color? I guess it's part of a biological survival strategy shaped by their environment. Yeah, how does that happen? Somebody makes an executive decision: We're going to make, stack, and layer these tiny crystals, and use different shapes to reflect light to match the color of tree limbs and leaves. Sounds pretty complicated on the face of it for micro-organisms that aren't even bugs yet.

[@UserName-q4i5d]

The easiest way to explain it is the way you see blue in a holographic sticker, say in a passport: it appears blue because of very accurate printing that creates a micro-structure that starts interacting with the wavelength of light.

[@robertfarrimond3369]

There is a funny thing you learn about color when getting deep into Astrophotography. Color (not just blue) that we see in our everyday lives is the reflected part of the spectrum. Leaves aren't green, they absorb red and blue and reflect the green part of the electromagnetic spectrum. It's a deep dive, but our eyes evolved to detect light interpreted as colors. Color doesn't really exist.

[@SAOS451316]

That's semantics and/or philosophy gone awry, like saying nothing can be big or small because there's no platonic ideal defining them. Color is defined by what is seen and that means what's reflected rather than what's absorbed.

[@DG-iw3yw]

@SAOS451316 No but they are right, its just perhaps they could say it more like: Colour is more a part of our experience than the actual item, for instance, deer see the colour orange as green. Pretty convenient for tigers, right? Point being that it really all depends on the eyes seeing the object, despite it putting out its respective light frequencies it reflects visually, underneath that it is colourless, its not philosophy, it is simply that colours are entirely dependent on the light around them, the refraction of the objects in need of being viewed, and the eyes that view them, therefore what is blue to you, as a human with eyes that work a certain way, is virtually meaningless when it comes to what is actually "blue" in reality, and only serves to define what is seen, not the actual colour of the object, which dosent really exist, just the chemisty, physics and biology working together which make the appearance of colour...

[@DG-iw3yw]

Our very good colour vision is an evolutionary adaptation to spotting things like snakes that are well camoflaged, most animals dont see as many colours as we do, and many colours we see all look very similar to most animals

[@diaman_d]

wave length defines color.

[@remotepinecone]

Almost nothing in geological nature is blue on the surface, so it would make bad camouflage. the irony for me is I always liked blue because its drab and not quite gray. Not because its bright or rare or anything.

[@thomassicard3733]

Thanks Wonderful Anton!!! I must study the human iris now - lack of pigment results in blue eyes, so it will be interesting to investigate the geometry of the human iris.

[@stevenkarnisky411]

Blue is every country's favorite color, but everybody sings the blues! I have a guitar that is purple in some light and viewing angles, and brilliant blue in others! I play the blues, Anton, but your vids never give me the blues.

[@FranOnTheEdge]

I was wondering about the blood of horseshoe crabs... and about those snails the Romans used to dye Emperor's togas.

[@chuckevans2792]

Israel produced this Royal blue in coastal towns.

[@ianflint3491]

Reflected light has been used in paint pigments for many years. It is done by putting a layer of titanium oxide on mica. The thickness of the mica controls the colour. That is how metallic automobile paints are made. The different colours that they display based on angle is the light taking a slightly different path length.

[@Markbell73]

If I recall correctly Anton, you also made a paper about a paper published by a Japanese scientist team that discovered that blue eyes in humans scatters blue light because lf retina structure, which also allows those humans to see color and details better in high latitude low light conditions. Apparently blue is a very rare color in nature in every case. And only ever appears as a biological advantage for some other reason, but is reproductively selected for because of it's rarity and desirability. I wpuld bet it will be discovered that even blue colored stars are only blue because of some bizarre physics based reason that is very rare and specific.

[@jeffmcginnis8051]

Weird that a brown butterfly is the only blue creature on the planet

[@sparking023]

"But Nature also created us and we're able to sort of reflect on this" Ah, I see what you did there. Good one, Anton

[@Shacthulhu]

Blue LED is very hard to do.

[@chuckevans2792]

It was the last color invented. I had one of the first, before they switched to frequency multiplication. Very low efficiency, very high operating temp. Most blue LEDs are not blue but convert another color to blue.

[@williamlitsch5506]

Not a bad video, but... It doesn't really make sense to say all these animals aren't blue. You can only say that all but that one butterfly that we know of don't have blue pigment. None produce blue light. The pigments you mention either reflect blue light or they absorb other frequencies of light such that our three color receptors interpret it as blue. The structural blue light reaches our eyes looking the same for the same reasons. They reflect blue or a mixture of light that we interpret as blue through destructive interference. We will even see blue if you spin a top with black and white lines of a certain spacing. It would have been more enlightening if you compared the frequency spectrums of the four different things that people interpret as blue: blue emmission spectra, absorption spectra, destructive interference spectra, and dynamic spectra.

[@fwiffo]

I really hate videos that say "such and such is not actually the color you see." Our eyes are neither microscopes nor spectrometers. Color is a psychological phenomenon. It's not a particular spectrum, it's not a particular mechanism of producing a particular spectrum. It's the experience that it causes in your brain. If it looks blue, it is blue. It doesn't matter how it produces the spectrum that causes the psychological phenomenon we associate with "blue", it's blue.

[@BR-dy1ie]

⁠@@fwifforeally is as simple as, “Looks blue? Then it’s blue.”

[@snr7287]

​@@BR-dy1ieUnless it's white and gold!

[@steelegriffiths8650]

You're missing the point - all of these blues are geometric and require that structure to be preserved (except the single butterfly, repurposing a larval molecule). What we regard as useful pigments are coloured at the molecular level, so they can be ground down and used, or chemically duplicated. That's the point - nature has to play around with hugely complex optical meta materials to emulate a blue pigment, which is completely different to the other colours. Plus, we can't use it as a pigment and it's been almost impossible for us to duplicate (until we analyse and understand the structure and can use nano fabrication to recreate the effect). These natural optical meta-materials are even schooling us on what we can do with light and how they can be put to use in improving our technologies. There is a fundamental difference. Saying they look blue either way and therefore aren't of any relevance or interest completely misses the point. CDs/DVDs, opals, etc ... The way they produce their colours is distinct and important, with real ramifications. Even the RGB mixing we use to fool our eyes (TVs , monitors, mixing paints, etc) is distinct and important. By extension, sky is blue, same thing, don't care ... But it too has a distinct and important reason for it's colour. Should Anton not bother to talk about why the sky is blue because it's boring and irrelevant to you? There are so many differentiations and ramifications here that it would be stupid not to note them, discuss them and try to figure out how they change the way we see the world and build our civilisation. Just because there are multiple ways to create a similar impression, does not mean that all those varied strategies are boring or pointless and not worth understanding.

[@williamlitsch5506]

@steelegriffiths8650 Sorry, I'm just a physicist, so I guess "the point" you are making is lost on me since I never presumed (incorrectly) that pigments were colors when they aren't. Pigments are chemicals. Color is a construction of both our eyes and our perceptual faculties using the three cones in our eyes to form a right-side up 3D image from the upside-down down 2D pixelated mess with a hole in it that starts from those cones in our retina. As soon as the reflected light spectra leave the structure of the animal, it is fundamentally no different than any other frequency spectra, including one caused by pigments that absorb some light and reflect others. The pigment is a chemical structure, too, by the way, just smaller and molecular, nanoscale, in size rather than microscale, and therefore harder to destroy.

[@kjanttigvu6887]

It seems that a really good question to follow up would be "why are these plants and animals predisposed to producing a color that they can't produce naturally and have evolved to jump through non trivial hoops in order to produce it." Face it. Producing blue feathers and markings doesn't seem to be the simplest way to evolve. On the other hand, pink flamingos being pink makes sense.

[@TraumaQueen65]

This reminds me of the structure of Opals. The silcate size, shape etc. makes the different colours. Mother Nature is freakin awsome

[@bobjoatmon1993]

So my mom, her sister and their brother became convinced that 'colloidal silver' was a medical treatment and started making it at home and drinking a pint a day. Now it is true that colloidal silver is a good antibiotic but personally i thought it overhyped and refused it. The POINT IS that after a year they all started getting a blue tinge to their skin, a nice pastel lite sky blue. They stopped taking it and it took about two years before it totally disappeared. The POINT of the story is: why did they turn blue? I'd really like to know.

[@WarrenLacefield]

Yes, indeed, when it comes to structure and nano-technology, Nature is totally amazing. I liked that you did point out that, since we are part and parcels of Nature, so are we. Thank you. Happy holidays. Each year gets more interesting!

[@nomoss9600]

Really enjoyed this one

[@CatwomanMeowz]

To quote George Carlin , “Where is all the blue food, man?” 😂😂😂

[@jasontimothywells9895]

Blue corn , I've got some

[@jasontimothywells9895]

Blue carrots

[@jasontimothywells9895]

Blue potatoes

[@jasontimothywells9895]

Blue balls

[@UnicornOfDepression]

​​@@jasontimothywells9895 blue balls exist do to lack of consumption, not lack of existance.

[@johndavis6119]

This actually makes sense. I knew our blue sky was the result of diffusion of sunlight by the atmosphere. I had heard some of this before but thanks for putting all of this together.

[@residentenigma7141]

This episode blew my mind.

[@megamushroom]

What about cornflowers?

[@arnorrian1]

Plants do have blue pigment. You can make blue tea from butterfly pea flowers.

[@megamushroom]

@@arnorrian1 oh cool thanks for explaining 🌈 ❤

[@benjaminneuenschwander7814]

Blue, blue, electric blue That's the colour of my room

[@peterjameson321]

You beat me to it! 😊

[@Drofthechalice]

In response to the sea critter that can photosynthesize, it uses the chloroplasts not free chlorophyll. Chlorophyll by itself would oxidize and capture electrons without the full structure of the chloroplast.

[@paulspaws1521]

should have mentioned how Lexus found out how to replicate these structures in their expensive blue paint. i think it's the most expensive paint as well. it has no blue pigment either but looks really good.

[@GrinninPig]

This is my favorite intro since the one about earthquake lights

[@Arashekhoeur]

🐋: wait I'm not blue?

[@feedbackzaloop]

The last thought of a whale before beaching

[@dougaltolan3017]

I'm blue Da ba dee da ba di Da ba dee da ba di Da ba dee da ba di

[@thhseeking]

@@dougaltolan3017 You sod! :P

[@anothersquid]

I love showing that to people. I have a blue and gold macaw, but her blue feathers are actually greyish black.

[@erinkinsey8831]

In the Poultry world, Anton, we call Grey, Blue.

[@suzannelowman2171]

I want a blue christmas

[@jamesleatherwood5125]

Me too!

[@Reginaldesq]

Take out a huge loan and send the money to me. You will feel blue, but, I will feel great.

[@jamesleatherwood5125]

@Reginaldesq lulz! Great logic. And it achieves natures way of getting to blue without any actual blue being involved! Genius!

[@thhseeking]

I'm sure you could get that Elvis song somewhere... :P

[@therealjamespickering]

The Blue Man Band is not blue either.

[@diaman_d]

i knew it, the blue oyster bar was a lie.

[@ruperterskin2117]

Cool. Thanks for sharing.

[@duncanfeyd4056]

Cephalopods are the most fascinating examples!

[@billywills4391]

Love the topic. Not sure why, but it is somewhat interesting and entertaining.

[@CaptApple]

THIS is exactly why ALL live in it's diversity MUST be preserved.

[@ProfessorPhysics]

Loved this video, not particularly for the content, but rather because you were back in the lower right corner, and we could see the illustrations you were referring to. More importantly, for all the autistic kids here, they were able to watch it without me having to put a Post-it note over your face so the unrelenting eyes don't stare at them from screen centre. I know it's popular nowadays to use the AI-programmes to make sure the presenter's eyes are always focused on the centre of the screen (🧿🧿), but you're driving away parts of your audience. For the 26% of the population with very mild (often undiagnosed) ASD to the most severe variety it makes it very hard (in some cases, impossible) to watch.

[@RazvanMihaeanu]

2:16 Nemophila! "Baby Blue Eyes" flower! 😇 Check the all-female, J-metal band called.. Nemophila! Japanese rock/fetal female oriented bands are absolutely amazing in the last years!

[@jamiebensson6024]

Black is my favourite colour and always has been Anton this is super interesting you do know how to pick these unusual sunjects x

[@bgsmember3650]

I've read that LCDs (liquid crystal displays) produce color in the same way as butterfly wings, through micro-structural scaffolding that manipulates which wavelengths of light are reflected.

[@marklaw9124]

Great video but I have blue eyes how is that made or produced. Keep up the great work and have a great holiday break.

[@ultimateormus7903]

My yard is full of bluebirds and I fish in my pond for blue catfish

[@JH-pt6ih]

And...?

[@webchimp]

There was a display technology called Mirasol that used the light interference technique to produce colours.