How Do Chameleons Change Color?

New research shows chameleons actively tune nano-crystals to change their color.
For a 10-day free trial, check out lynda.com/verit...
Chameleon research in Nature Communications: bit.ly/1FacHO2
"Photonic Crystals Cause Active Colour Change in Chameleons"
This research was carried out by Jérémie Teyssier, Suzanne V. Saenko, Dirk van der Marel & Michel C. Milinkovitch at the University of Geneva Department of Quantum Matter Physics and the Laboratory of Artificial and Natural Evolution (LANE)
Original videos of chameleons are here:
• Chameleon colour chang...
• Chameleon colour chang...
• Chameleon colour chang...
• Phelsuma Colour Mechan...
Additional details available at: www.lanevol.org...
For correspondence: Michel C. Milinkovitch, Laboratory of Artificial & Natural Evolution (LANE), Dept. of Genetics & Evolution, University of Geneva, Switzerland.
The melanin spreading out video is courtesy of Richard Wheeler:
• Fish Melanophores & Ad...
www.richardwhee...
Special thanks to:
Harry, Jo, Daniella and Raquel for helping me produce and film this video - it looks great thanks to you!

[@naqiyahmulachelah5668]

"your crush is coming, act natural" Chameleon:

[@sheaking4316]

OH MY GOSH, THIS COMMENT IS SO UNDERATTED

[@rybo4663]

Naqiyah Mulachelah R A I N B O W T I M E

[@epo1980]

@@sheaking4316 agreed

[@epo1980]

this is a great comment :)

[@geckogamer9270]

Relatable...

[@iguanian]

Fascinating! Many years ago I gave a report on how the color change happened, and it was via chromatophores - tree-like cells that shifted their "branches" causing the color change. I can see how that was refined into this, since the shifting part of the cells is obviously the important part. What was missing was the nano-crystals, which makes it much more logical and much cooler. Thanks for the video!

[@zp944]

This video actually says the chromatophores don't do anything at all

[@Booley95]

2:53 The facial expressions of the calm chameleon and the excited chameleon are fantastic

[@NitinBansal85]

Apple: we have best retina display Chameleon: hold my crystals..

[@pieterpan6776]

People who came here after ""Chameleon changing color" after "when a chameleon trust you" , Have a nice day !!

[@enelasjames4649]

You don't know me space man.

[@balazsvarga1636]

omg i did

[@rye2560]

hahahaha here i am

[@xst3althx356]

Yes

[@renkatsuki2921]

How..

[@yemhigtm]

Now, apply that technology to clothes. That would be SO AWESOME!

[@bigmacmac5924]

Sweet

[@hutnkus]

Blue and black, or white and yellow edition?

[@computerman4321]

Currently, creating such crystals at a tiny scale of nanometres is expensive.

[@razielhamalakh9813]

That would be a nice concept. So we will have clothes made of capsules with nanocrystals. How do you suggest we adjust spacing? Electrically, like in e-ink screens? Or mechanically, as in "turn the knob, change the color" by compressing the capsules themselves?

[@Somerandomdude-ev2uh]

Daniel Hutňan YOU have solved the riddle

[@AliHSyed]

his shirt changes color at 0:16, pretty cool effect

[@Timeless14]

yeah

[@johnmaxwell8627]

yeah but lots of times .LOL.

[@amirmohdd]

But at 00:7 you can see his shirt invisible

[@citykilla12]

Check his shirt out at 0:10

[@deven.k93]

Must have got exited..!! :P

[@raihanahmed1856]

So you're telling me they don't use photoshop?

[@yourusernamehere]

They used to use photoshop but then Adobe made it more expensive so they had to switch to cheaper method.

[@xivCatumin]

Hackis Bell Now they use Gimp

[@xivCatumin]

***** Chameleons

[@oranjizer]

LOL, first up-voted this awesome comment from OP, then clicked show replies and up-voted that awesome reply too XD

[@dom2428]

Hackis Bell dude, creative cloud is awesome how dare you

[@joaoavo8127]

Hi. First time I comment on your videos, so let me say I really like your channel. As a scientist, I find that a lot of youtube content falls way too short on communicating science in an accurate and accessible way, but your videos really accomplish that. Everytime I watch one, I learn something new. I am a photophysicist and I deal with colors all the time, so I really enjoyed this clip. I just want to leave a small correction. The green color cannot be created by the combination of yellow pigment and reflected blue light. This is something that I find hard to explain to colleagues and friends that do not usually work with optical materials, but pigment color and light color are not the same, and actually, they are complementary (opposite). Light has 3 primary colors, Red/Green/Blue (RGB), and pigments have Cyan/Magenta/Yellow. For a pigment to be yellow, it will have to absorb blue light, and reflect Red+Green. Thus, the Yellow pigment would absorb the blue light reflected by the nanocrystal layer, or, otherwise, the color would be white. To yield green, the nanocrystals should reflect green, and the pigment contribution should be minimal. If the information on that study is written as you explained here, it should not be correct. Keep up the good work Cheers

[@ballistic_goat]

We learned this in design school! It's so cool how such different fields can overlap sometimes.

[@GreenEnvy.]

me: So THAT'S how chameleons change colors. my wife: How? me: I don't know. crystals?

[@shikabaneconga]

i mean, first you gotta look up what a crystal is, then you understand why colors, or hold a crystal in sunlight 🙃

[@Shehan.Beeharie]

0:16 That low-key shirt colour change!! ;)

[@borisburd2951]

i saw it

[@Theorangecrushgamer]

TheShernie You act as if you and you alone saw that and for what?

[@Shehan.Beeharie]

OrangeCrush Gaming You act as if I and I alone care about your opinion. #rekt

[@CarlosAvilla]

@orangedumbass what a dumbass

[@sidd0405]

He might be in presence of a female.

[@russellesteban]

2:08 chameleon has a green heart on one of the red scales near its face.

[@benzenecarson6296]

.... yeah I see it wondering how you did

[@realeyes8199]

🦅 👀

[@MBss-xb2eb]

Dude got that 2020 vision

[@SWTH71]

Incredible. Even in these modern days we still have a lot to learn from nature

[@RobinJohnson]

What he didn't explain is how they are able to CHOOSE the color they turn.

[@choirmaestro]

+Rob Johnson He also never claimed that he would answer that question lol.

[@RobinJohnson]

I didn't suggest he should have. But he should have...lol

[@choirmaestro]

***** Fair enough.. Yeah I agree haha

[@An_Actual_Rat]

+Rob Johnson From what I know it is done unconsiously, like blushing for example.

[@RobinJohnson]

White Knight Oh? Great! Well i think i might blush "Turquoise" today just for a change...

[@pappisaints]

did anyone think they were tripping when his shirt changes color LOL

[@RosheenQuynh]

I knew why that was happening :D

[@moeonl]

I swear 😂😂😂

[@THomasJefferRson]

No bc im actually tripin

[@0divide136]

same lmao

[@aredjoshramos7961]

He's an undercover chameleon and he is explaining how they change color

[@mckennacisler01]

Its neat that modern science was wrong about something so commonly accepted for so long... its humbling and a testament to the flexibility and objectiveness of the scientific method. Also, I think it is really cool that evolution has bridged the gap of practicality between microscopic wavelength-specific reflecting crystals and the larger world of a Chameleon's behavior.

[@That777GuyAgain]

Mckenna Cisler evolution brainwash makes you blind bro, random chance mutation causes deevolution and if there was a random mechanism creating new body parts blindly where are they? Not all new parta that are non functional would be fatal, you should have genetic freak structures al over you and all over every living thing...yet we have perfect creatures

[@goyonman9655]

Evolution is not an active agent I hate when people speak of it as such

[@chewbama6285]

@@That777GuyAgain We’re not perfect creatures lmao and micro evolution has been proven and macro evolution has basically been proven through fossils and carbon dating. I’m guessing you think the earth is only 6000 years old as well huh?

[@chrisgarrett6305]

@@That777GuyAgain you are sort of correct in a small way, but still wrong. Not all non beneficial random mutations would be fatal, but because they would be less beneficial than random beneficial mutations, those with beneficial mutations would slowly outcompete the others, essentially wiping them out anyway.

[@enterpassword3313]

​@@That777GuyAgain ummm, you never knew that people are born deformed all the time???

[@redkb]

Next how does a cuttlefish change color.

[@orfeasliossatos]

It's called the ''cuttlefish'', but cuddlefish sounds really cute ^^ also, HI! BIG FAN OF YOUR VIDS

[@inademv]

Muscular control of their chromatophores

[@redkb]

fenojack oops! Thanks for the heads up!

[@BadgerFall]

My favorite cyber watches this too :D?

[@toasty4000000]

***** No

[@petchameleoncare97]

Great video! Chameleons' color-changing abilities have always been a marvel, and this new research uncovering their nano-crystal tuning is truly remarkable. Nature's ingenuity never ceases to amaze. 🔬🦎🌈

[@michaelramirez2382]

my wife changes color when she is pissed lol...

[@MouseGoat]

+Michael Ramirez you wife may be a Chameleon then.

[@refresh313]

+Michael Ramirez Then your wife has nano crystals under her skin. Cut and check :D lol

[@jasonneu81]

+Michael Ramirez That also works the other way around, because when the color of her underwear changes you know she's pissed :'D

[@hillaryhonde8425]

Michael Ramirez I read that as wifi

[@archerspectre8058]

Michael Ramirez Waifus dont change color....

[@klaroxy7552]

0:40 - Ninjutsu. He actually waves a sign with his left hand! Solved!

[@miabua73]

I see your t-shirt color changed at 0:18, nifty!

[@MrChocodemon]

And how do octopus change colour?

[@Draxis32]

It's the first explanation they gave. Pigmented cells have a way of expanding and contracting becoming darker or lighter.

[@MrChocodemon]

Thank you very much ^-^

[@Anjon101]

***** they don't, you know it wrong

[@8898samuel]

***** octopi*

[@ishankmahale5393]

MY PENIS IS PARTICULARLY NORMAL. PENISES HAVE NO TASTE, EITHER. I KNOW FROM EXPERIENCE.*sees the username............facepalm*

[@Knobbler]

2:55 "excited yellow chameleons" nah man, I think he's depressed.

[@hakobo1327]

This is definitely interesting because it's different than how octopi change colors but with octopi and certain species of chameleon the skin color can be changed to match its surroundings. My thought is what if the creature was blind? Would it just change colors wildly? Or would it revert back to displaying emotions/ social cues through color?

[@chris_1988]

Do we know if it's a conscious choice to change color or if it just happens? Is that even philosophically solvable? What I mean is, is it like us getting goose bumps in cold weather or is it more like us shaking our fists at people we're angry at? Does the chameleon think "Oh damn, a rival, better move around those crystals!" or is it an automatic thing that goes hand in hand with an accelerated heart rate or whatever happens in the animal's body during a rival encounter?

[@blasphomie]

Its most likely caused by the hormones released, and i dont know of any living species that can control emotions.

[@StevieRay9O]

TheTitaniumWolfman Vulcans! (Spock)

[@dubstepXpower]

You mean is it behavioural, structural, physiological, or psychological? My guess is physiological.

[@TheRealFlenuan]

TheTitaniumWolfman Humans can control their emotions to a small extent.

[@theamici]

The Real Flenuan I'd say a significant extent. Small sounds... too small. Some emotions are deeper than others and are virtually impossible to tackle except by long time and effort, others, like fear, anger, anxiety... we can often reason ourselves out of them relatively easy. Ruining our own happiness is also ridiculously easy, but nobody really tries to make an art of that for obvious reasons. Our emotions can be powerful, but I really think that depending on the person, more often than not, we do have the power to make a difference on our emotions. We can also of course consider the fact that we sometimes make the wrong choices and suffer the emotional consequences of them, and while we may not be able to deal with the consequences, we did after all make the consequences so we kind-of did exert power over them.

[@josh11735]

Somehow I feel like the information contained in this video will never rid the chameleon of its association with perfect camouflage... xP But seriously, that was very interesting! Great explanation Derek! :D

[@akramirez]

People still think dinosaurs are boring-ass lizard monsters, so chances are this misconception won't die for a long time.

[@raizin4908]

Michael Langfitt Unfortunately the idea of dinosaurs with a coat of hair-like feathers is not so appealing to the general masses. Although it does open up a whole new range of interesting plausible designs of dinosaurs in movies and such, so it's really too bad it's not embraced.

[@TF8ase]

Wow that's amazing. I love seeing discoveries that make what we assume to be simply more complex.

[@ProFoxMike]

Hey Derek, I was at the Adelaide Museum today where they currently have a cool exibition on Opals. They played this video to explain the color play in precious opals. (since simialar) Good stuff !

[@ranbirkaur1078]

Your T-Shirt color indicates that making KZbin Clips excites you :) Great explanations, great presentation as always! Keep it up

[@SidCurry]

Veritasium, it's thanks to you that I became motivated and started making my own videos (in fact, I uploaded my first videos only last week!) in the hopes that I can help more people aspire to look at the world from a Scientific perspective. And if anyone here is interested in watching other science-based videos, please give my channel a try! I strive to make my videos as visually appealing as possible, and as a grad student who is trying to put himself through school while also supporting his parents, your support and viewership would be much appreciated! Thank you guys :D

[@jacobstein5304]

i was gonna skip past your comment like it was spam, but i checked out your channel. nice vids bruh

[@AayushSapra]

They have HSL preinstalled

[@anishaanand5324]

What is HSL

[@anishaanand5324]

??

[@josephjackson1956]

What really amazes me is how this animal in nature just seemed to know how to change its color by the microscopic spacing between the crystals in its skin.

[@carolynperez2440]

It's a God-thing! It's a miracle of creation!

[@NekuroMC]

@@carolynperez2440 no

[@reechan_8836]

@@carolynperez2440 yes

[@finlaymccormack6908]

@@carolynperez2440 nah

[@ankuryadav2885]

Aliens

[@osama9347]

This vid was great u got yourself a subscriber

[@potswheeler]

A complex design as this creature must have a great Designer. Simply mind blowing

[@Legominder]

2:54 "excited chameleon." That sounds like electrons🤓😂

[@arinjaytiwari9696]

Sounds more like plasma lol if u know what i mean

[@Mara.Lea.04]

This is literally the only thing I‘VE ever wanted to know

[@darkincognito3826]

Nah..why is it when you get closer to your bathroom the urge to pee becomes more intense?

[@Mara.Lea.04]

@@darkincognito3826 that too!!

[@MrSlatra]

thanks for such good videos.

[@algebra5766]

A friend of mine, a physicist does work on nano particles. This is a fascinating subject. With introducing nano-particles you can change the behaviour of materials in amazing ways, f.e. make them more flexible, stable and keep some of the features you want ...... its brilliant!

[@ngard777]

With videos like this ,honestly I won't mind spending the whole day scrolling down KZbin. Tnx for such an instructive video.

[@bababootie]

u said it right after i thugt it: " we thought we had the answer" I'm thrilled to see what happens in the next 50 years. not even to think of 500....

[@ronnieharrisson]

Chamechamechamechamechamechamelioooooon!

[@Ancor3]

RoniTiihonen Chame-lion?

[@gwilliamb3267]

They come and goooo

[@ronnieharrisson]

i don't know, i'm from finland

[@ronnieharrisson]

Afro Samurai And karma karma karma karma karma chameleon just sounds stupid

[@melexdy]

bender?

[@HalleyRai]

did anyone notice....his t shirts color change?

[@ShonkyLegs]

Oh I didn't, that's cute.

[@KOTR2003]

Halley Rai Would be surprised if someone said they did not notice this... it is fairly obvious

[@TejeshTalpe]

I think it changes from blue to red. .....)

[@yousorooo]

I swear it was white and gold.

[@yousorooo]

***** Well that's not very nice to say that.

[@turtlehater2]

Holy cow the audio in this video is so crisp. Whatever you're doing/using keep it up!

[@tchocky71]

I quite enjoy this man's manner. This subject matter is utterly fascinating but his enthusiasm would probably compel me to watch a tutorial on something I thought I wasn't interested in.

[@divyendumishra5081]

It all started from "when a chamelion trusts you"

[@TaylorShawn]

RIP Teemo, long live Chroma

[@AmericanRustWorker3369]

It truly amazes me how chameleons have brains so much more advanced than us by being able to manipulate their body color accordingly

[@angelle050801]

I think it's more of a physiological response to environmental stimulus, not an active choice, kind of like blushing

[@Xgil2Play]

And nobody teaches them to do it. There isn't a daddy chameleon saying to their son "You have to separate the crystal in your body to achieve red, my son" - they just... know.

[@doemaeries]

Would it be possible to built a TV out of it?

[@sieri00]

I think it would be way to slow to allow the framerate. Might however be able to be used in some display that need less update like an information board

[@geniusmp2001]

Tricky, because TVs generally don't work by reflecting incoming light.

[@unvergebeneid]

Yes, kinda. It's called an optical interference display. You basically take two plates and change the space between them to change the wavelengths that constructively interfere. There might be a way to make colored e-paper this way. Aside from plain issues of manufacturing these things cheaply enough, there are two issues that I imagine: one is that you can not mix colors freely this way, so magenta is out of the picture (no pun intended) and the second is that you can't up- or downregulate the amount of light you reflect so producing desaturated colors and colors with less lightness is a problem (especially, say, black). White is probably not as much of a problem as one might think because plates that are far enough apart won't cause any interference in the visible spectrum at all and therefore the white or backlit background shines through. One would probably solve the saturation problem with an LCD layer between the white background and the color-producing layer but how one could change value/lightness and saturation independently from each other is not clear to me. Maybe a backlight that can be regulated on a pixel-level solves this problem ... or you'd need cells that can be reconfigured so quickly that they can switch between white and color quickly enough to use the same PWM trick DLP projectors use to change brightness ... I'd have to think about this. How many stacked layers of color-producing cells you'd need to get at least the RGB color space is also not clear to me.

[@GeeGnebAb]

If this idea work, the biggest issue with it that the tv will be useless at night

[@unvergebeneid]

GeeGne -bAb That doesn't even make sense.

[@ogamiitto999]

This has perpetually blown my mind as a child and it still does after learning this!

[@pork_nachos]

Dude I love your channel. I'm so glad SmarterEveryDay brought me here.

[@gamer3928]

Is it voluntary or involuntary?

[@Arthanias]

Reflexive

[@CasseyMayhle]

They're Mood Lizards!

[@DrWakey]

I wonder: how many Chameleons had to die only for us to know how their "magic trick" works. None hopefuly.

[@andredeguzman7049]

The easiest way to answer your question in a less scientific approach, studying a chameleon won't harm him. Cells could be studied by simple getting a fragment of their skin, saliva, or anything an animal produce. However, studying an animals biology and systems specifically leads to what students call "Disection" which literally leads to inevitable death. However, those act only happens to few animals who passed consideration. Meaning they don't just kill animals to study at will.

[@TheJerbol]

the extent and 'severity' of animal testing has to pass an ethics panel and justify any harm caused as worth it in terms of impact of the research being done. since this isn't exactly 'high impact' science, I doubt they would have gotten approval to sacrifice them. but i imagine getting ahold of an already expired chameleon corpse isn't exactly hard to do either

[@dunhamchris]

What are the crystals made out of? What cell generates them? Are they contained within a cell or are they excreted from vacuoles and held together in connective tissue? How do they change the spacing of the crystals? Sorry for so many questions.

[@mjasz4341]

This channel is awesome! I really like Veritasium it's really an awesome channel and a good way to learn. Thanks for uploading these videos!

[@kellydavis6243]

I swear to God if anyone mentions that stupid dress in the comments.. I will have lost faith in humanity... I see White and Gold btw. 

[@unknownmf2599]

I see White and gold too

[@Viktorrrrr1]

450 subscribers and no videos? How to get subs these days! 1. Have a picture of a girl on your profil. 2. Have a girl name. 3. Wait.

[@kellydavis6243]

Viktorrrrr or it might be the fact that I had videos up in the past.

[@Jarb2104]

Did you lost it already? because you just did that exact thing.

[@Viktorrrrr1]

Kelly Davis Yup, but it still looks weird.

[@justanotherhotguy]

5 years from now, KZbin knows that my New Year’s Eve is colorless and wants to help me out with the ability to change the colors.

[@fridjon13]

Am I the only one who noticed that the KZbin like button is now measured in K ? K comes form the Greek kilo which means a thousand. In the metric system lower case k designates kilo as in kg for kilogram, a thousand grams. Even here there is some ambiguity. In the language of computer science K is 210 = 1024.

[@hikari_no_yume]

K/kilo in computers is variously 1000 or 1024 depending on who you ask. I prefer the SI approach: K (kilo) for 1000, Ki (kibi) for 1024.

[@krinord]

TazeTSchnitzel Neil deGrasse Tyson ✪ Its because computers use binary ("counts in twos") instead of decimal (base 10). kB = 1000 bytes KB = 1024 bytes I work in the computer business and rarely ever see KiB :)

[@slpk]

Nice trick with that star. Fooled me...

[@hikari_no_yume]

krinord I'm aware of what binary is. Using powers of 1024 is a hack to avoid expensive division and multiplication, where you can just use bitwise shifts. I'm upset that people refuse to adopt KiB, MiB, GiB, TiB though. Creating confusion with SI units is a bad idea. Also, no, kB and KB aren't different. kB is just a misspelling of KB.

[@batulbw1829]

thanks for posting such video that cleared my dought

[@vlad1972]

Good video. One aspect I missed from the video is an explanation on actually how is it that the crystal spacing is triggered and regulated: adrenaline, cortisol,other? At around 3:00 you mention scientist examine skin samples from a not exited an and exited chameleon and the crystal spacing was different. Then, can we infer the process to regulate spacing requires some chemical to separate the crystals and another one to cluster them together, without a "default" spacing, otherwise the skin samples would have reverted to the "default" spacing.

[@Myemnhk]

Yet ive seen many videos where they change color to match their surroundings

[@adampatterson1624]

XenoNova Gaming photoshop

[@zeal8111]

Adam Patterson Nah, it’s just a different type of chameleon. Panther Chameleons change color by mood. 1st Gen Chameleons is by camouflage.

[@pendagar449]

Chameleons don't change color instantly, it takes a minute or so. Any video you watched that had one changing in a matter of seconds is just photoshopped.

[@bassbytes]

Those videos are fake. Loads of them on KZbin.

[@shreyasharma1332]

KZbin; teaching me more than I ever learnt in school.

[@cubbydebry842]

4k RGB chameleon display XD

[@Invistacomandre]

you are amazing, congratulations for your job! please do never stop doing it

[@xRawlins]

This was a super interesting video. I mean, all Veritasium videos are super interesting - but this was even *more* so. Love it!

[@BioniclesaurKing4t2]

And if we were wrong about this for so long, just how many other things might we have been wrong about for even longer?

[@THERIOTCLANOFTRUTH]

Like if the earth is flat? Well not to point fingers, but you are right. We don't know if the world is round, because EVERY image of earth on Google looks like CGI! I mean really! Give me a picture! I want to see it! (Paintings don't count either)

[@BioniclesaurKing4t2]

***** You don't need a picture, just to know that all our math for motion only works if the Earth is round and rotating, and orbiting.

[@THERIOTCLANOFTRUTH]

BioniclesaurKing4t2 Not true man, Life on a disc would be totally doable.

[@BioniclesaurKing4t2]

***** Do you even know how many inertial force terms need to be added to an equation to account for all the "extra motion"? And not all of them are at "nice" angles to the surface, either.

[@BioniclesaurKing4t2]

***** Do you even know how many inertial force terms need to be added to an equation to account for all the "extra motion"? And not all of them are at "nice" angles to the surface, either.

[@michele8491]

This chameleon isn't green Vsauce anyone? xD

[@bubbles_number2]

Michele Fio noice

[@zeal8111]

Michele Fio Nope. Chameleons are normally different colors.

[@Exist64]

Which episode?

[@vmdp8790]

Exist64 this lemon is not yellow

[@lazy_amanda]

What even.... I am convinced we literally have no clue how mysterious the nature is!

[@eddyvideostar]

This is fascinating. Great narration and presentation. Well done.

[@nelmabelisle9793]

eddyvideostar jioni

[@Erikmacip123]

loved it! new challenge, how they do it! it's awesome how in science every time we find an answer, a lot more emerge.

[@khchan3501]

when I saw the tool press against the skin and the colour changes to blue, then a question came up, if that chameleon died, does the crystal mentioned in this video still remain active to be able to change colour?

This is amazing... :O

[@santoshr2984]

I dont get it .. he said "They actively tune the spacing between the nano scale crystals " ... So how does a chameleon do it ... I mean does it consciously stretch ? OR generate heat which results in stretching? Is it a physical process or a chemical process. What exactly is the mechanism? This is like saying "Giraffes stretched their neck during evolution, this makes us think that Evolution is like a conscious process in the grander scheme of things and its manipulating the course of things, which it is not. Giraffes stretching their necks is false, cause its just that the ones with shorter neck starved out and this genetic advantage of longer neck was passed on to the offsprings. Just survival of the fittest; plain and simple." Now I would definitely see replies asking me to refer some scientific journal for the details. But I am just saying the language used needs to be refined and scientifically accurate .. thats all :0)

[@avinashawasthi2214]

Chameleons changing the spacing between crystals is an involuntarily process. Much like you don't have voluntary control over peristalsis or other involuntary movements in your body.

[@Bob3D2000]

@@avinashawasthi2214 He didn't ask whether or not it was voluntary. He wants to know what the physical mechanism is for changing the crystal spacing, but muddied the question when he started going on about giraffes.

[@ageedmurad3512]

Interesting. I’ve already seen this exact video at my university when they taught us about reflection and diffraction of waves.

[@tommygarcia707]

Nice video and now I understand more about chameleons, it was an interesting video and I'd like to learn more about them.

[@shamimanasrin8790]

how they do that

[@Alex1611AD]

Micro muscles, obviously

[@shitshow_1]

I can give a explanation: Bragg's law 2dsinθ=nλ As distance between atoms(d) increases wavelength(λ) also increases. Since they are directly proportional.

[@lucythomas7402]

wrong

[@IndianBoy77]

Do they use RGB combination🤔

[@monikaanderson7435]

Love this video, thank you for making it!

[@codyjohnson7841]

Well done, good sir! I loved this video, from the green screen tee to the science behind the creature. That made my day.

[@georged.1976]

Now, all my questions have been answered...

[@thehyperdimentinaltraveller]

anyone noticed the hair sticking out of his right ear??

[@carlosrosinha]

I did :D

[@raykarush186]

"I've got you under my skin" ;-)

[@watersheep6590]

Vladimir moment

[@Bob3D2000]

@@watersheep6590 I thought it was Frank Sinatra.

[@watersheep6590]

@@Bob3D2000 it’s also a quote from Vladimir in league of legends

[@Spooms1961]

Brilliant. Utterly bloody brilliant. Damn, I just adore your videos.

[@Revitasium]

This science can be used to develop lots of technologies. For example, the same nano scale crystal sheets can be manufactured to measure fluid pressure flowing in a duct or pipe. Making a hole in duct and wrapping the sheet which contains nano crystals .. the pressure of fluid inside will press the nano crystals and hence their spacing will alter. On the other side of hole their can be a tiny source of white light, and different colors reflected can be calibrated directly to measure the static pressure. Or alternatively can also be done with a small tiny electronic circuit with LCD to display pressure directly... WOW ...

[@nopretribrapture2318]

WISH I COULD DO THAT!!!!😃😳😵😨

[@oliz118]

HIS SHIRT WAS CHANGING COLOUR

[@Mazaroth]

Mimetic skin gene mod. 'Nuff said.

[@serbiantraveler7894]

WOW! I love this channels that make you always learn something :) Thanks for sharing

[@Erza2001]

Thanks for the explanation on how they change colors when excited/agitated, but I wanna know, how do they change their color when they touch things? And how do they 'mix' those colors too?

[@slpk]

You say there's no green pigment in its skin but then you go on to describe how the-thing-that-is-not-pigment reflects only a specific light frequency. Well, isn't that the definition of pigment? Something that reflects only a band of the total spectrum of light? I actually don't know what is considered "pigment", or "color" for that matter. Isn't color, on the very small scales, simply an arrangement of particles? Also, I haven't read the research paper but I don't think the chameleons "actively tune" these nano structures. That just wouldn't be practical. It's clear that, for some reason, probably involving some kind of involuntary muscle action due to release of hormones, these structures are changed, but the animal is not actively tweaking the nanometer distance between the particles. I think.

[@slpk]

XDBEN32 I know that color is the reflection/absorption of light. That's not what I'm asking. What I want to know is how does a "pigment" reflects/absorbs light; and whether that mechanism isn't the same as the mechanism used on the blue butterfly wings or the chameleon skin described in the video.

[@brianjosephmedia1086]

***** No, the chamaleon and the butterfly scatter the light, while a pigment bounce it (and absorbs the rest) It's sorta like a bunch of people entering a maze but only a few can get out of it.

[@shaness112233]

Watch the video again, but this time imagine that it is Morgan Freeman explaining it. You're welcome

[@petersmythe6462]

"Actively tuning" is not the same thing as "consciously tuning."

[@yaldabaoth2]

***** I guess it's a definition thing. A pigment is something I would put into the chemistry corner. An organic or inorganic molecule that absorbs a specific (fixed) wavelength. This lattice method is further in the physics corner. It's not the actual crystals that interefere with the light, it's the space between them that interacts with the wave characterics of incoming light. Annihilating some wavelenghts, reinforcing others.

[@lloydgongob4283]

did anyone notice the T-shirt is changing color on 0.20?

[@Sonicgott]

"Fifteen hundred years ago, everybody knew... the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was flat. And fifteen minutes ago, you knew that people were alone on this planet. Imagine what you'll know... tomorrow." - Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones), Men In Black

[@snooppp8873]

What does this have to do with the video

[@DCharIAA]

No, not everybody!

[@nessamillikan6247]

That was such an awesome, informative explanation! Sub earned!

[@eightosaurusspelunk1598]

Truly and extremely interesting! You have just earned yet another subscriber. Keep up the great work!

[@alarik95]

Color me impressed

[@dumbshrew8511]

Join the shrew cult

[@jasoncarto]

It's funny to see people praise God over a discover Science made. This wasn't in any of the Books of Abraham (yes you are all one religion spawned off from one another the same way species branch off from others, thus in itself proving the very concept of evolution by its very existence while denying it as very strong proof that your beliefs are untrue. The irony).

[@Muzdy]

mr scientist I understand evolution happens with time, explain to me how time is such a genius to organize and create every thing in search a perfect way. why revolution is so precise and perfect mr scientist

[@jasoncarto]

Eddy Muzero It isnt. It's extremely messy. And the way you are thinking about it is completely wrong. Evolution isnt the process of out of the blue making something perfect. That's creationist thinking. Evolution is making near infinite amount of mistakes with a few successes. I'll put it in basketball terms:The way you are thinking is Evolution is a basketball player who stands at the halfcourt mark and makes freethrows perfectly over and over. That isnt how it works. Evolution is a guy with one arm, blindfolded throwing basketballs in random directions, and the net is somewhere in the stands, and randomly changes location. That's what evolution is more like.

[@Muzdy]

+Jason Carto when you look at the universe. can you metion some of the errors or imperfections you seen. I'm very very curious to me everything is a wonder.

[@jasoncarto]

Male nipples

[@Muzdy]

+Jason Carto I thing my nipples serve a purpose can you imagine how weirdo I would look with no nipples. and by the way my nipples have nerves so they have a feeling whenever my wife kisses or licking them it turns me own. give me imperfection and errors I thought there was a lot

[@AlphaDwg]

i wonder how many chameleons had to die to gain this knowledge lol

[@unknownusername8718]

LOL

[@user-bp7ee8kh1m]

Nein.

[@kingomari901]

Dem chameleons be like: who needs racism? I can switch to any color

[@utkarshrajguru949]

This blew my mind completely!

[@732doglover]

What an incredible design from God! No one has any excuses. (Romans 1:20).

[@MrGoatflakes]

"God" didn't make it evolution did.

[@flamingphoenix824]

It's called natural selection.

[@732doglover]

MrGoatflakes FlamingPhoenix Why do you believe that something so amazing and with intelligence came about by accident and from non-intelligence? I can't get my head around how you think this is just chance.

[@flamingphoenix824]

732doglover Well you seem to already be mistaken, I do not think any of this is an "accident", because it is far from it. Evolution and the processes of Natural Selection all make this animal have the unique capabilities that it uses. How can you talk about intelligent design when there are over 4,000 genetic diseases in this world? Give me a break, there are way to many un-educated people in this comment section.

[@732doglover]

FlamingPhoenix If you believe that it has happened for no purpose then it has to be an accident. What caused evolution and natural selection to happen in the first place? There has to be something there already in order for something to be able to evolve, if you know what I mean. The 4,000 genetic diseases, viruses e.t.c are all evidence that something seriously wrong has happened to this world, we all know this deep down. It's all because of what happened at the fall when Adam and Eve chose to disobey God. The whole of creation 'groans' because of it, we die because of it, but praise God He didn't leave us alone, for God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.