Scientists can simulate 100 years of studio light exposure in 300 hours using a xenon chamber, enabling them to test a pigment's resistance to fading.

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

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.

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

Light takes approximately eight minutes to travel from the sun's surface to Earth, but it takes thousands of years to reach the star's surface from its core—a distance more than 200 times shorter.

The finite speed of light means we can only perceive the world's past

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

Light appears to slow down as it travels through different materials

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

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

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.

Watch the motion of an individual photon using a high-speed camera

View an animation of how certain chemicals fluoresce—that is, emit visible light after having absorbed higher-energy light, such as ultraviolet radiation.

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

Scientists create movies of subatomic phenomena using X-ray free-electron lasers, in which images are produced by striking matter with high-intensity light created by accelerating electrons.

Light therapy was widely used as a medical treatment for various maladies in the late 1800s before it was replaced by antibiotics.

Light appears to slow as it travels through transparent materials due to interactions with the charged particles in the atoms of the material.

Because they move at the cosmic speed limit through space, photons—particles of light—do not 'perceive' distance or the passage of time.

Units involving light, such as light-seconds and light-years, describe the distances traveled by light across that amount of time.

Delays in the decay of unstable particles provide evidence for time dilation

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.

A 1974 Science News article proclaimed that within a decade, light therapy would be on par with traditional drugs.

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

Scientists used mass spectrometry to determine the materials in a 1690 painting

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

Explore the efficiency of photosynthesis under various conditions

As of 2025, LUX-ZEPLIN is the world's most sensitive dark matter experiment, which is designed to indirectly detect a potential candidate for the invisible form of matter.

By separating light with tools such as prisms, scientists can reveal the presence and composition of celestial matter by identifying color fingerprints unique to specific elements and molecules.

Bright light therapy involves basking in 10,000 lux of light for 30 minutes each morning

Simulate the decay of a radioactive substance to visualize its half-life

The hypothetical particle that travels faster than light

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

Solutions of bioluminescent bacteria can create FOMO-inducing living art

Watch some effects of special relativity become increasingly more apparent in 'A Slower Speed of Light,' a video game prototype from the MIT Game Lab.

Scientists can tag distinct proteins with fluorescent probes that emit different colors, allowing them to visualize multiple biochemical processes simultaneously.

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

According to the special theory of relativity, the faster objects move through space, the less they move through time, and therefore age more slowly.

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

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.

This 1440 Original video dives into what the science says about phototherapy and its various potential applications.

Bioluminescent reaction enzymes are often used in biomedical research

See photos of ultraviolet light therapy, widely administered in the early 1900s, particularly among children with skin diseases, tuberculosis, rickets, and more.

Particles produced in cosmic-ray showers that would normally decay long before reaching Earth's surface are observed by ground-based detectors, as predicted by special relativity.

Satellites can be used to measure photosynthetic activity worldwide by observing the red, biofluorescent light emitted by chlorophyll in plants.

The design of a psychiatric ward in Norway aims to integrate more circadian rhythm-friendly lights as part of its treatment protocols for conditions including psychosis, severe depression, and more.

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.

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

The Louvre in Paris has its own particle accelerator for art analysis

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.

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.

Glow sticks feed energy released in chemical reactions to fluorescent dyes