The Misery (Laugh) Index

     Slapstick comedy has been around for ages. The ancient Greeks were familiar with it. The Marx Brothers made a living off of it in the early 1900s. That transcended across mediums into cartoons such as Tom and Jerry and Looney Tunes, and became its own sub-genre of movies with hits such as Hot Shots, Airplane, Scary Movie, and Dumb and Dumber. and it's a genre that's still seen today with shows like Impractical Jokers, Jackass, and Ridiculousness; but it's more than movies. Physical comedy has been one of the largest sources of comedy for ages. Have you ever seen a friend fall down, trip over something, or get smacked in the face or groin, and you laugh? Of course you have. Where you ever in college and you watched your drunk jump off the roof onto the pong table and break his arm - and then you laughed about it? Of course you did. Your friend experienced physical pain, and you laughed at their expense; but it wasn't on purpose, it's one of those things that just seemed to happen. Why do we do this? What's the science?

     According to Stanford University professor William Fry, "play frame" is when real life events in a non serious context prompts phycological reactions. Seeing someone fall to the their death of course is not funny to most, if not all people, but witnessing someone fall onto the sidewalk is. The non-serious nature makes it comedic. Injury is not comedic, but embarrassment is. And there is also incongruity, which is the relation between the "punchline" and the "body" of the joke. Falls, trips, and running into things are incongruent because they are not expected. Steve Ellen, the director of Melbourne's Psychosocial Oncology Program, proposes that nervous laughter is a psychological response to anxiety and tension. Jordan Raine, a PhD researcher into "Human Non-Verbal Vocalizations" at the University of Sussex agrees. They say laughing as a way to diffuse tension and as a coping mechanism when faced with traumatic experiences. According to Medical Daily, many neurologists that mirror neurons fire inside the brain, mirroring the neurons of the person performing the action (falling, tripping, being hit, etc), making us feel as we're the ones experiencing it, therefore making us laugh. It's also suggested that the further away we are from publicly humiliating situations, the more likely we are to laugh out loud. Psychologist Peter McGraw at the University of Colorado suggests that seeing others getting hurt is funny when the viewer doesn't feel empathy for the victim. We can't personally resonate with the guys on Jackass and we're not there live to witness it, so when they ride a shopping cart down a ramp and smash into the ground - and considering the fact that they're choosing to do this - we're distanced enough that laughing at them feels natural.

     As much as you may not want to laugh at others pain, it is an actual medical condition. Pseudobulbar affect (PBA) is a medical condition when a person has uncontrollable and inappropriate episodes of laughing and crying. Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections (PANDAS) is another disorder that can trigger inappropriate laughter episodes. People with PBA experience normal emotions, but they can be expressed in an dramatic or inappropriate way. With PBA, laughter can turn to tears. Joker in the movie Joker (2019) a (Hollywood) version of PBA. PBA can be caused by head injuries, PANDAS, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's, ALS, and Alzheimer's.

     While pseudobulbar affect can come off as severe, if you laugh because someone runs into a lamp pole, don't worry, that's just a natural human effect. While seeing someone slip and fall on a patch of black ice in the moment may shock you initially, it's the the embarrassment after they get up and dust it off that gives your brain a green light. As humans, physicality is important to us, and since we're so complex, situations just aren't going to illicit the same emotional response in every similar situation. So next time your friend breaks their face, but doesn't really break their face, it's okay to laugh. Make sure they're okay of course...but bask in the moment.

*ABC News, Medical Daily, Scientific American, New Statesman, Mayo Clinic, Vice

The Real World: Tuna

It may not come off as the sexist fish, but tuna is in high demand. According to the National Fisheries Institute, canned tuna is the second most popular seafood item in the United States after shrimp and represents over 1/3 of the total seafood segment. The United States, European Union, and Japan consume 88 percent of the worlds tuna. Nearly half of American households eat canned tuna at least once a month, and tuna is a big lunch food. Tuna can be used in salads, sushi, pasta, sandwiches, wraps, and so much more; it's a versatile fish, but when you buy tuna, are you truly getting it?

     According to Huff Post, a study by Oceana found that 21 percent of market and grocery tuna was mislabeled. According to Oceana, this is a rampant problem that plagues the seafood industry, with tuna being the second most mislabeled fish. So if it's not tuna, what is it? Likely: escolar.

     Escolar is nothing like tuna. It's an inferior quality fish (and it's uglier too). In their study, Oceana found that 84 percent of white tuna samples that they tested were actually escolar. "White tuna" should raise a red flag, considering there is no such fish as white tuna. Albacore is the lightest tuna, while Yellowfin, Ahi, and Bluefin are the darker types. And according to Oceana, the biggest offenders are sushi restaurants. 74 percent of samples tested were fakers.

     So what's the big deal? Is there really one? Well, if you ordered or purchased tuna, isn't that what you want to get? Not only is it misleading, but escolar is a pretty poor replacement. So poor, it has been banned in Japan since 1977 and is banned in Italy. In the European Union, escolar has to be sold with health warnings. The FDA had a bulletin in the '90s advising against selling escolar, but I presume someone lobbied that in Washington because it was taken down. While escolar does have a fine taste thanks to its fats, its fats comes from wax esters, which humans can't digest. Consuming too much escolar can cause diarrhea and...anal leakage. Its a swimming laxative.

     So how can you spot escolar vs tuna? One big way is price. If the price is too good to be true, it is. When it comes to color, escolar is milky white. And if you get fish from a fish market, make sure the fishmonger can tell you where it came from. According to Mother Jones, escolar has gone through rebrandings, now being labeled as "white tuna", "butterfish", "hawaiian walu", and "rudderfish." This picture gives a great visual. If you do get an escolar craving and have to satisfy your fix, start with portions under six ounces and go for meat closer to the tail. Freezing it and cooking it various ways does not make much a difference according to a report on escolar from Nick Ruello.

     While escolar has been shown to be a faker, one thing that is not fake in tuna is mercury. Mercury is a naturally occurring element. Burning coal and erupting volcanoes emit it. Mercury in the atmosphere eventually ends up in the oceans and lakes, where it builds up in marine life. Tuna contains more mercury than oysters, salmon, scallops, and tilapia. Tuna feed more on smaller, contaminated fish. And since it can't be excreted easily, it builds in tuna tissues over time, the same way fat builds up in our bodies. Light tuna contains the lesser amounts of mercury, while bigeye tuna contains the most. Albacore and yellowfish fall in the middle with 0.350 to 0.358 ppm. High exposure to mercury can lead to brain cell death, depression, heart disease, and impaired motor skills. 

   So should you cut tuna out? Honestly, no. While mercury is a concern, tuna is packed with vitamins, healthy fats, and protein. Like most foods, moderating it in your diet is better. 2 to 3 times a week is all you need to get a healthy amount of omega 3's. Healthline breaks it down the best.

     The mislabeling problem is not exclusive to tuna. Always research your food and make sure it comes from where you expect it, and the product is what you wanted to get. Escolar tried it, but it'll never replace tuna. And canned tuna has done a great job of avoiding the escolar problem. Your Starkist tuna salads are safe.

sources: National Fisheries Institute, Oceana, Huff Post, Mother Jones, Healthline

Vanilla Impossible

Vanilla, like it's flavor, has a rich history. Not just in food, but in medicines, perfumes, candles, industrial applications, and so on; vanilla is multi-purpose. Vanilla has become a top tier flavor that is known by all and loved by most. Vanilla is so common, it's often times mistaken as the "plain" flavor in food products (being white also doesn't help). Vanilla ice cream, cookies, yogurt, pudding, cupcakes, crackers, coffee creamer, soda, the list goes on and on. An estimated 18,000 products contain vanilla flavor, yet as widespread as that may seem, vanilla is not that easy to find, nor is it cheap to produce. According to Huffpost, the average price for a kilogram of vanilla is $350-500, with a peak of $600 in 2017; the price constantly fluctuating (prices being higher lately thanks to hurricanes). Things haven't changed as vanilla is still staggeringly expensive - the second most expensive spice after saffron according to Huffpost - even though Americans consume 638 million beans a year. The reason vanilla is so expensive is because it is hard to grow. When many people think of growing fruits, vegetables, and flavors, they think of just throwing a seed into the ground and watering it. Vanilla beans are actually pollinated by hand. Hand pollination is not an easy craft and growing operations are small. Vanilla can only grow 10 to 20 degrees away from the equator, and 80% of today's natural vanilla hails from farms in Madagascar. It takes 600 hand-pollinated vanilla blossoms to produce 1 kilogram of vanilla beans. One pound of processed vanilla takes five to seven pounds of vanilla beans.

     Vanilla can be traced back to Mexico, which made its way across the world as colonization and conquests took place starting in the 1500's. In 1841, a 12 year old slave on the French island of Reunion named Edmond Albius developed the method of pollinating vanilla flowers by hand with a stick: a method that is still done today. 

       Because cultivating vanilla is such a task, and an expensive one at that, the vanilla that you know and love is highly unlikely actual vanilla, but rather vanilla flavoring made through chemistry. According to The Conversation, less than 1% of vanilla flavor is from actual vanilla beans. According to The Conversation, vanillin was developed in the 19th century, around 1858. Vanillin is the flavor compound that gives vanilla its smell that we know and love, and scientists were about to pull it out of "lignin" and "eugenol." 85% of vanilla today comes from "guaiacol", which in chemistry is also known as C6H4(OH)(OCH3). Vanilla is one of up to 250 chemical compounds that make up vanilla flavoring, according to Smithsonian. Water and ethanol are added to make vanilla extract. This chemistry and the fact that a little vanilla/vanilla goes a long way is why extracted vanilla is brown, but vanilla-flavored products are typically white and d on't change the color of other typical ingrediants such as milk and sugar. If your vanilla ice cream was brown, it would cost hundreds of dollars, and the overpowering flavor and taste would make you pass out, honestly.
     Brands today have joined the "natural foods" wave, but at a cost. Artificial ingredients and flavors in foods have been dropping this decade from fast food to grocery brands, with consumer support - mostly. The problem with vanilla is that it's just not as easy to switch as other flavors. According to Scientific American, Nestle was the one of the first major companies to announce an artificial overhaul in 2015 when it came to flavorings. Nestle announced that they would stop putting vanillin in their chocolate to contrast with the cocoa. This put the pressure on other brands and their products. And often strawberry, chocolate, coconut, and caramel flavors rely on vanilla as well to create a holistic flavor experience. Vanilla is a big part of what makes Nestle's chocolate "Nestle." 

     Even if food brands decide to rely less on synthetic vanillin, that doesn't mean completely natural beans are going to benefit from the switch. According to Scientific American, Solvay makes "natural" vanillin by fermenting yeast with ferulic acid, which comes from rice bran oil. So, still not beans. Eugenol is also used, but it's an industrial process, and it's not a cheap. Even petroleum can play a role. GMO vanillin has also been created by Evolva, but it has not yet been embraced by the FDA, food companies, or the public.
     The good thing is that because of the chemistry, it's become hard to really tell the difference between actual vanilla and vanilla flavoring - many actually preferring the latter. And vanillin is safe to consume. Again, it makes up 99% of what we know as vanilla. No other spice or flavoring can lay the crazy claims that vanilla does. So next time you crack open the vanilla ice cream or get a sugar high off vanilla icing on vanilla cupcakes, remember it's actually science that's made it possible and made it cheap.


*sources: The Conversation, Smithsonian, Science Meets Food, Fortune, Food Business News, NPR, Scientific American, Business Insider, Rodelle Kitchen, picture from Fine Cooking

The Truth of Juice

   

     The juice is loose. I'm not talking about OJ, but rather OJ. That OJ, yes the drinking one: orange juice. Orange juice, apple juice, grape juice, cranberry juice, papaya juice - there is a huge market for fruit juice. And now you can even get fusions such as "cran-apple", "cran-grape", "crango", and if that isn't enough - "orange-apple-pineapple", all in one bottle. Fruit juices are in a class of their own when it comes to commercial drinks such as water, sports drinks, and sodas, but are fruit juices really what they appear to be in the grocery store?

     How is orange juice really made? You shouldn't be surprised that the process involves more than just squeezing oranges. Most commercial orange juices are made by yes, squeezing juice out of the orange, but typically that juice is then stored and oxygen is removed. This process affects the juice flavor, which means artificial flavor packs have to be added. Flavor packs are packs of chemicals that have been engineered to replicate flavor. They are not listed on the ingredients label because they are derived from orange essence. These flavor packs are what makes Minute Maid, Tropicana, Simply Orange, and so on all have unique tastes. Companies such as Calvin Klein and Dior even supply these fragrant flavor packs. Ethyl butyrate is a chemical commonly found in the flavor packs of American orange juices. That is not exactly what you'd call, "freshly squeezed."
     The biggest argument presented against commercial juices is the added sugar content. According to Food Renegade, it takes 6-8 apples to make one cup of apple juice. Drinking one cup of apple juice is much easier (and in my opinion, more delicious) than eating 6 apples in a sitting. Yet that deliciousness of the juice make it easy to over-consume and load up on sugar. Healthline argues that the small amount of antioxidants and vitamins in juice doesn't make up for the sugar content. A 12 ounce Coca Cola contains 40 grams of sugar, while 12 ounces of apple juice contain up to 39 grams.  Another issue with fruit juices is that they lack the fiber that real fruits don't. Liquid calories are dangerous. I often catch myself consuming glasses upon glasses of juice without thinking about how much sugar that really is. Juices easily fly under the radar and the calories go unnoticed.

     Many consumers have lately caught on to the potential juice fraud. Naked, a popular juice brand has been under fire this decade for its ingredients. In 2013, Pepsi had to pay $9 million in a class-action lawsuit after it was found that the "all-natural" marketed (and not really naked) juices weren't that "natural." Zinc oxide, calcium pantothenate - a product of formaldehyde, and GMOs were found in Naked juices. That lawsuit was not the first for Naked. Trader Joe's, a fan favorite, has also been involved in lawsuits for "deceptive labeling."
     According to Today and the Food Institute, juice consumption is going down. Even Jamba Juice has decided to ax "Juice" from their name. Data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows that the average American consumed 5.2 gallons of juice in 2017, the lowest number in at least 49 years. Recent consumer reports have not helped matters either. One report found levels of heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, and arsenic in fruit juices that could pose health risks. Consumer Reports tested 45 popular fruit juices and found "elevated levels" in almost half. This is a concern, considering 74% of parents surveyed give their children 3 and younger juice at least once a day. The report also found grape juice to have the highest average level of heavy metals, 5 of the products with elevated levels were juice boxes, organic juices did not have lower levels than conventional ones, and every product tested had measurable levels of at least one of cadmium, arsenic, lead, or mercury. Check out the entire interactive report here.
     According to Today, 2013 was the first time in 43 years that Americans consumed more fresh fruit than we did sweeteners. Grapefruit consumption has torpedoed from 9 pounds a year in the 1980s to 1.9 pounds in 2017. Grapefruit juice consumption has plummeted 89% from 1968 to 2017. Orange juice has not been hit only in the United States, but rather the world, dropping 21% worldwide in 15 years - falling another 4% from 2016 to 2017. Every major juice type has been in decline since 2013.
     Does this all mean you should forever stay away from Minute Main, Tropicana, Motts, Ocean Spray, and company? Not necessarily. Even with the added chemicals, orange juice and other fruit juices are still generally safe to drink, otherwise they wouldn't be allowed to be sold. Yet if you want to be more health conscious, then you really want to watch how much of it you drink. It's ridiculously easy to load up on sugar through fruit juices, and you aren't going to get near the health benefits of eating actual fruit. There is also the concern of heavy metals in juices, but avoiding them completely is impossible as they're also found in soil and air. There are definitely more natural options for juice lovers. Smoothies are delicious and a great alternative for juice, but be careful when buying commercial smoothies as they can also be loaded with sugar. Making your own juice at home can be easy, fun, and will most assuredly be healthier.
     Fruit juices may be going though a tough time, but apple juice will always be #1 with me. Drink your juice, but drink in moderation, watch sugar content, buy from trusted brands, and always consider alternatives.

*Food Renegade, Huffington Post, Washingtonian, Today, Healthline, Consumer Reports, Citrus Industry, McKeany Flavell

Ketching Up

      Ketchup is an American icon. Ketchup is so versatile, being put on and/or dipped into with fries, hamburgers, chicken tenders, hot dogs, meatloaf, onion rings, baked beans and 93 other things. Ketchup is a potato chip flavor now. And these days you can find sriracha ketchup, curry ketchup, bacon ketchup, mango ketchup, Whataburger's delicious spicy ketchup, and if you had the privilege of being a 90's kid, back in the day you could find ketchup in blue, green, and purple. Ketchup is great at making food taste better. Up until recently, I hated tomatoes, but ketchup has always been my #1 condiment. According to Mobile Cuisine, 97% of Americans have ketchup in their kitchen, and June 5th is National Ketchup Day. Heinz alone sells over 650 million bottles a year. While ketchup is considered a pinnacle of American diets, it actually is not American, nor did ketchup originally come from tomatoes.

     As early as 300 BC, texts documented using soybeans, fish entrails, and meat to create an early ketchup-ish concoction. According to National Geographic, the word "ketchup" comes from the Chinese word "ke-tsiap", which is the name of a sauce that was made from - fermented fish organs, coming from Vietnam in the 1600's. Yes, ketchup did not come from America or tomatoes, it came from jarred Southeast Asian fish bladder. The British, of course, encountered this fish sauce while in Southeast Asia and began to try to replicate it in the 17th and 18th centuries. Those early British ketchups used everything but tomatoes; mushrooms, anchovies, oysters, and even walnuts. The British had already been introduced to tomatoes thanks to South America, but many in England saw them as poisonous. Around 1801 is when the first tomato ketchup recipe was published. This recipe contained brandy and spices, but still no sugar or vinegar. Ketchup evolved over the next few decades with Jonas Yerkes being the first to begin selling bottles of tomato ketchup in 1837.

     With ketchup connoisseurs not knowing how to properly store ketchup early on, plus public health concerns over additives led to the ketchup movement almost failing. One boujee, but right cookbook author in 1866 called commercial ketchup "filthy, decomposed, and putrid." Because of all the additives and chemicals, ketchup was even lethal.  The tomato growing season was short, meaning ketchup could only be made for a few months of the year, but because of supply and demand, ketchup needed to be able to be preserved year long. In an era before regulation, this often resulted in commercial ketchup being spoiled with bacteria, mold, and spores. And in an era before modern medicine, this often meant a lot of sick people as a result. "Death by ketchup" doesn't sound as great as you would think it would sound. 

     In came Henry J Heinz in 1876 who figured that using fresh ripe tomatoes, natural preservatives, and more vinegar was key; no more chemicals and tighter preservation methods. By the 1900's, commercial ketchup began to take over America. 1906 also saw the passing of the Pure Food and Drug Act, which in turn made ketchup less deadly. Before then, ketchup was found more in cookbooks than commercially. 

     Not only has ketchup served as America's condiment, at one point it was seen as medicine. In 1834, a physician from Ohio named Dr. John Cook Bennett declared that tomatoes could be used to treat indigestion and diarrhea. Dr. Bennett published tomato ketchup recipes, which were turned into pills.

     Ketchup has had a colorful history and it goes to show how food can amazingly evolve over time. Early ketchup was salty and bitter, but now it's sweet and savory. From fish stomachs left in the sun to tomatoes and vinegar, ketchup has came a long way to accompanying our chicken nuggets.

     Also a side, the "57 varieties" in Heinz means nothing. The "5" was Heinz' lucky number and the "7" was his wife's. When Heinz decided to put that on bottles, his company was already producing over 60 products anyway. Also, if you happen to be in the Collinsville, Illinois area anytime soon, be sure to pull over and get an Instagram selfie with the World's Largest Catsup (Ketchup) Bottle.

     

*Maxim, National Geographic, History, Mobile Cuisine, Smithsonian, The Spruce Eats, Fast Company

Clear Purple Sky

   

     Ever taken a look at the sky during the day? Notice how it's blue? Good, so you're not crazy, but you are seeing things. While we have always perceived the daytime sky as "blue", according to scientists, the sky is actually in fact "purple." It's the ingenuity of the human eye and brain that makes us think and see otherwise.

     As you already know, we receive our light from the Sun. While light appears "white", it is actually made up of a spectrum of colors. When that light is bent, those colors can be seen. This is why our sky appears blue and not red, yellow, or green. The light from the Sun is bent by molecules in our atmosphere, which causes the light to scatter. This is called Rayleigh scattering and it is more prominent with the blue/violet end of thespectrum. The fact that we even have a daytime and a colored sky is because Earth has an atmosphere. Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun, is completely dark because there is no atmosphere to bend and scatter light.v  Red light contains longer wavelengths while blue and violet light are shorter. Shorter wavelengths are scattered more, so during the day, the blue wins. Sunsets and sunrises appear red because the Sun is magnified being so close to the horizon, which means the waves of red light win. This picture from Live Science simply explains it.

     So since the shorter the wavelength means the more scattered the light, wouldn't purple win out over blue? Correct, and is does; the sky is purple, but the reason we don't see it that way is simply the structure of our eyes. According to Forbes and the Rochester Institute of Technology, our eyes contain rods and cones which allow us to process light and color. The cones in our eyes are most sensitive to short, medium, and long wavelengths, which is the same as saying blue, green, and red. 

     Our blue-sensitive cones would be stimulated the most by blue light, but the green and red cones experience a little stimulation as well. If the sky truly was blue, then to our eyes it would appear as greenish-blue. While violet is the most scattered color in the sky, our eyes are not as sensitive to violet as they are blue. Yet our red cones are actually more sensitive to violent than blue, so if red cones dominated our eyes, violet with a tinge of red is what we'd. When all 3 types of colors are combined: the reddish tinge of violent, the bluish green tinge, and blue and violent, it all equals a pale blue sky that we have come to know and love. This all also means that animals perceive colors differently as well since the types of rods and cones vary among animals. 

     Don't freak out now and think that you have been lied to all your life. The sky may in reality be purple, but it's likely not as deep of a purple that you would imagine. Most ultraviolet light is blocked by the atmosphere, and the Sun lets off less violet light than the other colors. Still, it's a fascinating phenomenon, and it's also not unique Earth. 

     

*picture from BBC, links from Forbes, Rochester Institute of Technology, Live Science, HyperPhysics

Blue's Clue

It's cool to be blue. According to Digital Trends, Instagram posts that contain majority blue objects or backgrounds get 24 percent more likes than any other color. Blue is a fascinating color that has played a role in science, religion, fashion, art, history, music, politics, culture, marketing, and even pants. Blue is seen as the color of comfort, harmony, and confidence. Blue is also seen as the color of sadness, masculinity, intelligence, concentration , mourning, and coldness. Blue is the world's favorite color (and mine), winning 23 to 33 percent of the vote. There's many reasons why blue is a miraculous color that's not the same as the others.

     Color comes from the electromagnetic spectrum and from natural resources. Visible light, which contains the rainbow, is the only wavelength that humans can see. While the spectrum is how we see blue, pigments and dyes from flowers, rocks, and the roster of the periodic table is how we make it. Blue also gets free advertising from the sky and oceans. In reality, the sky is purple, but because of "Rayleigh scattering" and our brains, it appears blue to our eyes.

     According to AC Lens, an estimated 8 percent of the world's population has blue eyes. Blue eyes are frequently found in people with northern European ancestry. Many scientists believe that blue eyes formed from a genetic mutation that affected the "OCA2" gene, which is involved in melanin production and eye, skin, and hair pigmentation. Blue eyes also aren't really blue - they appear blue because of the Tyndall effect, which is similar to Rayleigh scattering. The iris is the colored part of the eye, which is made up of two layers: the stroma and the epithelium. The epithelium contains black-brown pigment while the stroma is colorless collagen. People with blue eyes lack melanin in their stroma, which means that light is not absorbed in the iris. Instead, light is scattered, and like the sky, it's blue wavelengths that win. So there you have it, blue eyes aren't technically blue at all, who knew? "Atmospheric perspective" is another similar concept which explains why mountains in the distance appear blue. 

     Blue animals are rare. How many true blue animals can you name? There's blue jays, dart frogs, butterflies, crabs, peacocks, jellyfish, and Dory, but then it starts to get hard. According to Mother Nature Network, while plants can produce blue pigments due to anthocyanins, most animals cannot make blue pigment. Animals that do appear blue, such as the blue jay, is typically the result of structural effects such as reflection and iridescence (why bubbles appear multiple colors). The Bangor Daily News agrees: cardinals are red in the sense that their feathers really contain red pigment - carotenoids (which is also why carrots are orange). Yet blue jays are blue because of structures in their feathers that filters certain light, not because their feathers have blue pigment.

     Blue pigment is also a hard color to find in food and coloring. Strawberries and cherries give off red. Peaches, bananas, lemons, and pineapples are yellow. Leafy greens, limes, and broccoli squeeze out green. Blueberries? While the berry may be blue, the juice is not. 23 years after introducing blue M&M's, Mars Foods is still trying to find a suitable natural blue dye for them. There is a search for one for Trix cereal too. In 2009, a grad student at Oregon State University accidentally discovered a new kind of blue pigment in the lab after mixing and heating chemicals, the first discovery in 200 years. Crayola has now introduced that new blue to their famous 24 pack, kicking out dandelion yellow.

     One crazy thing that makes blue unique is that it is believed that it didn't "exist" to most people until modern times. As stated, blue is rarely found in nature, and even the sky isn't really "blue." And if you have no idea of what "blue" is, then is it really blue? Matter of fact, the mention of blue in language hasn't been found in texts older than 4,500 years old. In "The Odyssey", Homer describes the ocean (?) as "wine-dark." In 1858, William Gladstone analyzed "Odyssey" and found oddities such as honey being described as "green" and sheep as "violet." The color black was mentioned near 200 times and white 100 times. Red was mentioned fewer than 15 and yellow and green fewer than 10. Yet, no mention of blue. The word "blue" didn't really exist, which isn't that crazy considering how rare blue is in nature.

     A philologist (studies languages) named Lazarus Geiger studied other cultural texts, such as Chinese, Arabic, Icelandic, and Jewish, and blue as we know it was not mentioned. Other than the Egyptians who had blue dye, blue was the last color to start to appear to be mentioned in cultures.

     According to Business Insider, a study was done with the Himba tribe in Namibia who have no word for blue and don't distinguish between green and blue. They were show 12 squares: one blue and eleven  green. None of the members of the tribe could immediately pick out the blue square, yet when shown 12 green squares, they could pick out the one that was subtly different than the rest. To put it another way, while we can differentiate between "true green" and "light green", the Himba tribe and many of our ancestors probably registered blue as just another shade of green instead of it's own color since they didn't know the concept of blue. Welsh, Japanese, and Chinese cultures also had words for the color "grue", but not blue itself. To everyone, it was just another shade of green. 

     Another study done by MIT in 2007 showed that native Russian speakers who don't have a word for blue, but yet do for "light blue" and "dark blue" can pick out shades of blue much faster than English speakers. So basically, even if your eyes can see millions of colors, the language you speak can determine how you recognize color.

     Blue may be just another wave on the length, but it's a special one, and not just because I'm bias. Don't take blue for granted. Those "blue eyes" you use to see "blue jays" zooming across that "blue" sky right before the "blue" moon could just as easy be one of the other ugly, not-blue colors.

*AC Lens, Live Science, NPR, WBUR, Science Alert, Wikipedia, You Gov, Mother Nature Network, Bangor Daily News, Business Insider, IFL Science, New Scientist, The Conversation, New York Times, Digital Trends