Chromatology Trivia Quiz

Answer: Green or blue

Initially, surgeons did not wear anything but their clothes and a butcher's apron and operated with bare hands in open amphitheatres with people watching the procedure while they were coughing, sneezing, even smoking. The 1918 flu pandemic and new research on sterilization methods brought the white scrubs, caps and thick rubber gloves.

By the middle of the 20th century, researchers had observed that the white color caused headaches, dizziness and eye strain because of the contrast with the red blood on the operating table. Green was chosen as the opposite (complementary) of red on the color wheel.

It was found to refresh the surgeon's sight from the red inner parts of a body and, also, to eliminate the green flashes the brain "sees" when looking at a white surface after staring at red for a long time. Nowadays, surgeon's scrubs can be a rainbow of colors but green is still considered the best choice.

Answer: Cosmic Latte

The name "Cosmic Latte" was suggested by scientist Peter Drum and he came up with it while drinking a latte at Starbucks. "Cappuccino Cosmico" was the name that received the most votes at the poll but "Cosmic Latte" was chosen by the team. Johns Hopkins astronomers Karl Glazebrook and Ivan Baldry determined, after examining the color of more than 200,000 galaxies, that the color of the universe was a slightly beigeish white.

Initially, they had calculated the spectral range of the colors wrongly and they thought the color of the universe was a greenish white which they had named "Cosmic Turquoise".

Answer: True

The color Gamboge comes from the gum resin of the Southeast Asia trees of the genus Garcinia which must be at least ten years old before they are tapped. The color is used by Buddhist monks to color their robes in a deep saffron color. The name comes from the Latin "gambogium" which in turn comes from "Gambogia", the Latin word for Cambodia.

Answer: Blue

Blue had always been a hard color to find in nature because, even though it was abundant in the sky and water, it was not an "earth" color, and it did not easily exist in plants, seeds or flowers. The first blue pigment came from mining lapis lazuli which came from Afghanistan and Iran and it was used together with gold to decorate the tombs of the Egyptian pharaohs.

Its scarcity associated it with royalty and divinity and when, in 431 AD, the Catholic church decided to "color code" the saints, "Mary was given a blue robe, a dark, wonderful and expensive blue, befitting the queen of heaven." Overtime, blue became the color of authority and trustworthiness and that explains police uniforms, the United Nations blue and bankers' suits.

Answer: People with albinism

Albinism is a genetic disorder of total or partial lack of pigment in skin, hair and eyes. People with this condition are extremely prone to blindness and skin cancers. Salif Keita, despite his royal blood, was raised in a farming household as an outsider because of his albinism, a condition considered an extreme misfortune in his native Africa. Albinos have been sacrificed in witchcraft rituals due to superstition and ignorance.

The Salif Keita Global Foundation advocates for the rights and integration of people with albinism, worldwide.

Answer: Brazil

The Zo'é people are a native tribe in the Brazilian state of Para, on the Cuminpanema river in Brazil. They belong to the Tupi-Guarani ethnic group of people. Zo'é means "us' as opposed to outsiders or non-Indian. Since the age of 9 years old, all Zo'é decorate their lower lip with a long wooden plug which they call "poturu" and paint their faces and bodies with "urucum", the red paste that comes from the crushed annatto seeds.

The Zo'é people came in contact with Westerners in 1982 for the first time, a fact which initially lead to their affliction by diseases like flu and measles.

The Brazilian government decided to help them maintain their partial isolation and minimum contact with outsiders and their numbers are slowly growing.

Answer: Wiphala

The Wiphala is a 7-by-7 square patchwork of seven colors. The colors are arranged diagonally and the color of the longest diagonal (seven squares) determines which of the four regions (suyus) of the Andean people the flag represents. The Wiphala of the "Qulla Suyu" is the co-official flag of Bolivia since 2009.

The seven colors of the flag represent Earth and the Andean man (red), society and culture (orange), energy (yellow), time (white), natural resources (green), the heavens (blue) and the Andean government and self-determination (violet). Tirangaa is the flag of India, Galanolefki is the flag of Greece and Nisshōki is the flag of Japan.

Answer: Pale yellowish green

In the "Dulux" paint company's catalogue, Eau de Nil is described as the color "a fashionable traveler of the Victorian era would see in an exotic cruise down the Nile". Eau de Nil was a very popular color in the late Victorian and Edwardian times and the Art Deco era, especially as a wall paper and fabric color.

It is still a nice background color for darker green, blue or copper furniture and fixtures. The perfume and accessories company "Hermès" has a perfume called "Un Jardin Sur Le Nil" (A garden at the Nile) which it markets in a beautiful Eau de Nil tinted glass bottle.

Answer: Andy Warhol

"Silver Car Crash" was painted by Andy Warhol in 1963 when he was 35 years old. It shows a disfigured, twisted body in the torn and crashed interior of a silver car. The painting belonged to an unknown European collector for 20 years and during that time it was shown in public only once. Before the 2013 auction, the painting was estimated at $60-80 million but to everyone's surprise it brought in $105 million.

The new buyer was never revealed.

Answer: True

Chromhidrosis (Greek for "colored sweat") is caused by the deposition of color containing lipids (lipofuscin) in the sweat glands, mainly the apocrine glands of the face, armpits and genital area. Apocrine chromhidrosis produces yellow, green, black, blue, even pink sweat. Eccrine chromhidrosis is rare and it usually occurs when certain drugs or dyes are injected in the body.
Unfortunately, the condition does not have a radical treatment or cure. Capsaicin cream and Botox injections are used for the temporary relief of the symptoms.