Sea Organisms Could be Living in your Paint

A new method of producing paint has been developed by Andrew Parker, professor of biology, and his team at Green College at Oxford University in England.

This new method uses a much greener way to create iridescent pigments. This could be used for paint, cosmetics, and even holographic plastic.

It process involves tiny sea creatures known as diatoms. Diatoms live in oceans, fresh water, and soil, and have a pearl-like shell with tiny holes in it. These holes scatter the light in such a way as to create a shiny, rainbow-like iridescent pattern. The process is a much greener way to make pigments with this effect.

“The whole industrial process has a low carbon footprint when compared to conventional [methods],” explained Andrew Parker

Could we soon all have tiny sea creatures in our holographic plastics? Well it’s still at the university research stage so it might be a while, but it sure does sound cool. Check out photos of diatoms below:

via Discovery Channel

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