Roses are red and blueberries look blue. But the berry’s color is not reallytrue. The fruit’s waxy1 coat just masquerades2 as blue.

玫瑰是紅色的，藍(lán)莓看起來是藍(lán)色的。但藍(lán)莓的顏色并不是真的。這種水果的蠟質(zhì)外皮只是偽裝成藍(lán)色。

A waxy covering coats some blue-colored fruits—such as blueberries， darkgrapes and certain plums. This wax contains a host of tiny structures， each lessthan a thousandth the thickness of a piece of paper. Such nanostructures3 scatter4blue and ultraviolet5 （UV） light. To our eyes， that makes these fruits look blue.Birds—which can see UV light—probably see such delicious snacks.

一些藍(lán)色的水果，如藍(lán)莓、深色的葡萄和某些李子，上面覆蓋著一層蠟質(zhì)的覆蓋物。這層蠟質(zhì)含有許多微小的結(jié)構(gòu)，每個的厚度都不到一張紙的千分之一。這樣的納米結(jié)構(gòu)散射藍(lán)光和紫外光。這使這些水果在我們看來是藍(lán)色的。鳥類能看到紫外光，可能會看到這樣美味的零食。

Blue is not a common color in nature. While some fruits do appear blue， fewcontain pigments6 in that color. Blueberries， for example， contain a great amountof anthocyanin7. That skin pigment should leave each fruit a dark red.

藍(lán)色在自然界中并不常見。雖然有些水果看起來確實呈現(xiàn)藍(lán)色，但很少有水果含有這種顏色的色素。例如，藍(lán)莓含有大量的花青素。這種表皮色素會使每顆果子變成暗紅色。

But if you rub off the outer layer of wax， a blueberry no longer looks blue.Instead， it’s completely dark.

但如果你擦掉外層的蠟，藍(lán)莓看起來就不再是藍(lán)色的了。相反，它是完全黑色的。

A research team managed to re-create this effect in the lab. They placed waxfrom Oregon grapes in a solution8. The wax dissolved9 and turned transparent10.After being spread on a card， the wax dried into a crystalline11 material. As acrystal， the waxy layer again appeared blue.

一個研究團(tuán)隊設(shè)法在實驗室中重新創(chuàng)造了這種效果。他們將俄勒岡葡萄的蠟質(zhì)放入一種溶液中。蠟溶解了，變成了透明的。將蠟涂在卡片上后，蠟質(zhì)干燥成了結(jié)晶狀材料。作為一種晶體，蠟質(zhì)層再次呈現(xiàn)了藍(lán)色。

Creating materials that mimic12 a blueberry’s coating might be useful. Thiskind of coloring is cool because it doesn’t stain. It could provide a new way to tint13plastics or makeup blue.

創(chuàng)造模擬藍(lán)莓蠟質(zhì)層的材料可能會很有用。這種顏色很酷，因為它不會染色。它可以提供一種將塑料或化妝品染成藍(lán)色的新方法。（英語原文選自：snexplores.org）