In 1824 the Societé pour l'Encouragement d'Industrie in France offered a prize for the invention of an artificial ultramarine which could rival the natural colour made from lapis lazuli. The prize was won in 1826 by a chemist named Jean Baptiste Guimet, but he refused to reveal the formula of his colour. In 1828, another scientist, Christian Gmelin... See more

How thrilling to think that something we discovered two centuries ago, something nature created more than a billion years ago when the first green plants evolved from prokaryotes, can still shimmer with mystery — a molecular microcosm of the ultimate thrill: the knowledge that however much we might uncover, nature will never cease to be filled with... See more

In the few plants that exploit structural colouration, brilliant colours are produced by structures within cells. The most brilliant blue colouration known in any living tissue is found in the marble berries of Pollia condensata , where a spiral structure of cellulose fibrils scattering blue light. The fruit of quandong ( Santalum acuminatum ) can... See more

When the common periwinkle population exploded in Maine in the 19th century, it literally changed the color of the coastline. The stone-colored winkles ate the orange, red and green algae that once lined the bottom of the northeastern shallows. Marine biologists have studied oil paintings from the period to try and determine the degree of this... See more