In Living Color

### Cold Open

Jason Silva: "Color, it's such a big part of the word, we often take it for granted. From red equals "STOP!" to the color of the sky to the shirt you wear to work, color is all around is every day. The funny thing about color is how easily your brain is conditioned to associate certain colors with certain things. For example, would you eat green eggs and ham? Probably not. Yet a green apple? Totally fine. So is a red apple. So have you ever stopped to wonder what color is or why we even see color at all? As you're about to discover, when you peel back the surface, you'll see that color is just an illusion. "

### Questions

But is it possible that color only exists in the eye of the beholder?

How does your brain see something so clearly that isn't on your screen at all?

## Games

### Game #1: The Dot

Stare at the dot. Then see what happens.

Result: While you may have saw color for a second or two, the image is actually black and white.

Why: Find out with another round.

### Game #2: The Dot(Round 2)

Stare at the dot. Then see what happens.

Result: While you may have saw color for a second or two, the image is actually black and white. Our volunteers seem to agree.

Why: We have tons of photoreceptors in our eyes that help us see color. When you stare at one color for a long time, those photorecpetors get tired. And then when the image flips to black and white, those cells that are tired can't do any work, and so the complementary colors appear.

### Game #3: The Vision Test

Find the number hidden within some dots.

Result: While the first two were easy(Normal color vision), the last one is a bit of a trick.

How: The last number is more visible to people color-blind.

Why: People who posess normal sight have three color receptor types, where as color-blind people only have two. What may be seen as a handicap to can actually possibly make someone better at seeing subtle patterns within a field of similar colors. Color is light. Light consists of electro-manegtic waves. And we can only see them when they're the right length. If they're too long, they're microwaves. Too short, they're X-rays. But visible light is most useful. And there are hidden messages all around you.

#### Mini-Game: You and Bee

Compare what you see to what a bee sees.

Result: Nature hides something colorful from you.

So: It reveals how different species developed to see only the colors they need to. But they can be deceiving.

### Game #4: Fighting Gravity

Figure out how they do it.

Result: Fighting Gravity floods ultraviolet light that is in invisble to the naked eye. And their props are covered in special paint that makes something you can see. With a few hidden helpers, the balls are floating.

Time for a skateboard trick.

So: You only see what fighting gravity wants you to see.

How: The color black. Since it's absence of color, and absorbing all other wavelengths of visible lights, leaving us in the dark. Along with reflectance, which is all kinds of light and fighting gravity absorbs all most wavelengths, and only see what they want us to see.

#### Mini-Game: It's Obvious!!!

What color is this green leaf?

Result: Green, right? Except, it's every color except that.

Why: Since it can't absorb green light, it reflects it and into our eyes. Reflectance means **you will never see the true color of something in your entire life.** But the world doesn't feel that way. And your brain will associate colors and keep them that way.

### Game #5: Count the Colors

Count the colors.

Result: While you saw more, the only colors are red and gray.

Why: The color differences you see come from your brain. The reason why is because gray actually contains traces of every color and your brain adds color to every object. This is called color constancy, which means your brain presents color the way it should see them, regardless of lighting conditions.

### Game #6: The Circle of Cross

Look at a black cross while dots spin in a circle.

Result: Has a green dot appeared? While you might not think it's green, it's actually not there at all.

Why: It goes back to the first game. Since the dots around it are magenta, those get tired. And when the traveling dot that isn't there replaces a magenta dot, your brain replaces it with green as a complementary color.

### Game #7: Fighting Gravity(Round 2)

Figure out how fighting gravity does their tricks.

How: By using special black fabric, they are able to hide their true colors and in plain sight and vanish with precise timing.