The ancient Egyptians lived in a world of color, and blue was the hardest color to get. Blue stones were rare and difficult to import, so they invented the world's first synthetic pigment: Egyptian blue.

It spread across empires, including Rome and Pompeii, then vanished for more than two thousand years.

Cracking the Code for Egyptian Blue follows mineralogists, conservators and materials scientists at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and Washington State University as they try to bring it back. They test furnace temperature, the source of calcium, particle size and cooling rate until the color returns.

The film closes on what the recovered recipe means today, from conservation to nuclear waste storage and security inks.

Featured experts: Dr. Monica Hanna, Dr. Ibrahim Badr, Dr. John McCloy, John Bussey, Dixon Wilkins, Dr. Travis Olds, Lisa Haney