That’s Not Science

Written by Natalie Dixon

Keywords:

• Spectra: a band of colors, as seen in a rainbow,
• Pollination: is the process that allows plants to reproduce.
• Palette: a thin board or slab on which an artist lays and mixes colors.

Once upon a time, there was a young girl. She was a curious young girl. This girl’s name was Eve. Everywhere Eve went she would ask questions. She would ask questions to her friends, parents, and teacher. Eve really liked science so she would ask the most questions in that subject. Half the time the teacher would say “That’s not science” so after a while Eve stopped asking.

Eve had lots of friends at school but she enjoyed being alone. Every day after school Eve would walk to her favorite spot about three blocks away from the school. Every day she would sit in the same spot, under a big pine tree surrounded by these beautiful purple and gold flowers, which she later found out are named asters and goldenrods. Eve didn’t know why she picked there other than the flowers were pretty but something about it intrigued her, it intrigued her enough that she sat almost every day for two years.

During those two years, Eve never got less curious, probably even more curious. She noticed that anytime she saw goldenrods and asters they were next to each other but she never thought much of it because they were beautiful next to each other. One day Eve was sitting in her usual spot and she noticed something she never noticed before. She noticed that there were a bunch of bees sitting on the purple and gold flowers. On the other side of the tree, there were white and blue flowers that had no bees on them. Eve was curious why all the bees are on her favorite flowers when there is barely any room for them at all and lots of other different flowers close by.

Instead of being scared of the bees, Eve thought it was kind of cool that they also liked asters and goldenrods so she just let them be. Eve left that day early wondering if those bees would also come back to that spot just like her. The next day when she got there, there was no sight of bees but after twenty minutes of homework, the bees arrived. Just as they did yesterday they all went to the asters and goldenrods. Eve watched them as they pollinated her favorite flowers and then continued on their way. Eve was fascinated.

As the years went on Eve was still interested in plants and nature but she started to also pick up on art. She liked them both art and science but she knew she would eventually have to pick one over the other. Eve’s parents always said “art and science are so different!”, but Eve didn’t think so. When it came time Eve picked science but she still had a passion for art.

One day Eve finally asked one of her artist buddies about the power of purple and gold and they sent her right to the color wheel. They said, “these two are complementary colors, as different in nature as could be. In composing a palette, putting them together makes each more vivid; just a touch of one will bring out the other.” This explains why Eve appealed to these flowers but she was always told “Art and Science are different,” so she still didn’t know why the bees liked the purple and gold flowers.

About a week later Eve was in science class. She learned bees see many flowers differently than humans do due to their perception of additional spectra such as ultraviolet radiation. The teacher later explained that goldenrods and asters are one of the only flowers that appear very similar to bee eyes and human eyes. The teacher explained that those flowers growing together, both receive more pollination visits than they would if they were growing alone. She finally understood why she always saw these flowers together and why the bees also picked her flowers.

Eve almost jumped out of her chair with joy. She was happy those bees got to see these beautiful flowers the same way she did. She knew that she was right all along. Science and art aren’t so different after all.