system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
How can a feather keep it's color for so long, when other parts of many biological things tend to fade after they are no longer alive or part of said thing?
gpt
Many feathers' colors come from their structure, rather than the more common route of molecules like melanin.  These molecules break down, like when chlorophyll disappears from leaves in autumn.  The microscopic ridges that structurally select for reflected light of a certain range of wavelengths may be more resilient.  Apparently Lexus spent 15 years developing a paint that uses the same method, called Structural Blue, that shouldn't fade in the sun.