While the common phrase is “You’re comparing apples and oranges!,” it turns out that apples and oranges are more similar than the rather common analogy would dictate. See below for the infrared spectra of a Granny Smith apple and a Sunkist Navel orange.

Originally published in Annals of Improbable Research by Scott A. Sandford of the NASA Research Center at Moffett Field in California. Reprinted in the Washington Post.