Futurity.org » pigment

What’s the sound of yellow ochre?

William Raillant-Clark-McGill — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 19:09:41 +0000

MCGILL (CAN)—Chemists have discovered that a technique known as photoacoustic infrared spectroscopy could help identify the composition of pigments used in artwork that is decades or even centuries old.

Details of the work are reported in the journal Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy.

Different color, same genetics

Nancy Ross-Flanigan-Michigan — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:54:43 +0000

Researchers explored the genetic underpinnings of pigmentation differences within and between a pair of closely related fruit fly species: Drosophila americana, which is dark brown, and Drosophila novamexicana, which is light yellow.

U. MICHIGAN (US)—Despite having different color pigmentation, members of the same species have the same genetic makeup, a new study finds.

University of Michigan researchers have found that, at least for body color in fruit flies, the two kinds of variation have a common genetic basis. The research, led by evolutionary biologist Patricia Wittkopp, appears in the Oct. 23 issue of the journal Science.

Gene therapy has monkeys seeing red (and green)

Futurity-Jenny Leonard — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 19:03:26 +0000

The natural habitat of the squirrel monkey is the rainforest canopy. This is a young male in the Brazilian Amazon. All male squirrel monkeys are red-green color blind but the majority of females have trichromatic color vision.

U. WASHINGTON (US)—Color blindness in adult monkeys has been cured using gene therapy, according to researchers at the University of Washington.

Clues to feather’s technicolor past

Futurity-Jenny Leonard — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:25:34 +0000

Researchers have discovered evidence that prehistoric feather fossils from in Germany were once vividly iridescent. The finding could help scientists reconstruct the colorful features of other fossils. “Of course, the ‘Holy Grail’ in this program is reconstructing the colors of the feathered dinosaurs,” says lead author Jakob Vinther. (Credit: Jakob Vinther/Yale University)

YALE (US)—Signs of vivid iridescent colors have been found in feather fossils more than 40 million years old. The discovery could pave the way for determining color features of other ancient birds and even feathered dinosaurs.

Feather color detected in 30 million-year-old bird fossil

Futurity-Jenny Leonard — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 15:32:52 +0000

Bird fossil from the Oligocene epoch, approximately 30 million years old. (Credit: M.Marsland/Yale)

YALE (US)–Scientists have discovered traces of organic material in fossilized bird feathers from 30 millions years ago. Yale University researchers say the material appears to be remnants of pigments that once gave birds their color, opening up the possibility of pinpointing the original hue of ancient birds and their ancestors, the dinosaurs.

Closer study of a number of fossilized bird feathers by Yale graduate student Jakob Vinther has revealed that organic imprints in the fossils—previously thought to be carbon traces from bacteria—are fossilized melanosomes, the organelles that contain melanin pigment.