Roses are red, ultraviolets look blue: why fairy-wrens have eyes for each other, not you

By Kaspar Delhey, Monash University

Why are some animals blue and others red? Explaining the diversity of colours in nature is a central issue in evolutionary biology. And part of the answer may lie in the most obvious place: the eye…

27 April 2012

Ngz29fxb-1334297604 — Brain scan technology is finding that some parts of the brain respond more strongly to colour than others. Flickr/dpi

Perceiving colour involves more than meets the eye

By Colin Clifford and Erin Goddard

For more than 200 years, scientists have known the range of colours we can see means there must be three different types of light-responsive cells in our eyes. These three types of cell, along with the…

Research Briefs (3)

5 March 2013

Birds seeing red when pollinating

Monash University

Australian native flowers have moved away from insects as pollinators and instead coloured themselves to attract birds…

5 November 2012

Bird colouration may be explained by vision

Monash University

Vibrant blue plumage of breeding male fairy-wren may be linked to their higher visual sensitivity to ultraviolet (UV) light…

12 October 2012

Mimicking butterfly wings

University of Pennsylvania

Iridescent surfaces such as opals, beetle exoskeletons and butterfly wings have unique colour properties due to their microscopic…

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Analysis and Comment (2)

Roses are red, ultraviolets look blue: why fairy-wrens have eyes for each other, not you

Perceiving colour involves more than meets the eye

Research Briefs (3)

Birds seeing red when pollinating

Bird colouration may be explained by vision

Mimicking butterfly wings

Participants (5)

Colin Clifford

Erin Goddard

Kaspar Delhey

Colin Samundsett

Geoffrey Harold Sherrington

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