Pigment

In a tiny South African cave, archaeologists have unearthed a 100,000-year-old art studio that contains tools for mixing powder from red and yellow rocks with animal fat and marrow to make vibrant paints as well as abalone shells full of dried-out red pigment, the oldest paint containers ever found. The discovery, described in Friday's edition of the journal Science, suggests that humans may have been thinking symbolically — more like modern-day humans think — much earlier than previously recognized, experts said.

UC San Diego researchers say they have found tantalizing clues to a mystery that has puzzled the art world for five centuries: the fate of a lost masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci. Samples taken from a stone wall hidden behind a fresco that adorns the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy, appear to contain a black pigment similar to the one Leonardo used on his masterpiece "Mona Lisa," the researchers announced Monday. Other samples contained a red lacquer-like substance and a beige material apparently applied with brush strokes - both consistent with the presence of a painting.

Re David Rosner and Gerald Markowitz's Jan. 18 commentary regarding Interior Secretary Gale Norton's representation of NL Industries, a company that made lead pigment decades ago: Rosner and Markowitz were hired witnesses for the plaintiffs in a lawsuit brought against NL and other former manufacturers of lead pigment by New York City. After more than a decade of legal wrangling, the city has voluntarily dismissed all its claims. Approximately 50 such suits in various jurisdictions around the country have now been concluded, and none of them have been found to be meritorious.

In a tiny South African cave, archaeologists have unearthed a 100,000-year-old art studio that contains tools for mixing powder from red and yellow rocks with animal fat and marrow to make vibrant paints as well as abalone shells full of dried-out red pigment, the oldest paint containers ever found. The discovery, described in Friday's edition of the journal Science, suggests that humans may have been thinking symbolically — more like modern-day humans think — much earlier than previously recognized, experts said.

My esteemed colleague Tami Dennis recently wrote about “pine mouth,” the bitter flavor that can linger after some people eat pine nuts. That got us to wondering…What other strange taste things happen when people eat certain foods? And why do they happen, to the extent that scientists know? Two very obvious ‘strange things” — ones that would be hard to miss — are changes in the urine when a person has eaten asparagus or red beets. A nasty odor, in the first case.

Do studies of a feather flock together? It certainly seemed that way when two reports on the coloration of early dinosaur feathers were released a week apart. Courtesy of the discoveries, creators of the next "Jurassic Park" knockoff can now render the fuzzy or feathered reptiles in vivid -- and accurate -- Technicolor. One study, published Jan. 27 in the journal Nature, revealed the presence of "ginger" coloring in ancient feathers of several bird and dinosaur fossils. Notably, the scientists from Britain, Ireland and China described the orange crest and orange-ringed tail of the tiny 125-million-year-old Sinosauropteryx , a dinosaur that had primitive, bristly plumes not unlike those of the modern-day kiwi.

Regarding Peter Rainier's review of Alexander Theroux's "The Primary Colors" (August 28): An art instructor years ago said that the reason Picasso went through his "Blue Period" was that blue was the cheapest pigment and Pablo didn't have much money at the time. So when I read the quote from Alexander Theroux's essay "Blue" saying that blue was always the most expensive pigment I had a good chortle. Also I remember spending more for vermilion than cobalt 20-30 years ago. Not since reading Rollo May say in "The Cry for Myth" that Lindbergh flew the Atlantic in a biplane have I had as good a laugh at someone trying to be serious.

Hair color glossary of terms Highlights Color is mixed with a developer (most often hydrogen peroxide) into a formula used to lighten hair in streaks. The mixture is applied to strands of dry hair that are then wrapped in foil. Alternatively, a cap with hair threaded through small holes can be used, but the uniform strips can appear unnatural. Lowlights The application technique is similar to highlights, but instead of lightening strands, a darker shade than the base color is applied to hair.

The slow brush moving horizontally its load of bright-red pigment relatively liquid so that as it proceeds the color runs producing tiny dribbles the thick and bloody line it leaves behind it extending lengthening presenting in its rigidity slight swellings, faint bulges as the hand directing the brush subject to imperceptible tremors imperceptible palpitations of the blood flowing through it and of the muscles supporting it approaches or moves away from the canvas alternately relieving the

A federal judge gave the go-ahead Tuesday for SCM Corp. to sell its chemical pigment and Durkee foods businesses, a key step in SCM's effort to avoid a hostile takeover by Hanson Trust PLC of London. U.S. District Judge Shirley Wohl Kram rejected Hanson's argument that SCM stockholders would be hurt by the proposed $430-million sale of the two units to an investor group headed by Merrill Lynch & Co. and SCM's top management.

My esteemed colleague Tami Dennis recently wrote about “pine mouth,” the bitter flavor that can linger after some people eat pine nuts. That got us to wondering…What other strange taste things happen when people eat certain foods? And why do they happen, to the extent that scientists know? Two very obvious ‘strange things” — ones that would be hard to miss — are changes in the urine when a person has eaten asparagus or red beets. A nasty odor, in the first case.

Do studies of a feather flock together? It certainly seemed that way when two reports on the coloration of early dinosaur feathers were released a week apart. Courtesy of the discoveries, creators of the next "Jurassic Park" knockoff can now render the fuzzy or feathered reptiles in vivid -- and accurate -- Technicolor. One study, published Jan. 27 in the journal Nature, revealed the presence of "ginger" coloring in ancient feathers of several bird and dinosaur fossils. Notably, the scientists from Britain, Ireland and China described the orange crest and orange-ringed tail of the tiny 125-million-year-old Sinosauropteryx , a dinosaur that had primitive, bristly plumes not unlike those of the modern-day kiwi.

Hair color glossary of terms Highlights Color is mixed with a developer (most often hydrogen peroxide) into a formula used to lighten hair in streaks. The mixture is applied to strands of dry hair that are then wrapped in foil. Alternatively, a cap with hair threaded through small holes can be used, but the uniform strips can appear unnatural. Lowlights The application technique is similar to highlights, but instead of lightening strands, a darker shade than the base color is applied to hair.

Contrary to popular belief, the sculpture of the ancient world was intensely colorful, with statues, friezes and decorative objects regularly covered in brilliant pigments intended to enhance their lifelike qualities. But as curator Roberta Panzanelli explains in the fascinating catalog for "The Color of Life: Polychromy in Sculpture From Antiquity to the Present," now at the Getty Villa, it was the Renaissance and the Neoclassical era -- the two major periods of classical revival -- that shaped our understanding of ancient sculpture, and neither was particularly disposed to color.

Philippe Pasqua is a good painter and an even better showman. Canvases in the French artist's first American show at Patrick Painter Gallery command the sort of reflexive attention evoked by spectacles: You can't help but stare. Their appeal isn't as low and lurid as a car crash (though flesh and blood factor heavily), or as thrilling as fireworks. They hover somewhere between sideshow and opera -- sensational, manipulative and briefly compelling.

Redheads sunburn easily, but that may not be the only reason they are at high risk of skin cancer. Researchers from Duke University reported this week at an American Chemical Society meeting that redheads had an unusual form of the pigment melanin that produces many more highly reactive free radicals than other melanins when exposed to ultraviolet light. The free radicals damage DNA, causing mutations that can lead to skin cancer. Blonds also have the pigment, but not as much as redheads.

The calendar says fall, but it feels like summer this week, with temperatures in the high 80's and 90's--between 10 and 20 degrees warmer than normal. But residents need only look up to see it's autumn. The leaves are just starting to turn, bringing a touch of color to such far-flung places as a tree-lined street in Santa Ana and the country's wild canyons. Orange County is no rival to New England, but the old myth that there are no seasons in Southern California isn't quite true either.

After nine operations to correct the effects of burns suffered in a fire five years ago, Dayna Clower realized that her eyes would never look normal again. Her left eye was surrounded by scars from the skin grafts, and most of the eyelashes and eyebrows did not grow back. Clower, 22, attempted to wear makeup to improve her appearance but found that cosmetics would not adhere to the scar tissue.

Roses are red, cornflowers are blue and after nearly a century of trying, scientists say they have worked out why. The same pigment, anthocyanin, colors both flowers. But researchers at Tokyo Gakugei University say they have found that the molecular structure of the pigment in cornflowers is slightly different from its structure in roses. The difference lies in the arrangement of metal ions -- atoms of iron, magnesium and calcium -- inside the molecule.

Curcumin, the yellow pigment in curry spice, can inhibit the formation of amyloid plaque in the brains of mice with Alzheimer's disease and can break up existing plaque, UCLA researchers reported in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. The researchers also found that curcumin was more effective than most of the drugs being tested for the treatment of Alzheimer's. India, where curry is a dietary staple, reportedly has one of the world's lowest rates of Alzheimer's disease.