“For example, Victorian houses were very colorful on the outside,’’ Nylander said, “but, in the 1950s, the Bauhaus effect had us painting everything white, inside and out.’’ ...

“I’ve noticed that two thirds or more of these cars are a dull color: silver, gray, tan, white, etc.,” wrote Sally, who admits that her family owns a silver car and a white car.

It's a mystery how butterflies manage to make their brilliant wing colors, but Yale physicists got a glimpse when they took the question to the lab, breeding dull brown butterflies into purple ones.