Robin Pruett, age 10, of Riverdale, Georgia, for her question:

What exactly is an albino?

The word "albino" means "white" and it belongs to biologists, who study living things. They save it for certain rare white animals, plants and even people. A lily  plant is partly albino because it has a white flower. A snow white mouse with pink eyes is a true albino. Avery pale person may be a partial albino. An leyxra pale person with pinkish eyes is a true albino. Scientists have just found out that albinos also may have special eyes that see the world as mirrored pictures,

We are told that white is not a true color, but to prove it we must know what true colors really are. The secret is light, called white light because it is an invisible bled of all the colors. When it shines on this or that, its colors are separated and only some of them bounce back for our eyes to see. For example, a red rose sends us only the red rays and keeps all the rest. A lily sends back all the colors of the rainbow and we see the colorless blend of white light.

All this magic color sifting is done by chemicals called "pigments." An albino has no surface pigments so all the colors of white light are reflected. The plant world is stuffed with chlorophyll chemicals which use light to make basic food from air and water. Chlorophylls also happen to be pigments. They color the plant world with lovely blends of greens, blues and yellows. However, varigated ivy is partly albino because those pretty white patches in its leaves have no pigments. Since plants need chlorophyll to make food, few of them are true albinos.

The animal world is stuffed with pigments called "melanins." Concentrated melanin is black. In milder doses, it adds tans and golds, browns and blacks to human hair and skin. Pigments also color furry cats, feathery birds, snakes and scaly fishes. Albinos are white because they do not have these color creating pigments. Their eyes are pink because they show the tiny blood vessels inside the eyeballs. In non albinos, these are masked by pigments of various colors.

Once in a while, an albino baby is born in the world of nature. He may be a fluffy white squirrel or a raccoon, a turtle with a white shell or a fish with white scales. Their brothers and sisters inherited the usual family color scheme. Animals and people   inherit their family features in tiny packages called genes. An albino or a partial albino inherits a special gene that forbids the cells to create any surface coloring at all. His parents and close relatives usually inherit the family colors and his albino gene comes from a forgotten ancestor.

We now learn that this same gene also makes some changes in the vision. Researchers studying certain albinos and partial albinos found that nerve fibers from the eyes cross over to opposite sides of the brain. They see the left side of the scenery where the right side should be, as in a mirror. Siamese cats are classed as partial albinos because they have this special gene. This may or may not explain why they sometimes go cross eyed when they get excited.