LATEST ARTICLES

Maxwell Hairston: The Newest Buffalo Bill

0

By Jack Stewart

With the 30th overall pick in this year’s NFL draft, the Buffalo Bills picked Maxwell Hairston, a cornerback out of the University of Kentucky. Leading up to the draft, getting help in the secondary was one of the most important tasks for general manager Brandon Beane and the rest of the organization. To fix this, the team landed on Hairston, who had a great career with the Wildcats over his three seasons and will hopefully continue to perform for the Bills.

One of Hairston’s most impressive traits is his speed, which he showed off at this year’s combine. His 40-yard dash time of 4.28 seconds was the fastest among all the players who competed, and will be extremely useful against some of the Bills’ toughest opponents. His quickness will allow Buffalo’s secondary to compete with players like Tyreek Hill and Xavier Worthy, who have both been challenges for the Bills. Hairston was also able to put up great interception and tackle numbers during his time at Kentucky, proving his versatility. In 2023, he led the SEC in interceptions with five and finished third in solo tackles with 55. These totals also included two defensive touchdowns and 131 interception return yards. This past season, however, Hairston saw a drop in production, which occurred due to a shoulder injury which saw him sit out five games. Even with the shoulder injury, he should be perfectly ready for the NFL season’s kickoff this September.

Overall, Maxwell Hairston is an exciting young prospect for Buffalo Bills fans and a great cornerback who can anchor their defense for years to come. While his exceptional on-the-field performance shows promise, interviews with Hairston also reveal his likable personality and unique drive to improve. Live coverage of the draft saw him lifting up and supporting other players and his post-draft press coverage showed how personable he was. Hairston fits perfectly both within the Bills locker room and in the city of Buffalo, hopefully being a mainstay of future Bills teams for years to come.

Gary Hall Jr.’s Olympic Comeback — IOC Replaces Medals After House Fire

By Jessica A. Dennehy

On May 5, 2025, three-time Olympian and 10-time Olympic medalist Gary Hall Jr. was presented with a full set of replica Olympic medals by International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach. The ceremony, held at Olympic House in Lausanne, Switzerland, followed the loss of Hall’s original medals in a devastating house fire. While renting a home in the Pacific Palisades, California, Hall was among thousands affected by the Los Angeles Fires in January 2024. Hall’s entire Olympic medal collection—five gold, three silver, and two bronze—was destroyed in the flames, with only his dog, his insulin, and several small valuables escaping unharmed.

In an interview with The Los Angeles Times, Hall reflected on the IOC’s gesture. “When tough times happen, you find out who your friends are,” he said. “And to see this response from the highest level of sport, it makes you feel special. It makes you feel supported, which is so needed at this time.”

Gary Hall Jr. comes from a family deeply rooted in competitive swimming. His grandfather, Charles Keating Jr., was a national swimming champion in the 1940s. His father, Gary Hall Sr., competed in three Olympic Games and earned four medals: one gold, two silver, and one bronze. Together, the Halls are the first father-son pair in U.S. history to both compete in three Olympic Games.

Hall Jr. competed for Team USA in the 1996, 2000, and 2004 Olympic Games, securing his place as one of the most accomplished American sprinters in swimming history. In Atlanta 1996, he won two relay gold medals in the 4×100-meter freestyle (Olympic record) and 4×100-meter medley (world record) and earned silver in both the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle events. At Sydney 2000, he captured individual gold in the 50-meter freestyle, tying with fellow American Anthony Ervin. He also earned gold in the 4×100-meter medley relay, silver in the 4×100 freestyle relay, and bronze in the 100-meter freestyle. At Athens 2004, at age 29, Hall defended his 50-meter freestyle title, becoming the oldest American male swimmer to win Olympic gold since 1924. He also added a bronze medal in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay.

Known for his patriotic flair, Hall often made dramatic poolside appearances in red, white, and blue boxing robes and shorts, frequently shadowboxing before races. His mouth matched his speed—Hall was one of Team USA’s most outspoken trash talkers. His fiery remarks, particularly aimed at the Australians, famously fired up the Australian team to the point that, after decades of playing second fiddle to Team USA, they barely defeated the U.S. in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay at the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Let it be known that they never accomplished this again, while the US won five out of the six that followed in Olympic history. While his flamboyance drew attention, his performance in the water always justified the spotlight.

Diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1999, Hall briefly stepped away from competition. Despite concerns that his condition could end his career, he returned to the sport and continued to succeed at the highest levels. In retirement, he became a spokesperson for diabetes awareness, using his platform to advocate for others living with the condition.

Caitlin Clark Dominates Season Opener with Triple-Double Amid Renewed Reese Rivalry

0

By Jessica A. Dennehy

The WNBA season has begun, with the Indiana Fever promptly beating the Chicago Sky 93–58 in the season opener. The Indiana Fever’s point guard Caitlin Clark stunned with the impressive triple-double, securing 20 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists right out of the gate. Despite this, what’s been more talked about was the third-quarter flagrant foul by Caitlin Clark on Angel Reese and the continuation of their college rivalry into the national league.

Seconds before the end of the first quarter, Reese received a full-court pass near the basket. It was an open shot, with only Clark, already with two early fouls, in her way. However, Clark successfully defended her with no contact, causing Reese to slip up on an otherwise easy layup. The tension between the two players only continued on with the game.

Halfway through the third quarter, Clark delivered a hard foul on Reese as she attempted to drive home to the basket. Officials, upon reviewing the play, proceeded to upgrade Clark’s foul into a flagrant 1, despite not calling anything when Reese, just prior, shoved Fever forward Natasha Howard. Reese, after hitting the ground, attempted to confront Clark, but the Fever Center’s Aliyah Boston stepped in, blocking off Reese from Clark. With the spectacle, both Reese and Boston were given offsetting technical fouls, but only Clark’s flagrant foul sent Reese to the line.

In the aftermath of the Fever’s victory, Clark calmly addressed the foul, making the statement, “Let’s not make it something that it’s not. It was just a good play on the basketball”. She added that “I wasn’t trying to do anything malicious. That’s not the type of player I am.” When Reese was asked for her perspective on the call, she was curt, quickly shutting down any further questions surrounding the play. She only made the statement, “Basketball play. Refs got it right. Move on.”

While both players seemingly seemed to quickly move on from the play, their respective fanbases apparently have not, with even reports of racist comments directed at Reese following the game. This correspondingly led the WNBA to launch an internal investigation and reaffirm its commitment to fighting hate speech. Caitlin Clark, upon hearing this, praised the league and her team for acting swiftly and expressed confidence that the WNBA would respond appropriately. She directly condemned the behavior, saying that “There’s no place for that in our game. There’s no place for that in society.”

Unfortunately, this hasn’t been the first Clark-Reese showdown on the court, only the first of this season. Their rivalry began on the college level when Reese’s LSU beat Clark’s Iowa in the 2023 NCAA championship. Only a year later, though, Clark got her revenge, leading Iowa past LSU in the 2024 Elite Eight in front of 12.3 million viewers—a record-breaking moment for women’s basketball.

Ever since entering the WNBA, the two players’ paths have crossed repeatedly. Firstly, Clark was drafted as the No. 1 pick overall by the Fever, while Reese was drafted No. 7 by the Sky. Additionally, Clark won the Rookie of the Year award, earning 66 of 67 votes, with Reese receiving the lone other vote. While both players insist that they’re focused on basketball, even having taken measures to downplay their rivalry, their respective fanbases have only continued to fuel the flames of their rivalry online.

Tennis World Number 1 Returns 

By: Grace Wang

After a 3 month doping suspension, tennis World Number 1 Jannik Sinner finds himself back on court at his home tournament, the Italian Open, in Rome. With an enthusiastic and vibrant crowd, it would be difficult for a neutral observer to not believe that they were welcoming back a hero. Yet, for the Italian crowd, they were. 

As one of the most prolific Italian athletes, the return of Sinner was closely followed by the media for on and off the court reasons. 

Based on his matches in Rome, no one would have guessed that he has not stepped on the court for three months. In fact, before this week, Sinner hasn’t played a professional tennis match since winning his third Grand Slam Down Under. With dominant wins and a particularly brutal thrashing of world number 6 Casper Ruud, who was coming off a big tournament win, it would be fair to assume that Sinner’s all-black outfit represents a funeral for the rest of the tour. Sinner is clearly in scary good form, and the rest of the tour should be praying that he won’t be on their side of the draw at the upcoming Grand Slam, the French Open.

He now plays in the final against Carlos Alcaraz, who handed Sinner 3 of his 6 losses last season. Their rivalry is building up to become one of the greatest rivalries in tennis history with their contrasting demeanors on court and closeness in age. Whatever the result, it’s great to see Sinner on the court again and playing incredibly well, and he should be considered a favorite for the second major of the year. 

Is Tradwife the New Rad Life? 

By Hannah You

On any given morning, my TikTok feed might show a woman in a linen dress grinding wheat by hand, feeding her seventh child, and smiling while her husband heads to work. She calls herself a “tradwife”- a traditional wife- and invites her followers into a world of old-fashioned homemaking, gender roles, and artisan everything. But a quick search reveals what the videos don’t: this woman lives on a multi-million-dollar estate, married into generational wealth, and sells her lifestyle to millions of viewers online.

Why are rich influencers cosplaying as farmers? The resurgence of the tradwife aesthetic isn’t just about sourdough starters and frilly egg aprons. It’s about nostalgia, a curated longing for a romanticized 1950s domestic life that many of these influencers never actually lived. And it’s more than a lifestyle choice; it reflects a growing cultural shift toward conservatism, especially among younger women on social media.

For example, take Hannah Neeleman of Ballerina Farm (pictured above). She’s a former pageant queen, a Juilliard trained ballerina, and now a TikTok star who shares dreamy videos of her Utah farm life with her husband and seven kids. But this is no humble homestead story. In fact, her family’s wealth traces back to her father-in-law, who founded JetBlue. Her brand now sells everything from aprons and pork boxes to sourdough kits, turning the image of her domestic, simple farm life into a full-scale luxury business. Similarly, Nara Smith, another tradwife influencer, crafts elaborate home cooked meals in clean designer kitchens, her soft-spoken voice romanticizing a life where a woman’s value is rooted in service. Her content is calming and undeniably beautiful, but it’s not representative of most women’s realities. These influencers have household help, disposable income, and ample time; the very things that made traditional domesticity bearable in the 1950s, thanks to robust middle-class support.

The issue here is that these women are not returning to tradition, rather, they are monetizing it. And here’s where the tradwife movement becomes something more than a harmless lifestyle. Many of these influencers argue that embracing traditional gender roles is “empowering,” as long as it’s a choice. But choice requires options, and most working-class women don’t have the luxury to leave the workforce, bake cakes from scratch daily, or homeschool their children on acres upon acres of land.

What makes this trend more than just a pretty picture is the way it’s tied to a broader political and cultural shift. The tradwife movement taps into growing frustration with the demands of modern life, especially for women. Some feel exhausted by the pressure to “do it all”: build a career, raise children, stay in shape, and somehow remain serene through it all. Tradwife content offers an alternative: a life with clearly defined roles, a peaceful home, and a return to old-fashioned values. However, it is essential to realize that it’s largely part of a conservative revival that’s pushing back against decades of progress on gender equality.

To be clear, there’s nothing wrong with being a stay-at-home mom or finding joy in homemaking. For many women, those roles bring real joy and purpose, and choosing them can be empowering. But the trouble begins when that lifestyle is romanticized as something everyone can achieve, without any recognition of the immense privilege that makes it possible. The truth is, behind those calm kitchen vlogs and perfectly folded laundry is a level of financial comfort that most families simply don’t have. We’re talking about generational wealth, partners with high-paying or flexible jobs, and often behind the scenes help like nannies or cleaners. Choosing to stay home with children or bake fresh bread every morning feels very different when you’re not also worried about rent, groceries, or medical bills. When this version of domestic life is presented as the ideal for all women, it overlooks the economic and social realities that most people live with. And when that aesthetic is used to push a return to traditional gender roles, it quietly suggests that going backward is the answer to modern problems. But for the vast majority of women, that kind of choice has never really been on the table.

If the tradwife movement stayed personal, it might not usually draw this kind of criticism. But it has become a brand, a political identity, and a business model, one that suggests the solution to modern discontent is to rewind social progress. It’s a social media fantasy, selling a version of the past that never quite existed, except perhaps for the very wealthy few. So when we ask why rich influencers are cosplaying as farmers, we should also ask ourselves: What are we being sold and what are we being distracted from?

At the end of the day, the tradwife trend is about selling an unobtainable lifestyle, one that looks easy and beautiful, but only works if you have money, time, and a lot of help. For everyone else, it’s just another impossible standard to live up and another performative social media trend. So the next time you see a rich influencer churning butter in a prairie dress, remember: this isn’t a return to tradition. It’s a carefully crafted performance, tailor made for clicks, and quietly nudging us toward a vision of womanhood that doesn’t leave much room for choice at all.

The New Democratic Playbook

By Hank Bartholomew

Before we begin, I should profess that I am undoubtably an ameteur in the field of politics. Any real political strategists could likely tear anything I say apart in a matter of seconds. The closest thing I’ve done to studying political debate in strategy is watching Stephan A. Smith berating his colleagues (although maybe that might actually count as relevant experience in a few years). All this is to say that I am a political novice. But I do have one significant qualification: I am an American who has witnessed the struggles of the Democratic party over the last few years. I can’t offer refined philosophical thought or complex political and legal terminology. But I can give the insight I have gathered from observing politics over the last few years–and my own beliefs on what the roadmap of the Democratic party should look like in the coming years.

To begin, American liberals need to find a common identity–that is, a unifying thread, most likely ideological. As of now, Democrats are fractured, split into several different groups. There are Bernie Sanders diehards, environmentalists, the younger wave following Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and even some individuals who just want anyone but Trump. These people all want the same general thing–the return of Democrats to political prominence–but once that goal has been achieved, they can not agree on what the next order of business should be, leading to in-fighting and squabbles between democrats. In this case, it appears that Democrats are putting the cart before the horse; they are worrying about policy without any actual political power to do anything. Don’t get me wrong, clear public policies are important to a degree, but liberals should not be focusing all of their energy and the policies they would enact if they were in office–they should get in office first. And to get into office, differences must be put aside. A common front must be presented. Conservatives won in 2024 because they united entirely behind Donald Trump. Sure, this is not an example of throwing everyone’s weight behind an ideology (although in a way, perhaps it is), but it is still an example of a political party putting their power behind a singular entity. Democrats need to do the same. A house divided can not stand; political parties are no different. 

Assuming the left is capable of presenting a united front, the question then emerges of what the ground game should look like–or, more concisely, how to attack Trump. The current president and the GOP are essentially one organism, meaning that however the public perception of Trump changes–be it negatively or positively–the public perception of the conservative party will also change. In a way, this can be helpful for Democrats; they can direct all of their effort towards combating Trump, and smaller races will take care of themselves. 

With the midterms gradually creeping toward us, Democrats need to step up their criticism of Trump and his policies–and do so in the center of the public eye. In my opinion, the most successful tactic would be to focus on the economy. Trump’s tariffs and government layoffs have contributed to a shaky economy and an unsteady stock market. This is the issue that can bring Americans to the ballot box. Indeed, in 2024 it was the economy that undoubtedly landed Trump in the oval office; Americans, seeking greener pastures, wanted a change from the mild and gradual economic growth of the Biden administration. The economy is the issue that is–and will always be–at the forefront of the American mind. Yes, there are several ways to go after Trump, but to the average American citizen, foreign policy, legal issues, and potential threats to democracy pale in comparison to the promise of money in their pockets. If Democrats recognize this fact, they will win big in 2026–but they need to start soon.

The other big question is who the left should put on the ticket for 2028. In my opinion, these concerns are pretty irrelevant at this point, but I’ll throw in my two cents anyway. In my eyes, it doesn’t really matter who is put forward, provided they are a good public speaker and relatively well-known. Trump showed us–twice–that you don’t need a flawless (or even good) record to become a successful politician. Again, personal scandals aren’t what people care about. If the Democrats can find someone who’s somewhat charismatic and knows their way around the economy–or at least can pretend that they do–they’ll be fine.

The Democratic party isn’t crumbling, and its demise is not imminent. Yes, there have been a few missteps and mistakes, but with a few adjustments there’s no reason the balance of power in Washington couldn’t again shift. We’ll find out soon enough if it will.

Can AI Solve Climate Change—Or Is It Making Things Worse?

By Shivm Mehta

Can ChatGPT and other AI algorithms really solve all of humanity’s problems? That might sound like a futuristic question, but it’s one that’s quickly becoming part of the present—especially for high schoolers growing up in a world with growing climate anxiety and rapid technological change.

Across the globe, climate change is becoming harder and harder to ignore. Heat waves, wildfires, floods, and rising sea levels are turning up the pressure—not just on governments and scientists, but also on business leaders and tech giants. What are they doing to help? Increasingly, many of them are pointing to one answer: artificial intelligence.

In recent years, tech visionaries like Elon Musk, Sam Altman (CEO of OpenAI, the company that created ChatGPT), and others have been promoting AI as a groundbreaking tool that can tackle humanity’s most urgent problems—including the climate crisis. And at first sight, it seems promising. AI has already helped in forecasting weather patterns, optimizing energy usage, and improving climate models. Tools like ChatGPT can help people understand complex scientific topics, write policy proposals, or even brainstorm new climate solutions. Sounds great, right?

But here’s the catch: training and running these massive AI systems takes an enormous amount of energy. A recent article by the San Francisco Examiner dives into this growing concern. It highlights how generative AI, like ChatGPT, requires massive data centers with powerful servers running 24/7. These servers consume huge amounts of electricity—often powered by fossil fuels. In fact, training a single large AI model can emit as much carbon as multiple cars over their entire lifetimes. That’s not exactly eco-friendly.

So what happens when the “solution” becomes part of the problem?

That’s the contradiction that needs to be emphasized: while AI might help us better understand climate change or manage renewable energy, it could also be accelerating the crisis if not used responsibly. And that raises even deeper questions for our generation to think about.

Are tech companies doing enough to measure and reduce the carbon footprint of their AI tools? Are they investing in clean energy to power their data centers—or are they focused more on hype than real sustainability? Should we rely on unproven future technologies to “solve” climate change, or take action now with the tools we already have?

As high schoolers growing up in a climate-concerned world, these are not just philosophical questions. They’re practical, urgent ones. We’re the generation who will be most affected by both climate change and the decisions being made around AI today. That means we have to stay informed—not just about how cool and powerful new technologies are, but also about their hidden costs.

AI is a powerful tool. But like any tool, it depends on how we use it. If we put all our hope in AI while ignoring its environmental impact, we could end up solving one problem by making another worse. Maybe instead of asking, “Can AI fix climate change?” The better question is: “How can we build technology that helps the planet instead of hurting it?”

That’s the challenge—and opportunity—for our generation to think about.

Artificial Intelligence Creates Custom DNA

By Snigdha Chakravarti

What if there was a possibility to eliminate human diseases like brain disorders or cancer? What if researchers could control gene expression in mammalian cells to get rid of gene defects? This is where AI DNA regulatory sequences come into play. Dr. Robert Fromel, a researcher who studied AI generated DNA at the Center for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona, explained how using this tool could provide “new ways of giving instructions to a cell” and direct the cell to behave and develop in a specific way with “unprecedented accuracy.” In essence, customization of synthetic DNA with artificial DNA regulatory sequences would be able to regulate the activity of genes in specific cells. However, one lingering question remains:  how is  an AI model able to generate these favorable patterns in DNA sequences with such a vast amount of genetic information?

A large quantity of data is needed to build this AI model along with countless experiments and studies on enhancers (the portion of the gene that turns it on or off) and transcription factors (proteins that regulate gene expression). Five years since the start of this project, the  AI model  has a humongous enhancer library consisting of 64,000 enhancers and binding sites for 38 transcription factors. Therefore, AI generated enhancers can now induce the exact gene expression patterns needed by specific cells. For example, while some enhancers activate a specific gene in one cell type, they may not activate this same gene in a different cell type; this displays their ability to modulate gene activators and directly switch a gene on or off. Most importantly, this allows for customization of gene expression, ensuring a higher degree of favorable expression. 

Another concept explored through this AI model is negative synergy, where combinations of specific enhancers work together to turn off a gene. Individually, each enhancer can turn on the gene, but when multiple enhancers are utilized, they can hit the off switch for that same gene. The profound impacts of synthetic enhancers (not found in nature) and negative synergy allows AI models to measure the regulation of gene activity in order to create new on and off outcomes.

Lars Velten, a senior author in the study of the AI model, compared the creation of novel gene expression patterns to “a language model for biology.” Velten went on to explain how it was crucial to “understand the language cells speak” in order to “decipher these grammar rules for enhancers so that we [the researcher team] can create entirely new words and sentences.” As a result of the higher extent of variability in gene expression through this model, protein design is advanced too, allowing for different enzymes and antibodies to be made. Due to this, treatments like gene therapy (modification of genes by “correcting” them to treat or prevent a particular disease) can better regulate activity of certain genes in cells. In this way, the side effects of gene therapy are reduced and the efficacy of gene refinement increases for the patient. On the other hand, the modification of a particular gene could negatively impact healthy cells through unnecessary modification of their DNA. Through the development of a system called CODA, or Computational Optimization of DNA Activity, this problem has been combated. CODA makes gene therapy inactive  in healthy cells to limit the treatment to impact only abnormal cells. This has especially proven useful for brain, metabolic, and blood disorders.

AI DNA models seem like a stone’s throw away from treating some of the most prominent diseases like sickle cell anemia, cancer, hemophilia, and muscle dystrophy. By being able to alter gene expression in specific cells, the possibility of a perfect, genetically-favorable outcome unfolds. It is also important to remember, though, that there are limitations to the model, as Dr. Ryan Tewhey, a co-senior author of the study, warns: “Combatting computational models with large-scale experimental approaches is a powerful strategy. However, the models are only as good as the data they learn from. By validating findings, we can quickly identify where improvements can be made.”

Are We Alone in the Universe? An Exoplanet May Have Life

By Charlie Levin

The Milky Way Galaxy has billions of stars, just like our own Sun. Many of these stars have planets. And many of those planets have conditions that could harbor life. There are billions of galaxies. There is no way that we are alone in the universe.

This question has persisted, with many conspiracy theories being created, from UFO sightings to the Pyramids of Giza. But we have never had concrete proof to show that we aren’t alone.  

The launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) on Christmas of 2021 was highly anticipated for this reason. Much more advanced than the Hubble Space Telescope, it was believed that it would be the telescope to detect life outside of Earth, if there was any. 

Supposedly, it made the potential discovery just a few weeks ago.. 

The planet between the size of Earth and Neptune, called K2-18b and approximately 124 light years away, has the strongest signs of life we have seen yet. 

JWST detected a potential presence of a biosignature gas, a chemical that could prove life exists on this planet. The chemical, dimethyl sulfide, is produced by marine phytoplankton and bacteria on Earth and was detected on K2-18b, which is a promising find. If this chemical is abundant as scientists say it is, the only probable explanation that we know of is that it is an ocean world teeming with life. 

While this is a promising sign and the strongest one we’ve found yet, more still needs to be done. It is only a little bit of evidence, and the signal is from a long way away. JWST gave data that is 99.7% sure, but that isn’t enough. To form a definitive conclusion, they need to be 99.9% sure.

And so the question persists: are we alone in the universe or just one of many life forms?

Nature’s Rainbows: The Science Behind Colorful Creatures

By Sophia Byl

In our current industrialized world, where large buildings dominate city skylines and natural landscapes become increasingly populated by humans, neutral colors run rampant. The grays and browns of metal and brick overshadow the more colorful hues of greens, blues, oranges, and the rest of the rainbow as humanity’s ever-expanding touch claims more land for our species. And while it’s true that advertisements in the big cities can provide a nice pop of color, many large companies still tend to forgo pretty colors for functional or uniformity – just look at all of Google’s product logos today versus a couple years ago. A loss of color equates with loss of unique charm, and ultimately, loss of personality.

When we look at the animal kingdom, on the other hand, we see its fate is drastically different. Sure, lots of animals have brown and black fur, but that’s how they’ve evolved to survive in their ecological niches. Neutral colors in human society aren’t a survival skill – they’re a seemingly unavoidable consequence of industrialization and gentrification. Colors are rarely celebrated on a large scale for us, save for festivals like Holi, events like the Northern Lights, with its stunning gradient of greens and blues, and of course, Pride month, where combinations of every color make up the wide diversity of flags we celebrate not just this month, but every month.

 In nature, bright colors serve a beautiful variety of functions, but the primary two are finding a mate and signalling danger to potential predators. Well-known examples of species with colorful males yet drab females include peacocks, mallard ducks, and birds of paradise – mainly birds. Typically, the male with the most vibrant coloring and/or patterning is most likely to win the heart of a potential mate. Thanks to natural selection and evolution, males with less striking colors tend not to pass on their genes, leading to successive generations of birds getting ever brighter thanks to the success of their colorful fathers.

As for animals that use color as a warning (a technique known as aposematism), they are ubiquitous across the animal kingdom. From fish to insects to snakes to even other mammals, a huge number of species take advantage of colors all across the rainbow to signal to anyone who might want to eat them that they taste bad, may be cumbersome to eat, or may even be deadly if ingested. For humans, it’s important to have a rainbow on your plate of fruits and veggies so you get all your necessary nutrients, but for a creature like a hawk or shark, eating a rainbow could just land them in an early grave. 

But some animals have coloration that doesn’t seem to fit into either of these categories – they’re flashy just because they can be. Take, for example, the brilliantly hued fiery-throated hummingbird, with feathers that shift between reds, yellows and blues surrounded by a vibrant green. It’s not poisonous, and because both males and females are colored the same way, the patterning clearly doesn’t serve as a mating tactic either. Therefore, it’s not exactly clear why these little birds are as iridescent as they are. Other animals that exhibit this phenomenon include certain parasitic wasps (the cuckoo wasp and jewel wasp are two prominent example), the coral reef-protecting parrotfish, and the somewhat famous lilac-breasted roller, an African bird that holds the title of most colorful animal in nature. 

Hopefully, humanity can take a couple of lessons from these carefree colorful spirits in nature. You don’t need a reason to make things colorful and bright – do it just because. Maybe we’ll even see some designs popping up reflecting certain creatures in our environment. Would an iridescent green car based on hummingbird feathers be popular? The only way to find out is if we make an effort together to bring more color to our world.