Discovering the blues

Daryl Barth has a knack for science, and she has worked on the YInMn project, a blue pigment discovered by an Oregon State University professor in 2009. As a member of Dallas Makerspace, a nonprofit in Carrollton, Barth took the lead in a local version of the project and discovered how to make the color. Barth said ideas and phenomenon that interest here are symbiotic relationships, community empowerment/positive thinking, fungi, bioluminescence and other amazing acts of nature. 
YInMn blue is a blue pigment discovered by Professor Mas Subramanian of Oregon State University in 2009. His lab was looking for novel materials that could be used in electronics applications by combining different oxides. In this case, they mixed Yttrium oxide (a white powder), Indium oxide (a yellow powder), and Manganese oxide (a dark brown powder) together, popped it into a furnace, and when they pulled it out, the gray mixture had turned a brilliant blue! This is the first blue pigment discovered in the last 200 years and it has some interesting properties such as some infrared reflection which makes it potentially useful for heat shielding and it doesn't include toxic elements such as Cobalt and Cadmium which have been traditionally used in blue pigments. 
YInMn blue is a blue pigment discovered by Professor Mas Subramanian of Oregon State University in 2009. His lab was looking for novel materials that could be used in electronics applications by combining different oxides. In this case, they mixed Yttrium oxide (a white powder), Indium oxide (a yellow powder), and Manganese oxide (a dark brown powder) together, popped it into a furnace, and when they pulled it out, the gray mixture had turned a brilliant blue! This is the first blue pigment discovered in the last 200 years and it has some interesting properties such as some infrared reflection which makes it potentially useful for heat shielding and it doesn't include toxic elements such as Cobalt and Cadmium which have been traditionally used in blue pigments. One of the members of science discovered this research and wanted to experiment with the pigment and since I have a background in materials science, I was appointed as the lead. We figured out how to make the pigment from reading up on Professor Subramanian's research, ordered the oxides and then had a party with creative arts to reveal the pigment we made and discuss how we can use it to make cool art!