Scientists reveal that the yellow glow which appears under your chin when you place a buttercup flower under it, does not demonstrate your fondness for butter after all.
This piece of news may come as a bitter disappointment to anybody who sought for an easy way of determining one's own appreciation for butter and, indeed, might require other scientists spending their precious time thinking of a new name for the flower.
According to Dr Beverley Glover, from the department of plant sciences at Cambridge University, the strong yellow reflection responsible for the chin illumination is mainly due to the epidermal layer of the flower's petals that reflects yellow light with an intensity that is comparable to glass. The fact that the buttercup reflects a significant amount of UV light makes it easily spottable by pollinators such as bees whose eyes are sensitive to such light.
Dr. Silvia Vignolini, from the physics department, added:
"Although many different factors, such as scent and temperature, influence the relationships between pollinators and flowers, the visual appearance of flowers is one of the most important factors in this communication. Flowers develop brilliant colours, or additional cues, such as glossiness in the case of the buttercup, that contribute to make the optical response of the flower unique".
With the myth that buttercups can measure our fondness for butter now gone, is there any alternative system we can use to determine whether we actually like butter?
Of course Urbanbite offers the best solution to this dilemma.
Try ordering a delicious lemon chicken in butter from one of our Chinese restaurants or a fantastic paneer butter masala from one of our Indian takeaways. If you like these dishes that will mean without any doubt that you are fond of butter.
Couldn't life be any simpler?
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