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Humans are creatures with sophisticated colour vision, so the market for pigments is big—about $30bn a year.
人類是具有復雜色彩視覺的生物，所以色素市場龐大—每年約300億美元。
In this marketplace, however, not all colours are equal.
但在色素市場，并是不所有的顏色都是平等的。
In particular, bright reds, much desired for their attention-grabbing qualities,
特別是鮮艷的紅色，因為其吸引眼球的特性而備受追捧，
are tricky to make, and each of the existing options has flaws.
它們很難制作，而且現有的每一種制作選擇都有缺陷。
The especially vivid reds made from cadmium, lead and mercury are toxic and so their use is now restricted.
由鎘、鉛和汞制成的特別鮮艷的紅色是有毒的，所以現在它們的使用受到了限制。
Cochineal, created by crushing up Dactylopius coccus, a species of scale insect, is safe to handle and consume,
胭脂蟲紅是一種通過碾碎胭脂蟲球菌—一種介殼蟲而制成的，它的處理和消費都很安全，
but its safety is trumped in the minds of some by its animal origin.
但在一些人的心目中，它的安全性被它的動物來源所超越。
A campaign by vegans in 2012, for example, forced Starbucks to remove cochineal from its Strawberry Frappuccinos.
例如，2012年嚴格的素食主義者發起的一項運動迫使星巴克將胭脂蟲紅從草莓星冰樂中移除。
Other red pigments, meanwhile, either start off dull (oxides of iron) or fade to dullness
同時，其他紅色色素要么開始變暗（鐵的氧化物），要么逐漸變暗
unless given special protection from ultraviolet light (Pigment Red 254, the source of Ferraris' characteristic scarlet livery).
除非有特殊的紫外線防護（色素紅254是法拉利特有的深紅色制服的來源）。
The hunt is therefore on for a non-toxic, non-controversial, chemically stable red.
因此人們正在尋找一種無毒、無爭議且化學性穩定的紅色。
One of those searching is Mas Subramanian, a materials scientist at Oregon State University.
俄勒岡州立大學的一名材料學科學家Mas Subramanian就是其中之一。
Dr Subramanian already has one new pigment to his name.
Subramanian博士已經有了一種屬于他的新色素。
In 2009, when trying to find a material known as a multiferroic, which has distinctive electronic and magnetic properties,
2009年，在試圖尋找一種多鐵質材料時（鐵質材料具有獨特的電子和磁特性），
one of his research students mixed oxides of yttrium, indium and manganese and heated them to 1,200°C.
他的一名研究學生將釔、銦和錳的氧化物混合，并將它們加熱到1200攝氏度。
The result was a powder as brilliant as a bluebird's wing. YInMn, as it is now known, was the first new blue discovered for two centuries.
結果得到了一種像藍知更鳥翅膀一樣閃亮的粉末?，F在這種顏色被稱為YInMn，是兩個世紀以來發現的第一種新藍色。
The perfect red has so far eluded Dr Subramanian—in part because it is hard to predict the colour of a material before you make it.
完美的紅色到目前為止還未出現在Subramanian博士的研究中—部分原因是在制作一種材料前，很難預測它的顏色。
Small alterations to a crystal's structure can dramatically alter which parts of the spectrum that crystal absorbs and which it reflects.
晶體結構的微小改變可以極大地改變晶體吸收和反射光譜的哪一部分。
The green of emeralds and the red of rubies, for instance, are both caused by chromium atoms,
比如，綠寶石的綠色和紅寶石的紅色都是由于鉻原子造成的，
but the atoms in question are bonded into their respective lattices in different ways.
但所討論的原子以不同的方式結合到各自的晶格中。
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