Science · The Question
Why Is the Sky Blue — and Not Violet?
Everyone learns that the sky is blue because air scatters blue light. But violet light scatters even more. So why isn't the sky purple?
Every previous StoneRed
The Archive
64 articles, filed with more enthusiasm than order.
Search the archive
Six fascinating things… for “colour”
Science · The Question
Why Is the Sky Blue — and Not Violet?
Everyone learns that the sky is blue because air scatters blue light. But violet light scatters even more. So why isn't the sky purple?
Nature · The Deep Dive
The Glacier That Bleeds
In one of the coldest, driest places on Earth, a blood-red stream pours out of the face of an Antarctic glacier. It isn't blood, and it isn't algae. It is ancient salty water, sealed away for perhaps a million years — and something is living in it.
Science · The Theory
The Glowing Balls of the Storm
For centuries, people have reported glowing spheres drifting through the air during thunderstorms, floating into houses and even aeroplanes. Scientists doubted them for a long time. Then, in 2012, one was caught on camera by accident.
Economics · The Theory
When a Tulip Cost as Much as a House
Tulip mania is the most famous financial bubble in history — a tale of Dutch merchants ruined by flower bulbs. The real story is stranger, smaller, and much more interesting.
Mysteries · The Theory
The Tent Cut Open From the Inside
In February 1959, nine experienced hikers died on a mountainside in the Soviet Urals after fleeing their tent into the snow, half-dressed. For sixty years, it fuelled wild theories. Science may finally have the answer.
Psychology · The Question
The Pill That Works Even When You Know It's Fake
Sugar pills can make people feel better. That much is familiar. The stranger finding is that, in some studies, they help even when patients are told exactly what they are.
Browse by category
The daily log
- Why Is the Sky Blue — and Not Violet? Science
- The River That Boils Geography
- Henry Ford's Lost City in the Jungle Modern World
- The Glacier That Bleeds Nature
- The Day a Ship Destroyed a City History
- The Sound From the Bottom of the World Mysteries
- The Ghost Ship Mary Celeste Mysteries
- The Fake History of the Bathtub History
- The Sound That Rises Forever Music
- The Bay That Glows in the Dark Nature
- The Missile Guided by Pigeons Technology
- The Glowing Balls of the Storm Science
- The Land No Country Wants Geography
- The Jar That Might Have Been a Battery History
- The Day a Jet Ran Out of Fuel at 41,000 Feet Aviation
- The Salamander That Never Grows Up Nature
- The Loneliest Whale in the World Nature
- The Secret Song Mozart Stole by Ear Music
- The Island Where Money Sat at the Bottom of the Sea Economics
- The Deepest Hole Ever Dug Science
- The Book Nobody Can Read Mysteries
- The War That Lasted Less Than an Hour History
- Why Don't We Remember Being Babies? Psychology
- The Jellyfish That Hits Rewind Nature
- The Summer Strasbourg Couldn't Stop Dancing Weird
- The Man Who Didn't Believe the Computer People
- The Concrete That Heals Itself Ancient World
- The Emus Won Modern World
- The Chocolate Bar That Melted in the Lab Technology
- If You Replace Every Plank, Is It Still the Same Ship? Philosophy
- Why Medieval Knights Keep Fighting Snails Art
- The Day Boston Drowned in Molasses History
- The Man With a Hole in His Head Psychology
- The Year Without a Summer Science
- The Explosion That Flattened a Forest Space
- The Girl Who Found Sea Dragons People
- The Pope Who Put a Corpse on Trial History
- The Lake That Exploded Geography
- The Goat Behind Door Number Three Random
- Where Is Everybody? Space
- The Banana Your Grandparents Ate Nature
- When a Tulip Cost as Much as a House Economics
- The 2,000-Year-Old Computer Ancient World
- The Temple Older Than Farming Ancient World
- The Day the Sun Set Telegraphs on Fire Space
- The Alien in the Aquarium Nature
- What Happens When a Whale Dies Nature
- The Colony That Vanished Mysteries
- The Tent Cut Open From the Inside Mysteries
- The Pill That Works Even When You Know It's Fake Psychology
- The Loneliest Place on Earth Geography
- The Mixtape We Sent to the Stars Music
- Can Anyone Actually Hear a Stradivarius? Music
- The Hijacker Who Jumped Into the Rain Cold Cases
- The Man on Somerton Beach Cold Cases
- The Woman in Ice Valley Cold Cases
- The House in Villisca Cold Cases
- The Footprints at Hinterkaifeck Cold Cases
- Thirteen Empty Frames Cold Cases
- The Night Max Headroom Hijacked Chicago Cold Cases