Color

Amelia Earhart was the pioneering female aviator who became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean solo and the first woman to win the Distinguished Flying Cross. During her flight around the world in 1937, she disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while trying to reach Howland Island. Her disappearance remains one of the biggest mysteries of the 20th century. Perhaps on a lesser scale of import but no less interest, Earhart was also a fashion innovator who made headlines for her comfortable flying gear -- men's tailored pants, leather jackets and scarfs.

Owning or selling brightly colored guns may soon be illegal in Nassau County because the painted weapons could pass as toys, police and county officials said Wednesday. Officials in neighboring Suffolk County are considering a similar ban. The proposal in Nassau County was spurred by a Wisconsin company's introduction last week of a line of bright gun paints called the "Bloomberg Collection," which taunts New York City Mayor Michael R.

. -- This is a sight no self-respecting hairstylist wants to see: an inch of white roots showing, the remaining color dulling to a lackluster shade. "It is faded, isn't it?" sighed Joy Douglas, owner of Zing Salon, running her fingers through her toy poodle Cici's tight, once-pink curls. Nearly a month has passed since Cici has had her bimonthly treatment of pureed organic beets and egg whites massaged into her white coat while she basks under a heat lamp.

Almost every parent has a story about their kid bouncing off the walls after downing a package of jelly beans or eating a neon blue-frosted cupcake at school. Most blame the sugar. But some new research suggests that the rainbow of artificial colors may have a bigger effect on children's behavior. And in other parts of the world, some organizations are starting to take action on these ingredients.

IF you've ever agonized over what neutral modern shade to paint your Tudor, Mediterranean or Cape Cod living room (or wished you had the guts to choose a daring color), you might want to take a lesson from Shelley Bennett. As curator of British and European art at the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, Bennett confronted and conquered the color conundrum for the John Constable landscapes show, which opens Saturday. Bennett is no amateur at choosing colors.

Genetically engineering mice to give them a third type of photoreceptor in their eyes allows them to see the full spectrum of colors available to humans, apes and monkeys, researchers reported Friday in the journal Science. The enhancement surprised some neuroscientists, who questioned whether the mice could adapt quickly to the new information. "The answer is, remarkably, yes," said the study's lead author, Dr. Jeremy Nathans of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Women's brains seem to be hard-wired to prefer lavender, and men's tend toward blue. That's what a group of British neuroscientists found in an experiment to determine whether people's attraction to certain colors was cultural or biological. "There does seem to be a universal color preference, which seems to be hard-wired into our brains," said neuroscientist Dr. Anya Hurlbert, the study's lead author. "We were very surprised by how robust the results were."

When it comes to style, Los Angeles has always been a careful study in laissez faire chic. Women prance about in faded T-shirts that are practically custom fitted to their clavicles and jeans distressed to look like relics from the caves of Lascaux. A messy ponytail -- seemingly a mirrorless 30-second pursuit -- is actually an hourlong exercise in tendril placement. Ideally, you should look as if you got ready in the trunk of your car and emerged stunning.

EVERY year paint companies and trend forecasters predict what's on the color horizon. Most recently "spa colors" of watery blues and greens, with splashes of melon and pinks, have dominated, along with pairings of teal blue and sable brown, creams and sage, and the many brews of latte. More adventuresome decorators have jolted rooms with orange, purple and lime. January and February are prime months for interior design projects, "especially now that the paints are more low-odor.