Nature in Full Colour - Frédéric Archaux - Éditions Quae

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Nature in Full Colour

Name: Toutes les couleurs de la nature
Brand: Éditions Quae
SKU: 9782759240920
Price: 23.0 EUR
Availability: InStock
ISBN: 978-2-7592-4092-0

by Frédéric Archaux (writer)

Collection: Carnets de sciences

may 2025

Book

165 x 220 format 152 pages In stock

23,00 €

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Summary

The shimmering hues of a poppy or a blue tit catch the eye. But while colours can enchant us, they also serve countless functions for the organisms that display or perceive them. How are colours produced and perceived? How has life combined physical and chemical processes to create such a diverse palette? And why are colours so crucial for communication, survival, and reproduction?

This book explores these questions colour by colour. Red signals both ripe fruit and danger. Blue, often absent in natural pigments, is produced through subtle optical effects. Yellow attracts pollinating insects. Green dominates the plant kingdom thanks to chlorophyll, the solar energy collector. And the black of melanin colours skin and feathers while protecting against ultraviolet rays.

Some colours escape the human eye but are visible to other species—such as ultraviolet, which enables communication between flowers and insects. When natural light is absent, other phenomena take over, like the bioluminescence of fireflies or deep-sea fish. Beyond their essential physiological roles, colours are used to stand out, to hide, or to deceive. In fact, there are few interactions between organisms that don’t involve colour in some way.

Page after page, the author reveals how colour shapes behaviour and relationships between species—and invites us to see the living world in a whole new light.

Acknowledgements

The Rainbow Planet

And Then There Was Colour

A Story of Excitation

Eye to Eye with Colour

Painting the World Red

Red Like a Tomato

The Blood of the Fields

The Red of the Sea

Iron-Rich Life

The Colour of Temptation

Code Red!

Warning Colours in Nature

Seeing the Invisible: Infrared and Beyond

The Yellow Signal

Squeezing Out the Yellow

Good and Bad Drinking Spots (for Insects)

Too Much Chroma!

Do Gentlemen Really Prefer Blondes?

The Taste of Colour

The Green That Changed Everything

Solar-Powered Green

A Touch of Green at Home

When Animals Go Green

The Blues of Nature

True Blue Flowers

The Royal Illusion of Blue

The Ink of Your Eyes

Blue Skin and Feathers

The Violet Edge

The Dark Side of Purple

Black Is Not Always Black

Redheads and Dark Shades

The Ultimate Sunscreen: Melanin

Shades of Mystery

When Melanin Fights Back

Who Turned Off the Lights? A Sepia World

Of Snow and Ice

The Bride Wears White

White as Snow

Feather Tricks

Nothing to Hide

Earthworms and Starlight

Stars in Their Eyes

Nature’s Metallic Tints

Nature’s Big Light Show (in Every Colour)

Glowing Fashion: Fluorescence and Bioluminescence

Lucifer’s Light .

In the Abyss Spotlight

When Green Turns to Red

In the Blink of an Eye

Showing Your True Colours

Spring–Summer / Autumn–Winter Collections

Courtship, Not Conflict

When Colour Divides

The Mask and the Feather

When Nature Mixes Its Paint

Setting the Scene

The Irresistible Rise of Colour

Photo Credits

Press

Baleine sous gravillon - 2025/2026
Une saga exceptionnelle explorant le monde fascinant des couleurs, avec Frédéric Archaux.
>> Ecouter l'épisode 1

Large public

Scientists and professionals