The world has never had a truly safe, stable, and bright red pigment. The trail may start with YlnMn, the first blue created in two centuries. By Zach Schonbrun Mas Subramanian, the biggest celebrity ...

In sites stretching from Beijing, China, to Altamira, Spain, archaeologists have turned up remains of red clay dating back to ancient times, indicating how the color’s use—and significance—has endured ...

The pieces of pigment were discovered on opposite sides of the ancient lake in North Yorkshire. One of the ancient chunks of red ochre— a type of reddish-brown clay used by prehistoric people around ...

Lightning first struck Mas Subramanian over 15 years ago. When he and his graduate student Andrew Smith put a mixture of rather mundane powders into the lab oven at Oregon State University, the pair ...