This isn’t another story about that dress, or at least, not really. It’s about the way that humans see the world, and how until we have a way to describe something, even something so fundamental as a colour, we may not even notice that it’s there. Until relatively recently in human history, “blue” didn’t exist.

Philosophers have a bad reputation for casting unwarranted doubt on established facts. Little could be more certain than your belief that the cloudless sky, on a summer afternoon, is blue. Yet we may wonder in earnest, is it also blue for the birds who fly up there, who have different eyes from ours?

A color matching game

Colour perception changes between seasons with humans seeing yellow as more green in the summertime. By Sarah Knapton.

The white women known in the 1950s as “Miss Color TV” reinforced longstanding hierarchies of gender and race that were built into generations of technologies. By Benjamin Gross.

Professional colorists reveal their secretsand a neuroscientist explains why they work.

When Paul Kay, then an anthropology graduate student at Harvard University, arrived in Tahiti in 1959 to study island life, he expected to have a hard time learning the local words for colors. His field had long espoused a theory called linguistic relativity, which held that language shapes perception.

Ronald Perry can’t seem to get his patients’ teeth white enough. The Massachusetts dentist, who directs the Gavel Center for Restorative Research at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine, shows patients who want to whiten their teeth the VITA Classical Shade Guide with Bleached Shades, which presents a total of 19 dark and light shades. They invariably go for the whitest, rather than a creamy ivory, a more natural shade he favors.

The Earth is filled to the brim with color, but there are some places that take it to another level.

See through the eyes of cats, birds, fish, and snakes. By Elizabeth Preston.

Why your wardrobe is wine-hued this year. By Claire Cameron.

How the silent screen burst to life with color. By Joshua Yumibe.

One hundred seventy thousand years ago, our cave-dwelling ancestors ground up clay laced with iron oxide and covered their bodies, painted their walls, and encased their dead with the rich red of ochre. And over the thousands of years that followed...

A brief history of ultramarine

What you see is only what you see.

1 out of 255 women and 1 out of 12 men have some form of color vision deficiency. Take the online color challenge, based on the Farnsworth Munsell 100 Hue Test.

With a basic understanding of astronomy data and image processing software, you can create your own astronomy images from FITS files. "FITS," which stands for Flexible Image Transport System, is a digital file format used mainly by astronomers. In this section you can download FITS files for some of our favorite Chandra images and learn how to compose your own versions of these high-energy atronomy images. Please tell us what you think and send an email.

Are you tired of your plain and borrowing solid colors throughout your home? While solids all have their place, aren’t your interiors more fun when we add whimsical patterns that add visual interest and contrast? Yes!

Whether you know it or not, the exterior of your home is an extension of your home’s personality and what it “says” to the neighborhood. Depending on what exterior amenities, architectural details and color you choose can help your home shine in its best light.