But Why: A Podcast for Curious Kids
Episode: Why Are There So Many Colors?
Host: Jane Lindholm (Vermont Public)
Guest: Cassia St. Clair, author of The Secret Lives of Color
Date: October 31, 2025
Episode Overview
This episode explores the fascinating world of color, answering questions from curious kids about where colors come from, how we see and name them, how animals perceive color, and why colors make us feel different emotions. Special guest Cassia St. Clair shares insights into the science, history, and cultural aspects of color, making the topic accessible and fun for kids and adults alike.
Key Discussion Points and Insights
1. What Is Color?
- Light and Reflection: Color is perception created when specific wavelengths of light bounce off an object and are detected by our eyes.
- Jane Lindholm (02:28): "When light shines on an object, that object absorbs certain wavelengths of light and reflects others... Our eyes only see the light that has reflected or bounced off the object, not the light that is absorbed, and our brain interprets those wavelengths that have bounced off as different colors."
- Example: A strawberry absorbs blue and green wavelengths, reflecting red, so we see it as red.
2. Do We All See Colors the Same Way?
- Biology of Color Perception: The retina contains rods (light intensity) and cones (color). Most humans have three types of cones for blue, green, and red.
- Cassia St. Clair (05:11): "The process of how we see color... takes place in our brains. So even if the architecture of everyone's eyes is roughly similar, what's happening in the brain... can be very, very different and really influenced by our own experiences."
- Personal Differences: People have different associations with colors based on experience, and some people have "color vision deficiency" (color blindness).
- Family Anecdote: Ongoing debates within families about whether something is blue or purple (06:40).
3. How Do Animals See Color?
- Dogs: Have only two types of cones, so they see fewer colors (mainly blue and yellow); reds and greens look the same to them.
- Other species: Birds (4 cones), butterflies (5), mantis shrimp (12–16, can even see infrared and polarized light).
- Jane Lindholm (08:07): "Birds... have four types of cones... butterflies have five, and mantis shrimp have 12 to 16 photoreceptors and can even see infrared and polarized light."
- Imagination Exercise: How would the world look with more cones or the ability to see other wavelengths?
4. Where Do Colors Come From?
- Natural vs. Synthetic Pigments:
- Historically, colors came from natural sources like soil, insects, and snails.
- Modern colors are often created with synthetic chemicals in factories.
- Cassia St. Clair (10:23): "Most of the time today, the colours we use will be made in a factory.... But in the olden days... people... were using the colours that are naturally found in the world around us."
- Color Has Always Existed: Since there's been light, there has been color.
5. How Many Colors Are There?
- Science: Humans can distinguish millions of color gradations.
- Culture and Infinity:
- Cassia St. Clair (12:21): "The truth is that the number of colours... is everlasting. We're all over the world and no matter where you are... you’ll be thinking about colours in new ways."
- Color Meaning Changes: Example: "avocado green" shifting associations over time.
6. How Do Colors Get Their Names?
- Official & Organic Processes:
- Companies create and name colors for products (e.g., nail polish called “Santa's Cape” at Christmas).
- Over time, everyday use and culture influence names—e.g., "scarlet" was originally a type of cloth, not a color.
- Cassia St. Clair (13:27): "The exact same colour... might have a very different name... over time, the colour that this cloth was always dyed borrowed the name for the type of cloth."
- Basic Color Words Are Culturally Dependent:
- Not all languages agree on basic color terms.
- Russian divides blue into two colors; some languages group blue and green together.
7. Is White a Color?
- Physics vs. Daily Life:
- Physicists: white and black are about light and its absence, not true "colors."
- Everyday Use: we treat white and black as colors for practicality.
- Cassia St. Clair (17:34): "A physicist would tell you that white and black are not really colours... But for ordinary people, we go into a shop and we pick white paint, we pick a black pair of jeans. And so we experience white and black as colours."
- Vantablack: A substance absorbing 99.965% of visible light, making objects appear as flat black blobs, erasing visible shapes and depth (18:53).
8. Why Do Colors Make Us Feel Different Emotions?
- Cultural and Personal Connections:
- Associations from advertising, social cues, personal experiences.
- Some believe certain colors (e.g., red) evoke universal responses, but it’s difficult to separate culture from biology.
- Cassia St. Clair (20:50): "You've got the way a kind of the broadest culture feel about a colour... so that includes adverts... language... And then you have your own personal experience of it."
- Color-Emotion Theories: "Red is often associated with action... anger or stop..." but scientific proof is hard, because cultural influences can't be separated out.
9. Fun Fact: Pink and Blue Roles Flipped
- Historical Color Meanings:
- Early 20th-century: Pink for boys, blue for girls (the opposite of today's Western norms).
- Cassia St. Clair (23:53): "If you go back a hundred years... people thought about pink as being a colour for boys and blue as being a colour for girls... In a relatively short period of time... understanding has completely switched around."
10. Final Takeaway
- Color meanings are not fixed. They change across time and culture.
- Cassia St. Clair (25:40): "Colors are for everyone. And these meanings... sometimes seem so rigid and like rules, they are going to change, they do change... Even if something seems like a really hard and fast rule... just remember the example of pink and blue."
Memorable Quotes & Timestamps
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Cassia St. Clair on personal color perception:
"What's happening in the brain... can be very, very different and can be really influenced by our own experiences." (05:11)
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Jane Lindholm on dogs seeing red:
"If you've ever seen a dog having trouble finding a red ball in a green field, that's probably because the red doesn't stand out against the green grass in their eyes. They all look like kind of the same shades of muddy brown." (08:07)
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Cassia St. Clair on Vantablack:
"When you coat that same piece of foil with VantaBlack... all you can see is a flat black space... you are no longer able to see any definition in the foil at all." (18:53)
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Cassia St. Clair on shifting color meanings:
"Pink was the more masculine color and blue was the more feminine color... In just 100 years... that meaning and understanding has completely switched around." (23:53)
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Cassia St. Clair on cultural flexibility of colors:
"Colors are for everyone. And these meanings... seem so rigid... they are going to change, they do change." (25:40)
Timestamps for Important Segments
- 02:14 – Kids ask: Where do colors come from?
- 03:24 – Do we see the same red, yellow, or blue?
- 04:34 – Introduction to guest Cassia St. Clair
- 05:11 – The brain’s role in color perception; personal differences
- 06:40 – A family’s blue vs. purple debate
- 07:46 – Why do dogs and other animals see color differently?
- 10:23 – Where do colors come from (historically and today)?
- 12:02 – How many colors are there in the world?
- 13:14 – How do colors get their names?
- 17:34 – Is white a color?
- 18:53 – Vantablack: the blackest black
- 20:43 – Why do colors make us feel emotions?
- 23:53 – The history of pink and blue
- 25:40 – Color is for everyone; meanings change
Closing Thoughts
This episode blends scientific explanation, cultural context, and fascinating stories, answering kids’ questions while highlighting that color is as much about perception and society as it is about physics and biology. Color meanings evolve, and everyone’s relationship with color is unique—so no matter your favorite, it’s yours to enjoy!