We got the blues: humanity's obsession with a certain color. (Chemistry).

When we finally get around to writing the entire story of civilization, we 11 devote a chapter to the color blue. Sure, children around the world choose red as their favorite color. But that's just a phase, like tearing the crust off bread. Make no mistake: Blue rules.

For thousands of years humans have found ingenious ways to turn things blue. In the ancient Mediterranean, biblical blue dye came from a hermaphroditic snail with a gland that generates a fluid that becomes blue when exposed to air and light--at least when the mollusk is feeling masculine. "They had to ...

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