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This story appears in the December 2020 issue of
National Geographic magazine.
It was the bright, iridescent blue of the morpho butterfly that inspired Andrew Parnell and his colleagues. Impressed by the insect’s natural ability to produce vibrant hues, physicists and chemists began to study how they too could produce eye-catching colors, not with dyes, but by altering the structure of the material itself. “We could make these really beautiful reflectors, just like butterflies do, by mimicking the way nature makes them,” says Parnell, whose laboratory at the University of Sheffield in England studies colors that span the rainbow.
The kind of iridescent and rainbow effects that naturally occur in opal gemstones were created by scientists from the University of Sheffield, England, by superimposing polymers.
A pigment produces color by absorbing all light except a specific wavelength. Conversely, colors produced by altering the arrangement of molecules reflect only a specific wavelength. Parnell calls it the science of controlling light.
Blue pigments rarely occur in nature. But about 4,800 miles west of Parnell’s lab at Oregon State University, materials scientist Mas Subramanian discovered a new blue pigment by accident. In search of a magnetic material that could store electricity and be used in computers, Subramanian and his graduate students put a mixture of the metallic elements yttrium, indium and manganese in a furnace and were surprised to see that they had created a bright blue substance. He called it YInMn, from the symbols of the elements.
1. Extreme black
The super black pigment shown here, made by British artist Stuart Semple, is used in acrylic paint. Superblack coatings absorb almost all visible light, almost like a black hole. They make three-dimensional objects look flat. The famous Vantablack was used to upholster a luxury vehicle and watches, but last year MIT made a black even more black.
2. Extreme blue
Called YInMn (pronounced yin-min), it is the first new blue pigment discovered in the past 200 years. Vivid color is surprisingly effective at reflecting heat, making it useful for keeping buildings cool.
Learn more about the new blue pigment in an upcoming episode of our podcast, Heard at National Geographic.
3. Extreme pink
The fluorescent pink pigment was created by Semple, who makes art materials and sells them online.
4. Extreme orange
Manufactured by the Shepherd Color Company, this RTZ Orange is also quite green, meaning free from toxic components such as lead and chromate.
5. Extreme yellow
Like RTZ Orange, NTP Yellow is manufactured by Shepherd Color and is used to give coatings and plastics a vibrant, durable yellow color.
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