Creating a perfect red pigment that is vivid, durable, and nontoxic is likely impossible.

Not all colored materials can become pigments—the process of grinding materials down into smaller particles may destroy the color-producing molecules.

The majority of the 100,000 natural compounds that produce colors are pigments, which can be categorized based on their chemical structure.

Organic pigments can be made in a lab or in nature—the term indicates the presence of carbon-hydrogen bonds, not their source.

Some organisms' colors come from structural color—tiny structures that distinctly scatter different colors of light, eliminating some while reinforcing others that become visible.

Violet is the rarest color in nature because it is the most energetically demanding visible light for pigments to reflect and for nanostructures to scatter.

Inorganic pigments—those that lack carbon-hydrogen bonds—typically comprise metal oxide crystals.

By converting ultraviolet light into visible light and reflecting specific visible colors, fluorescent pigments can often provide much brighter, neon-like color than traditional pigments.

Cow urine, cuttlefish ink, and burned white lead were among the substances used as pigments throughout history.

Lead, arsenic, uranium, and other toxic elements were once used in pigments for producing vibrant colors.

Incinerated skeletons, animal blood, and fermented animal waste were among the ingredients used to make the pigments in some of art history's most famous paintings.

The color of bird feathers comes from a combination of pigments and structural color, with the latter enabling some to glow in ultraviolet light.

Starting with red, colorful objects will appear to lose their colors the deeper they are submerged because water scatters light, reducing the amount available to reflect off objects and be observed.

The world's oldest known synthetic pigment—Egyptian blue—was created about 5,000 years ago.

The same pigments that enable photosynthesis—chlorophyll a and b—are also responsible for giving most plants their green color.

Paints are primarily made of pigments from rocks, plants, insects, or synthetic sources, combined with binding agents, solvents, and other potential additives for specific purposes.

Chromium contaminants in a ruby crystal gave the world's first laser its red color

From dragon's blood to bone black, explore a timeline of pigments used throughout history, including each pigment's composition, preparation methods, and uses.

The oldest colors in the geological record are bright pink pigments from about 1.1 billion years ago, according to researchers.

Egg yolks and carrots have the same pigments that contribute to the yellow and orange colors of fall foliage.

When processing light, the brain can perceive colors with no natural wavelength

Fossilized pigment granules have enabled scientists to deduce the colors of long-extinct organisms, including dinosaurs.

Humans can distinguish an estimated 10 million colors—a number that is limited by photopigments that only activate when exposed to specific wavelengths of light.

Watch how the rich blue pigment YInMn, also known as MasBlue, is created from three silver metals: yttrium, indium, and manganese.

Studies of tattoo inks have identified over 100 pigments, which have historically included toxic metals but now include organic compounds.

Some organisms can change color by quickly revealing or hiding various pigments, as seen in octopuses, squids, and other cephalopods.

Blood can be blue, green, magenta, or transparent due to differences in the oxygen-carrying respiratory pigments they contain.

Flamingos get their pink color from pigments in their food, but they cannot be any color because their bodies cannot process every type of pigment.

The Forbes Pigment Collection contains samples of over 3,000 pigments, which are used as reference materials to distinguish original artwork from restorations and forgeries.

High-powered red light therapy—delivered directly to nerve fibers via a fiber optic needle—has been used in recent experimental research to suppress pain.

View a gallery of plants made to shine using ultraviolet-induced visible fluorescence photography, in which organisms re-emit the ultraviolet light they are exposed to in vibrant, glowing colors.

Leaves have orange and yellow pigments year-round, but they are masked until the fall, when shorter days reduce the production of chlorophyll, a green pigment.

Color originates from the brain processing light of varying wavelengths

Virtually all plants are biofluorescent because their photosynthesis is powered by chlorophyll, a pigment that glows red as a way to get rid of excess energy when exposed to ultraviolet light.

Scientists can simulate years of studio light exposure in hours using a xenon chamber, enabling them to test a pigment's resistance to fading.

View a gallery of biofluorescent animals, which contain cells that emit various colors when exposed to ultraviolet light.

The pharmaceutical industry evolved, in part, from the discovery of synthetic dyes

The chlorophyll in plants captures energy in the form of red and blue light

Blacklights can illuminate certain biological materials, including blood, teeth, and fingernails, because they contain fluorophores—molecules that visibly glow immediately after exposure to higher-energy light.

Objects can be made invisible through refraction, in which light from behind an object is bent around it, making only the background visible.

Red light therapy—a treatment harnessing a specific form of energy that penetrates the top layers of skin—is marketed for skincare and wellness, but has its roots in NASA plant growth research.

Synchrotron radiation has revealed the fur color of creatures millions of years old

Instead of consuming water and carbon dioxide to produce oxygen and sugar, anoxygenic photosynthesis involves alternative reactants and products.

Bright blue fireworks are the most difficult color to create

Tyrian purple, a dye made from the mucus of sea snails, was once worth more than three times its weight in gold.

Colored diamonds result from elemental impurities, structural deformities, and exposure to radiation.

Some octopuses change color while they sleep—a potential sign that they dream.

Scientists create contact lenses that give you infrared vision

Bruises go from blue-purple to yellow-green because of a breakdown of hemoglobin—the pigment that carries oxygen throughout the human body.

Blood moons only occur during total lunar eclipses, when the Earth blocks the sun, but its atmosphere lets redder parts of sunlight through to reflect off the lunar surface.

The RGB color system resembles how quantum chromodynamics models quarks and the strong nuclear force—both quarks and gluons carry color charge.