Month: Mar 2020

Butterflies are blacker than black

Butterflies are famous for their impressive colours. Their wings can come in the brightest shades of blue, green, red, yellow and more. Surprisingly though, the most spectacular butterfly colour is black. The wings of black butterflies are covered in the darkest material found in nature. They absorb more than 99.9% of all the light that … Continue reading Butterflies are blacker than black →

The unusual shapes of stars

We can’t tell from Earth, but the Sun isn’t a fixed shape. Instead, like an ocean, the flow of its plasma causes constant movement. The changeability of stars can result in some interesting shapes, including one that’s just been discovered looking like a teardrop. HD 74423 is a binary system, where two stars orbit around … Continue reading The unusual shapes of stars →

It’s not easy seeing green

For most of us, red and green are incredibly different colours. However, many people with colour-blindness find them almost impossible to tell apart. This is the problem that a new design of contact lens is aiming to solve. The most common type of colour-blindness is called deuteranomaly (dyoo-ter-an-om-al-ee), commonly referred to as red-green colour-blindness. People … Continue reading It’s not easy seeing green →