No archive link, OP? No cookie for you.

https://archive.is/xcOwc

> Using DNA sequencing found in nature, scientists can copy the genetic code for the blue in a butterfly wing.

The blue morpho is actually blue from iridescence, not pigment.

Rather… muted… performance, for better or for worse:

https://www2.hm.com/en_gb/productpage.1011927001.html

> “[Synthetic dyes] provide a wide colour spectrum, which brands like, and deliver predictable results - perhaps why no viable solution has been able to compete.”

Just to indulge my inner HN ultra-pedant… if a solution is viable, doesn’t that suggest that it’s competitive?

> ” Instead of mining oil or boiling vats of chemicals, Colorifix uses engineered microorganisms, (essentially programmable microbes) to grow colours in the lab.”

What is the distinction between coercing bacteria to synthesize molecules and using chemistry to synthesize molecules (from, say, hydrocarbons)? Does the source of the dye affect the amount of water they need to fix the dye to the textiles?

If we’re still dunking textiles in vats of dye (just from living microorganisms instead of Paleolithic ones), how does that address:

> ”Textile dyeing is actually one of the most chemically intensive and polluting elements of garment production, accounting for roughly 20% of global industrial water pollution.”

> Transforming a $2 trillion-dollar supply chain does not come without its challenges. Colorifix’s technology may be simple to implement, but scaling it globally means convincing the big names this is the right idea for them, never mind navigating strict regulatory frameworks.

I wonder if the environmental costs of dyes are externalized to taxpayers and private individuals, like many other environmental costs. That reduces the incentive for the supply chain.

Imagine if the 'green' solution saved them money. Then they'd be funding R&D more avidly (some are, per the OP) and rushing to implement the cost advantage over competitors.

I've heard that a major hurdle for these "cell-factories", is moving from lab to industrial scale. Ofc initial cost of the product is typically also a lot higher, but that is the same of any product addressing externalities of existing production