Epic Quest Bio The case files
Case No. 30 · have you seen this molecule?

Bixin

the orange in annatto seeds

File sealed

The detectives are still writing this one up. The poster and the facts are below; the film and the interrogation room open soon.

Booking photographs

Bixin, front view, against a height chart in nanometers
FRONT
Bixin, side view
SIDE · CID 5281226

The suspect, from its real atomic coordinates. Drag to turn it. Height chart in nanometers, ruled every 0.1 nm. An annatto seed is about two million times longer.

Rap sheet

Answers to
Annatto. Also achiote, urucu, roucou.
Height
2.3 nm, standing up straight, one knee bent.
Weight
0.66 zeptograms
Build
Long and skinny: nine double bonds in a row, one kink.
Origins
Made by trimming a lycopene, the red in tomatoes.
Hideout
The coat of achiote seeds. The tree goes by “lipstick tree.”
Known for
Face and body paint in the Americas since before Columbus.
Alibi
Not the orange in cheddar. That’s its cousin norbixin.
Last seen
A 5 mL tube marked ANNATTO in the fridge at HQ.
96,000,000,000,000,000,000

of them in a teaspoon of annatto seeds, give or take.
Seeds vary. You’ve never seen one.

The poster on the street

The wanted poster for Bixin

This is the photocopied wanted poster for Bixin, No. 30. They were made for noticeboards around Boston, Cambridge and the rest of the east coast.

Found one? Scan its QR code with your phone. If you're a signed-in player, the sighting goes on your record with +1 XP.

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