Giordano has been quite busy with blue posts recently. This is a red post.

More specifically the red of haliobacteria.

A week ago one of my co-workers took three color scientists out for a flight around the bay in a Cessna. It was a perfect spring afternoon. Clear skies, calm winds and great views. The salt flats are an amazing sight. I took the picture below and made a mental note to learn more about these giant red ponds.

Back in front of a keyboard I learn from a Cargill page that the red salt ponds are a result of a haliobacteria, specifcially Dunaliella, that changes color as the water gets saltier. The saltier the water the redder the bacteria. I also learned that the bateria are actually eaten by brine shrimp, some of which are dried and sold as "sea monkeys". But I digress.

Checking another web page I see that these bacteria get their color by producing a red carotenoid pigment. Cartenoid pigments are also found in tomatoes, red peppers and flamingos. Although apparently the flamingos get this from the brine shrimp. But I should let Giordano post about the color of flamingos. The bottom of this web pages also notes recent research which suggests that these red bacteria with their anaerobic, or without oxygen, energy production might be among the oldest life forms on earth, pre-dating an atmosphere with significant levels of oxygen.

So perhaps red was the original color of an active environment, and not green? Finally the haliobacteria is quite radiation resistent and in an experiment was taken out into space and survived. Cool from the salt flats in the bay to outer space and back, all with haliobacteria red.