2019年经济学人绯红色(1)（打印版）

Humans are creatures with sophisticated colour vision, so the market for pigments is big—about $30bn a year.

人类是具有复杂色彩视觉的生物，所以色素市场庞大—每年约300亿美元。

In this marketplace, however, not all colours are equal.

但在色素市场，并是不所有的颜色都是平等的。

In particular, bright reds, much desired for their attention-grabbing qualities,

特别是鲜艳的红色，因为其吸引眼球的特性而备受追捧，

are tricky to make, and each of the existing options has flaws.

它们很难制作，而且现有的每一种制作选择都有缺陷。

The especially vivid reds made from cadmium, lead and mercury are toxic and so their use is now restricted.

由镉、铅和汞制成的特别鲜艳的红色是有毒的，所以现在它们的使用受到了限制。

Cochineal, created by crushing up Dactylopius coccus, a species of scale insect, is safe to handle and consume,

胭脂虫红是一种通过碾碎胭脂虫球菌—一种介壳虫而制成的，它的处理和消费都很安全，

but its safety is trumped in the minds of some by its animal origin.

但在一些人的心目中，它的安全性被它的动物来源所超越。

A campaign by vegans in 2012, for example, forced Starbucks to remove cochineal from its Strawberry Frappuccinos.

例如，2012年严格的素食主义者发起的一项运动迫使星巴克将胭脂虫红从草莓星冰乐中移除。

Other red pigments, meanwhile, either start off dull (oxides of iron) or fade to dullness

同时，其他红色色素要么开始变暗（铁的氧化物），要么逐渐变暗

unless given special protection from ultraviolet light (Pigment Red 254, the source of Ferraris' characteristic scarlet livery).

除非有特殊的紫外线防护（色素红254是法拉利特有的深红色制服的来源）。

The hunt is therefore on for a non-toxic, non-controversial, chemically stable red.

因此人们正在寻找一种无毒、无争议且化学性稳定的红色。

One of those searching is Mas Subramanian, a materials scientist at Oregon State University.

俄勒冈州立大学的一名材料学科学家Mas Subramanian就是其中之一。

Dr Subramanian already has one new pigment to his name.

Subramanian博士已经有了一种属于他的新色素。

In 2009, when trying to find a material known as a multiferroic, which has distinctive electronic and magnetic properties,

2009年，在试图寻找一种多铁质材料时（铁质材料具有独特的电子和磁特性），

one of his research students mixed oxides of yttrium, indium and manganese and heated them to 1,200°C.

他的一名研究学生将钇、铟和锰的氧化物混合，并将它们加热到1200摄氏度。

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.

结果得到了一种像蓝知更鸟翅膀一样闪亮的粉末。现在这种颜色被称为YInMn，是两个世纪以来发现的第一种新蓝色。

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.

完美的红色到目前为止还未出现在Subramanian博士的研究中—部分原因是在制作一种材料前，很难预测它的颜色。

Small alterations to a crystal's structure can dramatically alter which parts of the spectrum that crystal absorbs and which it reflects.

晶体结构的微小改变可以极大地改变晶体吸收和反射光谱的哪一部分。

The green of emeralds and the red of rubies, for instance, are both caused by chromium atoms,

比如，绿宝石的绿色和红宝石的红色都是由于铬原子造成的，

but the atoms in question are bonded into their respective lattices in different ways.

但所讨论的原子以不同的方式结合到各自的晶格中。