Color

A newly developed framework for understanding the photoproperties of both natural organic matter and eumelanin, a natural pigment responsible for dark colors in organisms, may inspire advanced sustainable technologies, scientists say.

Birds are known for their distinctive plumage that helps them attract mates during the breeding season. For some birds, the path to adulthood is quite linear. One day they are chicks, and a few months later they are fully grown adults with their mature plumage, all set to find and fight for a mate. However, some seabirds linger much longer in the awkward adolescent phase. Species like the American herring gull take several years to develop their adult feathers, a process called delayed plumage […]

Costa Rican scientists may have discovered a new species of ghost shark in Pacific waters near Cabo Blanco and Cano Island.

More than 500,000 stars blaze red, white, and blue in this image from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, released in celebration of the United States' 250th anniversary. The image showcases Messier 3 (M3), one of the Milky Way galaxy's most massive globular clusters, or spherical collections of gravitationally bound stars. Globular clusters are made up of ancient stars that formed at roughly the same time from the same cloud of gas, giving those stars similar ages. Around 150 known globular […]

When trying to attract and recognize potential mates, animals are known to rely on various signals, traits and behaviors. In the case of birds, these signals can typically include a wide range of sounds—such as trills, whistles, chirps or melodious notes defined as "songs"—as well as the color and movement of their feathers.