Wavelengths – News, Research and Analysis – The Conversation

A tsetse fly (Glossina sp) in the Udzungwa Mountains National Park, Tanzania. Minden Pictures/Alamy

July 4, 2023

Biting flies are attracted to blue traps – we used AI to work out why

Roger Santer, Aberystwyth University

New research on what attracts blood-feasting flies to blue objects could help minimise the impacts of those insects on people and animals.

Light from our setting sun reflecting off storm clouds can give off a some vivid shades of pinks, purples and oranges. Jake Clark

January 6, 2021

Curious Kids: how does the Sun make such pretty colours at sunsets and sunrises?

Jake Clark, University of Southern Queensland and Nataliea Lowson, University of Southern Queensland

It’s all to do with the light from the Sun and a blanket of air wrapped around Earth called the ‘atmosphere’.

The sea is blue because of the way water absorbs light, the way particles in the water scatter light, and also because some of the blue light from the sky is reflected. Flickr/Fiona Paton

April 11, 2019

Curious Kids: is water blue or is it just reflecting off the sky?

Justin Peter, Australian Bureau of Meteorology

Photons stream from the sun and interact with all matter on Earth. Depending on what the light touches, some of the photons will get absorbed or soaked up. And some will bounce back.

Our veins only appear blue through the skin, they’re actually red. from www.shutterstock.com

January 15, 2018

I’ve always wondered: why do our veins look blue when our blood is red?

David Irving, University of Technology Sydney

Blood is red, but our veins are blue. Or are they?

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