Color

"One way or another, we are living the stories planted knowingly or unknowingly in us early in life, the stories that give our lives meaning."—Ben Okri, A Way of Being Free

Brazilian researchers have developed a biodegradable, starch-based sensor that changes color when moisture enters food packaging. With the addition of cobalt chloride, the sensor changes from blue to pink as moisture levels rise and back to blue as they fall. Consumers and manufacturers could use it to monitor the quality and crispness of foods such as cookies with the naked eye or a cellphone camera, without complex equipment.

An international collaboration led by the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG), Germany, has developed a labeling method that distinguishes fluorescent labels not by color but by how long it takes a dye to emit fluorescence. This makes it possible to visualize eight different proteins in a cell simultaneously in a single step using standard microscopes. The results have been published in the journal ACS Nano.

A shape can be considered complex because it has many sides. A complex melody may feature varied pitches and rhythms. Does the mind treat these as separate features, or can it recognize something common beneath their differences?

When a glass of red wine arrives at the table, most drinkers make a snap judgment before taking a sip. Is the color deep enough? Does the hue suggest quality or raise a red flag?