86 replies to this topic

[Ethel]

Snow and Polar bears are see through (I know snow is, so I'm sure the same could apply to the bears). Light is diffused and refracted or reflected off all the complex internal surfaces. It's like the sky, it appears blue but is perfectly see through from outer space.

[erica]

apparently the inner hairs are hollow too

correct and thats why their fur turns greeny yellow sometimes. bacteria gets up in there

[998dave]

Snow and Polar bears are see through (I know snow is, so I'm sure the same could apply to the bears). Light is diffused and refracted or reflected off all the complex internal surfaces. It's like the sky, it appears blue but is perfectly see through from outer space.

Snow isn't see through, it's white, look at some and you'll see.
If it was see through you'd be able to see through it, like clear water. And it'd appear green or brown like the earth under it. Think of clouds here, clearly white, if they were see through they'd be blue or black.

Colour is defined by how something absorbs natural light, therefore if something looks white, or green, or blue that's because it is.

And the sky appears blue because the moisture and particles in it reflect and refract light as well, it's not perfectly see through from space, just pales compared to the earth which being solid reflects more light.

[Juju]

Right, time to clear up some bad science.

Despite what our eyes tell us, a polar bear's fur is not white. Each hair shaft is pigment-free and transparent with a hollow core. Polar bears look white because the hollow core scatters and reflects visible light, much like ice and snow does.

When photographed with film sensitive to ultraviolet light, polar bears appear black. Because of this, some scientists speculated that the polar bear's hollow hairs serve as fiber optic guides that conduct light to their black skin. The widely repeated theory was disproved in 1988 by Daniel W. Koon, a physicist at St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York.

Koon and a guy named Reid Hutchins, obtained polar bear hair from the Seneca Park Zoo in Rochester, New York. Their experiments showed that a one-fifth inch strand of polar bear hair was able to conduct less than a 0.001% of the applied ultraviolet light. The high loss rate proved that the polar bear's black skin is not absorbing meaningful amounts of ultraviolet light. Instead, Koon believes the ultraviolet light is absorbed by the keratin making up the hair.

Because the polar bear's fur lacks pigment, it appears white when clean and in sunlight, especially just after the molt period, which typically begins in late April or May and is complete by late summer. Before the moult period, the polar bear's fur can appear yellowish due to oil from prey.

Occasionally, polar bears in a zoo environment will turn green due to colonies of algae growing in their hollow hair shafts. This happened to three polar bears at the San Diego Zoo in 1979. Although the algae in no way harmed the animals, zoo veterinarian Phillip Robinson restored the bears' white fur by killing the algae with a salt solution.

(P.S. Objects appear particular colours because they reflect light of that particular wavelength & absorb the rest....)

[CharlieBrown]

Ohh thank you Professor Juju most enlightening. (Oh forgot you prefer just Juju )

Back to topic, ish, I’d eat horse, just another meat.

What you really want to try is Sheep’s “eggs”….mmm yum

[Dog]

Aligater!

I might see if I can get some when I go to Auz!

you might struggle with that...

unless you want some crocodile

That'll do

As long as its dead before I eat it...

[Juju]

Ohh thank you Professor Juju most enlightening. (Oh forgot you prefer just Juju )

Back to topic, ish, I'd eat horse, just another meat.

What you really want to try is Sheep's "eggs"….mmm yum

Is there any animal that you wouldn't consider as "just another meat", Charlie? Where do you draw the line?

[CharlieBrown]

Would eat most meats really, apart from endangered species.

I’ve had chicken heart burger, sheep’s eggs, Kangaroo, Aligator, Bison, Osterich, Frog, Snails.


Another question is would I eat human flesh if the situation warranted it (Think Alive) and I guess I would…(As log as the were fit…..hmmm that’s a point, I wonder if attractive people taste nicer that ugos…….opppsss I fear I may have said too much – lets hope everyone ignores my ramblings….)

[Jammy]

All the above is actually wrong. Polar bears are purple. QI, season 3, episode 7.

[Juju]

Would eat most meats really, apart from endangered species.

I've had chicken heart burger, sheep's eggs, Kangaroo, Aligator, Bison, Osterich, Frog, Snails.


Another question is would I eat human flesh if the situation warranted it (Think Alive) and I guess I would…(As log as the were fit…..hmmm that's a point, I wonder if attractive people taste nicer that ugos…….opppsss I fear I may have said too much – lets hope everyone ignores my ramblings….)

No one can doubt you clearly like your meat, Charlieboy.
But what the hell are sheep eggs? Are you talking ovaries/corpus lutea here? Ovine caviar?

All the above is actually wrong. Polar bears are purple. QI, season 3, episode 7.

Yep. It's the drugs*



*You've been taking the wrong prescription for a while, Jammy...

[Jammy]

See, told you, photographic proof! Glad you're not part of the cover up Juju!

[gibba]

All the above is actually wrong. Polar bears are purple. QI, season 3, episode 7.

Geek