The world’s oldest synthetic pigment, Egyptian blue, has been recreated by a team of researchers from Washington State University. This breakthrough, published in the journal NPJ Heritage Science, provides valuable insights for archaeologists and conservation scientists studying ancient Egyptian materials.

Led by John McCloy, director of WSU’s School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, the research team collaborated with the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute to develop 12 recipes for the pigment. These recipes utilized a variety of raw materials and heating times, replicating temperatures available to ancient artists.

Egyptian blue was highly valued in ancient times due to its unique properties and versatility. It was used as a substitute for expensive minerals like turquoise or lapis lazuli and applied to wood, stone, and cartonnage – a papier-mâché-type material. Depending on its ingredients and processing time, the pigment’s color ranged from deep blue to dull gray or green.

The researchers’ work aimed to highlight how modern science can reveal hidden stories in ancient Egyptian objects. After the Egyptians, the pigment was used by Romans, but by the Renaissance period, the knowledge of how it was made had largely been forgotten.

In recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in Egyptian blue due to its intriguing properties and potential new technological applications. The pigment emits light in the near-infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum, which people can’t see, making it suitable for fingerprinting and counterfeit-proof inks. It also shares similar chemistry with high-temperature superconductors.

To understand the makeup of Egyptian blue, the researchers created 12 different recipes using mixtures of silicon dioxide, copper, calcium, and sodium carbonate. They heated the material at around 1000 degrees Celsius for between one and 11 hours to replicate temperatures available to ancient artists. After cooling the samples at various rates, they studied the pigments using modern microscopy and analysis techniques that had never been used for this type of research.

The researchers found that Egyptian blue is highly heterogeneous, with different people making the pigment and transporting it to final uses elsewhere. Small differences in the process resulted in very different outcomes. In fact, to get the bluest color required only about 50% of the blue-colored components, regardless of the rest of the mixture’s composition.

The samples created are currently on display at Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and will become part of the museum’s new long-term gallery focused on ancient Egypt. This research serves as a prime example of how science can shed light on our human past, revealing hidden stories in ancient objects and materials.

With the world’s population growing at an unprecedented rate, urban expansion has reached new heights, putting immense pressure on natural resources and the environment. The construction industry, in particular, is facing significant challenges in reducing its carbon footprint while meeting the demand for infrastructure development.

Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) remains a cornerstone of modern-day infrastructure, despite being a major contributor to global carbon emissions. To address this issue, scientists from Japan have developed a game-changing solution: a high-performance geopolymer-based soil solidifier made from Siding Cut Powder (SCP), a construction waste byproduct, and Earth Silica (ES), sourced from recycled glass.

This breakthrough innovation offers an alternative to reducing cement dependence while transforming construction waste into valuable construction resources. The combination of SCP and ES forms a geopolymer-based solidifier capable of enhancing soil-compressive strength beyond construction-grade thresholds of 160 kN/m2.

The thermal treatment process, which involves heating SCP at 110 °C and 200 °C, significantly improves its reactivity and reduces material use without sacrificing performance. This solution not only meets industry standards but also helps address the dual challenges of construction waste and carbon emissions.

A noteworthy aspect of this research is the approach to environmental safety. Initially, concerns were raised regarding arsenic leaching from recycled glass content in ES. However, scientists demonstrated that incorporating calcium hydroxide effectively mitigated this issue through the formation of stable calcium arsenate compounds, ensuring full environmental compliance.

The implications of this solution are vast and far-reaching. In urban infrastructure development, it can stabilize weak soils beneath roads, buildings, and bridges without relying on carbon-intensive Portland cement. This is particularly valuable in areas with problematic clay soils where conventional stabilization methods are costly and environmentally burdensome.

Disaster-prone regions could benefit from rapid soil stabilization using these materials, which have demonstrated good workability and setting times compatible with emergency response needs. Additionally, rural infrastructure projects in developing regions could utilize these materials to create stabilized soil blocks for construction, providing a low-carbon alternative to fired bricks or concrete.

The geopolymer solidifier offers numerous practical applications across industries. For the construction sector, which faces increasing pressure to decarbonize, this solution provides an alternative that exceeds traditional methods without heavy carbon footprints. For geotechnical engineering firms, its proven durability under sulfate attack, chloride ingress, and freeze-thaw cycles allow its use in demanding and aggressive environments.

By lowering Portland cement usage, this technology supports construction projects aiming to meet green building certifications and carbon reduction targets. It may also allow developers to qualify for environmental incentives in countries where carbon pricing mechanisms are in place, further enhancing its economic viability.

The vision behind this work is broader than just developing a sustainable engineering solution – it’s redefining how we value industrial byproducts in a resource-constrained world. These findings point to a transformative shift in sustainable construction practices, potentially transforming millions of tons of construction waste into valuable resources while reducing the carbon footprint associated with cement production.

The article you provided highlights an essential aspect of offshore energy production and infrastructure development. Texas A&M researchers have made significant progress in predicting underwater landslides using site characterization data. This breakthrough has far-reaching implications for ensuring the safety and productivity of offshore installations.

To achieve this, a team of experts gathers information about the seabed, sub-seabed, and environmental conditions before any offshore project begins. This process involves collaborative efforts from geophysicists, geomatic technologists, geotechnical engineers, and geologists. The order in which they perform their tasks is crucial, as it affects the accuracy of landslide predictions.

Associate Professor Zenon Medina-Cetina emphasizes the importance of starting with geophysical data, followed by geological information, and then integrating this with geomatics and geotechnical engineering data. This systematic sequence ensures that landslide models are better calibrated, reducing uncertainty in predictions.

The researchers employed Bayesian statistics to maximize the information produced in site investigation data, increasing the accuracy and confidence of the landslide model. This approach has significant financial implications for companies funding offshore projects, as it can help prevent losses due to uncertain designs that may not withstand geohazards.

Medina-Cetina’s goal is to ensure that offshore structures remain safe and in place under any geo-hazardous conditions. His team’s research demonstrates the value of accurate site characterization data in predicting underwater landslides, making this a crucial step forward for offshore energy production and infrastructure development.