The Solutia World of Color Awards™ | Inspired by Vanceva®

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.

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Blue blooded bugs

A spider’s blood turns blue when exposed to oxygen.

“Blue” Jeans

Only half the denim in your blue jeans is dyed blue. The other half is white weft threads.

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The Famous Fireballs Mystery

Picture this: Hundreds of red, pink and orange fireballs soar up into the sky from the he Mekong River in northern Thailand. This occurs every year on the first full moon night of October, which coincides with the end of Buddhist Lent

According to one theory, flammable natural gas deposits in the riverbed cause the colorful fireballs. These gases are released when the sun heats the decomposing plant and animal remains on the bottom of the Mekong and are drawn to the surface by the moon’s gravitational pull.

Local residents have long embraced the legend that the flames come from a mythical Naga, or serpent, in a gesture of homage to the Lord Buddha. They are seen regularly each year around the end of Buddhist Lent and attract hordes of tourists.
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A color that made history

In the ancient world of the Aztecs, red dye was considered more valuable than gold. The bright red colorant required the labor of hundreds of subjects combing the desert in search of its source – the female cochineal beetle. A pound of water-soluble extract required about a million insects. (By comparison, back in the days of the Roman Empire, a pound of royal purple dye required four million mollusks.)

After the arrival of Cortez in the 1500s, the Spaniards traded the dried remains of this insect as a colorant that dyed items a brilliant crimson. Cochine al red w as a stronger dye than ever before – and a color that no one could duplicate. Europeans used it for fabrics and illumination in addition to cooking. In the years that followed, Michelangelo used it in paintings, the British for redcoats and the Canadians for their Mounted Police coats. It is thought that the first U.S. flag made by Betsy Ross had cochineal red stripes. Today, less expensive aniline dyes have replaced it, but it is used as a food coloring and is approved by the FDA as a natural colorant for food, drug and cosmetics. In fact, some brands of fruit juice use this red bug juice as a colorant.

The story of Cochineal red is even more fascinating. Europeans were never told of its insect origin. In reality, the insect looked so much like a seed, that the Spaniards traded it as grain. For almost 300 years, they perpetuated the notion that?dyed in the grain? was their special process for this permanent dye that never faded. And that’s the source of the English term “ingrained.”

Source: Wikipedia

The color of the Universe (much blander than before)

Scientists at Johns Hopkins University announced that the color of the universe was pale turquoise. Three months later, they admitted that they made a mistake in their original calculation and that the true color of the universe is beige.  The new color is now called “cosmic latte.”

What went wrong? And how did they come up with turquoise in the first place? First of all, scientists Karl Glazebrook and Ivan Baldry gathered light from galaxies out to several billion light years. Next, they broke the light into the various colors of the spectrum. After this, they averaged the color values for all the light. This basic data about the average color of the universe was correct. The problem arose when the numerical data was converted into a color compatible with the perception of the human eye. The computer picked a nonstandard white from its electronic palette and mixed it with the other colors to come up with the turquoise. It was uncovered by color engineers who checked their data.

Glazebrook said “This is science. We’re not like politicians. If we make mistakes, we admit them. That’s how science works.”

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Beyond green ketchup: Heavenly blue potatoes

Sky blue French fries from Heinz were the result of a market survey. Kids were asked what would make them eat more French fries and blue was the winner.

However, they were wrong about French fries. They failed and were pulled from the shelves.

“Kids already like the plain French fries,” said Marilyn Raymond, director with New Product Works, a Michigan-based product marketing consultancy. “Why try to make them friendlier to kids?”

In the meantime, Sales of Heinz’s other crazy colors — the green, purple, and pink ketchup — hit the bull’s eye for the company.

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Favorite Toothbrush Color- Blue (of course!) is America’s first choice for toothbrushes. Romantic lilac is the surprise runner-up.

Appliance Color – Almost two-thirds won’t shell out for a large appliance unless it comes in their preferred color.

Source: a study published in House & Garden magazine, March 2004

Nature’s Sunscreen: The Red Pigment of Autumn Leaves

Plant researchers Bill Hock, Eric Zeldin and Brent McCown of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, while studying the fall color changes on trees, discovered that brilliant red pigments shade sensitive leaf tissue in fall while trees reabsorb nutrients from their leaves. They explained, “Trees need to store as many of those nutrients as they can before the leaves drop.” In actuality the red pigment produced by the leaves performs much the same important function as sunscreen on human skin.

As proof, consider how the outer leaves of maple trees are more colorful than shaded leaves inside the canopy and leaves on the north side. Professor Hock said that their conclusions also explain why most of our native maples and oaks in the Midwest and New England turn red, while European species such as the Norway maple do not. The absence of red leaves is the result of the cloudier and warmer weather in these locations during fall. Therefore, these species don’t need the protection of these pigments.

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.

The meaning of red is open to debate. People speculate that red represents the blood of Christ. It might also have to do with holly berries or the increased popularity of red in 19th century England and America.

The official liturgical colors of Christmas tend to be white and gold.

… and Santa?

Red may also represent the robe worn by Santa Claus (Saint Nicholas). However, historically, Saint Nicholas was just as likely to be portrayed in a blue, green or brown robe. (The Saint Nicholas in the illustration is from Prussia!)

In 1931, the Coca-Cola Company used its signature red color to dress Santa and market its products at Christmas.  Although this was not the first red-robed Saint Nicholas (a 1653 English woodcut portrays a red Santa ) it took this major marketing campaign to convince the world that Santa was a jolly old man in red suit.

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A Fish That Glows Red

A little tropical fish that glows fluorescent red will be the first genetically engineered pet. A Texas-based biotech company unveiled plans to market the GloFish™ — a tropic al zebra fish infused with the gene of a sea anemone that makes it glow fluorescent red — touching off a debate over whether they pose a risk to the environment.
(Late-breaking news: California banned the importation of GloFish, December 4, 2003.)

Shining brilliantly in ultraviolet light and shining with bright fluorescence in regular light, GloFish fluorescent fish are born with their unique color and display these beautiful hues for life.

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The origin of green in US currency

In the US, paper currency was created 1862 to help pay for the Civil War. These Notes were printed in $5, $10, and $20 denominations, redeemable in coins on demand, and green in color–hence the name “greenbacks.”

No definite explanation can be made for the original choice; however, it is known that at the time of the introduction of small-sized notes in 1929, green was continued because pigment was readily available in large quantities. Also, the color was relatively high in its resistance to chemical and physical changes, and green was psychologically identified with the strong and stable credit of the Government.

Another fact: Coins date back to 600 BC in Lydia (now western Turkey); paper currency began in China around A.D. 800.

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Redheads need 20% more painkillers

Red hair occurs on approximately 1–2% of the human population.  It occurs more frequently (2–6%) in people of northern or western European ancestry, and less frequently in other populations.

Red hair varies from a deep burgundy through burnt orange to bright copper. It is characterized by high levels of the reddish pigment pheomelanin and relatively low levels of the dark pigment eumelanin. The term redhead (originally redd hede) has been in use since at least 1510. It is associated with fair skin color, lighter eye colors (gray, blue, green, and hazel), freckles, and sensitivity to ultraviolet light.

A University of Washington in Louisville study reported that natural redheads are more susceptible to pain and need more anesthesia when they go under the knife than do people with other hair colors. This confirms what anesthesiologists have suspected all along – that redheads can be a little harder to put under than others.

Scientists explained that redheads have a “defective receptor” for melanin, a pigment responsible for tanning. These same melanocortin-1 receptor cross-reacts with a related receptor on brain cells that influences pain sensitivity. Ouch!

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