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The sky, a mood, a color, a political affiliation... This hour we've got the blues

Pacific Ocean and Cloudscape off the coast of Oahu, Hawaii. Shifting in shades of blue that reflect depth and light.
Nico De Pasquale
/
Digital Vision / Getty Images
Pacific Ocean and Cloudscape off the coast of Oahu, Hawaii. Shifting in shades of blue that reflect depth and light.

If you ask an AI chatbot what its favorite color is, chances are it’ll say blue. What’s going on? This hour, we look at why so many people love the color blue, and what blue means in art and culture and our lexicon. Plus: Why are Democrats blue and Republicans red? And, the universe is getting less blue?

GUESTS:

  • Kory Stamper: Lexicographer, and author of True Color: The Strange and Spectacular Quest to Define Color–from Azure to Zinc Pink
  • Kushin Mukherjee: Postdoctoral scholar in the Cognitive Tools Lab at Stanford University
  • Einav Rabinovitch-Fox: Historian, Visiting Professor of History at Case Western Reserve University, and Managing Editor at the Cleveland Museum of Art
  • Ivan Baldry: Professor of Astrophysics at Liverpool John Moores University

Music featured (in order):

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple PodcastsSpotifyAmazon MusicTuneInListen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show.

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Lily is the senior producer for 'The Colin McEnroe Show'. She's also a producer of the narrative podcasts 'Generation Barney' and 'Generation Gilmore Girls.' She first worked at Connecticut Public as an intern in 2014. She has previously worked for WBUR, KUNC and as a producer for the New England News Collaborative's weekly show 'Next'. Lily can be reached at ltyson@ctpublic.org.