Applying Science to Science Fiction 

    Fun fact about the color blue in animals: blue is not caused by pigments. Most pigments that animals exhibit on their fur etc are caused by the food they eat. Blue however is very rare in nature and more often caused by the structure of molecules and the way they reflect light. The blue morpho butterfly for example is that color because its wing scales are shaped in ridges that causes sunlight to bend in such a way that blue light, at just the right wavelength, is reflected. Blue jays' feathers are made up of light-scattering, microscopic beads spaced in a way that everything except blue light is cancelled out.The only natural blue pigments belong to obrina olivewing butterflies.

    So how do we apply this to science fiction? You've probably seen blue hair in fictional works and anime. It's common yet never explained. We are left to assume the character dyed their hair. But what if it was natural?

    In my book, Rainbows Wane, one of the characters is named Erica “Lapis Lazuli”Atchfire because of her natural blue hair as a result of a hereditary genetic mutation (I'll touch more on this in a future post). For the sake of scientific accuracy I specifically say it's due to reflected light instead of blue pigments. It's little nods to science like this that lend fictional works a degree of authenticity.