A 37.41 carat, bicolor diamond likely formed from two distinct geological processes

A diamond's color comes from impurities, defects, and unique formation processes

While most diamonds are transparent and sparkly, the presence of nitrogen and boron during formation can make them yellow, orange, or blue. Radiation can produce green diamonds, and structural deformities can introduce red hues.

Diamonds have been made from substances such as peanut butter and carbon dioxide, though they can be created from any carbon-rich material under extreme pressure and temperature.

How diamonds form in the deep earth

Deep within Earth's mantle, diamonds form from carbon-bearing fluids. The formation of these beautiful gemstones, the only direct samples we have of the mantle, helps scientists uncover how carbon functions deep inside our planet. Understanding this complex process aids in the exploration for new diamond deposits.

The new phenomenon of 15-minute lab-grown diamonds

In 2024, scientists developed a groundbreaking method to create diamonds at normal room temperature and pressure. This efficient and simple process contrasts with the traditional high-pressure, high-temperature method. While limitations still exist, such as minuscule sizes, this discovery moves us toward an exciting new era in diamond synthesis. Check out the article for further information about how diamonds are made.

Some synthetic diamonds are purposely made with defects for new technologies

Grown in plasma-filled chambers or reactors where pressures reach 800,000 pounds per square inch, diamonds can develop properties like electrical conductivity and magnetic field sensitivity through exposure to elemental impurities or removal of some of their carbon atoms.

As of 2026, the rarest mineral on Earth may be kyawthuite, an orange gemstone whose only known specimen was found in Myanmar in 2010.

Geode formation begins with trapped gas bubbles in igneous or sedimentary rock

Over thousands or millions of years, water seeps into the cavity created by the bubble and deposits minerals, which slowly build and crystallize into quartz, agate, amethyst or other crystals.

Rocks, crystals, and gemstones are all made of minerals—solids that form from natural processes, such as evaporated water leaving salt behind or lava rapidly cooling into a solid.

A startup is trying to create the diamond equivalent of the gold standard

It's called the Diamond Standard Co, and it uses an algorithm to assign standard values to a variety off small diamonds, grouping them together into individual coins. Historically, diamonds haven't been able to be classified as commodities or standardized like gold because they aren't uniform—factors such as clarity, cut, color, and carat size significantly influence the value of a diamond.

As crystals form, their properties and the shapes they take on, including cubic, tetragonal, and hexagonal patterns, reflect the arrangement of their constituent atoms.

Diamond rain is thought to form within Uranus and Neptune, whose interiors can compress carbon atoms from methane into these falling crystals.

Several birthstones play key roles across modern technologies

Diamonds are used in drills and quantum computing, while peridot and zircon help in steelmaking and carbon capture. Rubies, sapphires, and alexandrite enable several varieties of lasers found in medicine and advanced optics. Garnets are found in water filtration systems and radiation detectors. Sapphires are used as substrates in semiconductors.

Synthetic diamonds may be used to cool microchips

The strong carbon bonds in diamonds efficiently carry vibrations, allowing them to conduct heat several times faster than copper, a metal commonly used in heat sinks. AI and high-performance computing have pushed researchers to investigate alternative materials for cooling solutions.

Diamond engagement rings were popularized via an ad campaign

In 1947, an ad agency copywriter wrote the De Beers diamond company's slogan, "a diamond is forever"—and diamond engagement rings became basically required for brides-to-be. This video tells the story of exactly how the ad campaign happened, and why it was so impactful.

Chromium contaminants in a ruby crystal gave the world's first laser its red color

The red light originates from a long-lasting excited electron state in the element's atomic structure. The brittle gray metal has historically been used in pigment production, the manufacturing of rust-resistant stainless steel, and the creation of durable coatings with long-lasting shine for metals, wood, and leather.

Wedding rings can be traced back to ancient Egypt, where the ring symbolized eternity

The tradition later spread through Greece and Rome, evolving with precious gems during the medieval period. Diamonds became central after De Beers' 1947 "a diamond is forever" campaign, boosting sales by 50% in three years.

What is the rarest color in nature?

Plants, animals, or minerals found in nature bear almost every color imaginable. There are two factors that influence what hues you see in the wild: physics and evolution. So, which colors are you least likely to see in the natural world? Victoria Hwang explores one of nature's rarest spectacles.

The medieval meaning of your birthstone

Medieval people viewed birthstones very differently from modern jewelry marketing. Rather than simply being decorative, gems were believed to possess extraordinary magical, medical, and mystical powers. This article breaks down some fascinating insights into medieval gemstone beliefs, including that diamonds could fend off insanity and nightmares.

Layers of minerals revealed by erosion give Vinicunca its distinct colorations

Located in Peru's Andean mountains, Rainbow Mountain is known for its vibrant colors, which result from layers of minerals such as clay, sandstone, argillite, and limonite exposed over millions of years by rain, snowfall, and strong winds.

Despite the misconception that it comes from dinosaurs, crude oil forms when microorganisms, such as algae and plankton, are subjected to high pressure and high temperature while buried under layers of sediment.

Diamond engagement rings didn’t become popular until the 1900s

However, the history of engagement rings stretches all the way back to the year 850, when the pope said that a ring symbolized a man’s intent to marry. At the time, gold was the most popular choice for engagement rings. See a full timeline of the engagement ring’s history.

As of 2024, about 77% of the world's gold reserves have been mined

About 216 million metric tons—about 0.4% of the Great Pyramid of Giza's volume—have been extracted and used primarily for jewelry. The remaining reserves are estimated based on chemical analysis of rock samples extrapolated to the entire mass of Earth's crust.

Where does your glass come from?

Glass is created from silica sand, soda ash, and limestone. The more transparent you want your glass to be, the higher the purity you need from your silica—a rarity. Colorless, low-iron glass featured in skyscraper windows and Apple's cube-shaped showrooms has increased demand for such pure silica.

Cerulean eruptions result from sulfur being heated by molten rock

During eruptions, warm-colored lava at temperatures between 700 and 1,200 degrees Celsius (1,300 and 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit) burns minerals as they escape from underground reservoirs. In some volcanoes, such as Indonesia's Kawah Ijen and Ethiopia's Danakil Depression, abundant sulfur compounds that burn with blue flames appear to change the color of the melted rock.

Silicon must be 99.9999999% pure to be used in creating microchips

After the mined quartz is processed in an electric-arc furnace to remove oxygen from the silica, it undergoes the Siemens process, where it is bathed in hydrochloric acid. The liquid produced in the reaction undergoes multiple distillations to produce ultra-pure silicon in the end.

Cooling lava naturally creates hexagonal cracks to evenly relieve stress

When lava cools and turns into rock, it contracts and builds up tension, particularly when held in place by the surrounding landscape. Just as drying mud cracks, initial cracks in the rock are random, but quickly organize into a hexagonal pattern, which scientists consider the most space-efficient shape.

Distinguishing the three types of mineral deposits collected via deep-sea mining

The greatest interest is in polymetallic nodules—structures formed from metals in seawater collecting around a core of shell, bone, or rock. Cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts cover underwater mountain ranges and form over millions of years of metal deposition. Polymetallic sulfide deposits accumulate when seawater seeps into volcanic rocks.

A four-billion-year-old meteorite reignited the debate about life on Mars

Recovered from Antarctica in 1984, ALH84001 contained organic compounds, magnetite and iron sulfide grains of potential biological origin, and features that resembled fossilized bacteria. With technological advancements, scientists found abiotic origins for these features in the following decades.

Weird ways critical minerals are being mined

Critical minerals like lithium, cobalt, and graphite are economically crucial non-fuel resources subject to supply chain risks. To diversify production, scientists developed odd ways to harvest them. This article breaks down the weirdest approaches, including extracting minerals from seawater using algae, phytomining plants, and asteroids.

There may be 74,963 kinds of ice, resulting from water molecules rearranging themselves

The theoretical limit greatly expands the known types of ice, with type Iₕ being the most common on Earth and forming hexagonal crystals. The extreme environments of planets like Uranus and Neptune can create a variety of ice with unique structures and properties, as these conditions can reshape these crystals into new geometries.

Learn about endoliths, the polyextremophiles that thrive inside rocks

These organisms include species that live in Antarctica, where they perform photosynthesis using light and water that makes it through pores in sandstone. Others residing in Earth's crust can survive temperatures reaching 60 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Fahrenheit) while generating energy through chemical reactions involving nutrients and gases trapped in rocks.

Watch a crystal undergo X-ray diffraction to determine its internal geometry

In the early days of X-ray crystallography, getting photos of a single sample could take dozens of hours, followed by months of mathematical analysis. Today, automation and computer software can complete such tasks in a few hours.

Remnants of another planet that helped form the moon may be beneath Earth's surface

Large mantle structures beneath Africa and the Pacific Ocean may be the buried remains of Thea, a large Mars-sized planet that collided with Earth. The theory is supported by isotopic evidence from volcanic and lunar rocks.

In 2009, accidentally drilling into magma provided time capsules of volcanic glass

While drilling for geothermal energy in Iceland's Krafla Geothermal Field, magma encountered at a depth of 2,100 meters quickly formed glass upon making contact with drilling fluid. By trapping dissolved gases, volatile chemicals, and the physical characteristics of magma before cooling, the glass acts as a time capsule of ancient volcanic activity and magmatic conditions.

Speleothems are diverse mineral formations that form in air-filled caves

Speleothems like stalactites and stalagmites form when water deposits minerals after a cave rises above the water table and fills with air. These formations preserve the mineral deposits, which may serve as climate proxies, for as long as a million years.

Water is naturally tinted with a slight blue, but sediments and organics can alter its color

The innate coloration comes from water absorbing red light in the visible spectrum more than green or blue, giving shallow waters in some parts of the Caribbean their turquoise hue. If sand is light, it can be churned up by turbulent water, clouding its appearance. Plankton and other organisms can color water by affecting how the rest of the spectrum is absorbed or reflected.

All of the world's gold, visualized

Out of the total above-ground stock of gold (weighing roughly 216,265 metric tons), the largest share is found in jewelry (97,149 metric tons).

Bright blue fireworks are the most difficult color to create

Copper chloride emits blue light when heated, but breaks down at the temperatures created when fireworks explode. Pyrotechnicians continue to search for an ideal mixture that provides a temperature high enough for copper chloride to shine brightly without being destroyed.

The iconic Aztec 'crystal skulls' were 19th-century fakes

The crystal skulls long displayed as Aztec artifacts were actually fabricated in the late 1800s, all linked to French antiquities dealer Eugène Boban. Anthropologist Jane Walsh's investigation exposed their modern origins, overturning a century of mistaken museum lore.

Synchrotron radiation has revealed the fur color of creatures millions of years old

When electrons are accelerated in the loop, they produce intense X-rays that can reveal properties of a sample struck by them, just as X-rays can be used to show bone structure in humans. Studying the reflected light from fossils can uncover the presence of known pigmentation compounds.

The surprising science behind Pop Rocks

Have you ever wondered why Pop Rocks makes tiny explosions in your mouth? Well, there's actually pressurized carbon dioxide bubbles trapped within the sugary candy. This 19-second video shows you what Pop Rocks look like under a microscope.

Watch Paul Simon perform 'Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes' in 1987 alongside South African musicians.

Fulgurites are glass sculptures made by lightning vaporizing sand

Sometimes referred to as fossilized lightning, these tube-like structures are formed when high-temperature electrical currents fuse mineral grains into crystals, which can feature branching patterns resembling filaments of current. Their name derives from "fulgur," the Latin word for lightning.

Different types of ice link water molecules together in unique shapes

The ice used to cool drinks—Iₕ—is composed of H₂O molecules arranged in hexagonal structures. This structure forms as ice expands during freezing, providing additional space between molecules, lowering the overall density, and allowing it to float in water. Under sufficient pressure, this spacing can collapse in many ways, creating new forms of ice.

The CCZ is believed to harbor trillions of dollars of valuable minerals and thousands of undiscovered species

Located between Hawaii and Mexico and spanning an area larger than the European Union, the Clarion-Clipperton Zone is the world's region with the most contracts awarded to groups seeking to extract valuable metals by collecting polymetallic nodules. Conservative estimates suggest that 21.1 billion tons of polymetallic nodules exist in this abyssal plain, but about 90% of the species in the area are unknown to scientists.

Critical mineral production may lift impoverished regions out of poverty

Mineral wealth can provide public revenue and economic livelihoods to those in mining regions. However, poor management and lack of oversight can cause human rights abuses, environmental degradation, and significant greenhouse gas emissions.

The largest jewelry heist in US history resulted in $100M of jewelry stolen

Robbers stole the gems from a Brinks truck in Lebec, California, in July 2022. The truck was transporting the jewels to different jewelry shows in the state, and thieves stole diamonds, emeralds, gold, rubies, and designer watches while one driver was asleep and the other was getting food. Some of the stolen jewelry has been recovered.

The mysterious qualities of obsidian and magnetite

Obsidian is a dark volcanic glass created when lava cools quickly and frequently contains magnetite, a key early mineral used in compasses. Large deposits were discovered and used in central Mexico by the Toltecs roughly 1,000 years ago at the ancient site of Teotihuacan. This essay explores obsidian's cultural impact and the mysterious presence of magnetite in migratory birds.

Photo 51's distinct 'X' pattern and spacing provided data to validate DNA's model

Rosalind Franklin and Raymond Gosling captured the photo after bombarding DNA fibers with X-rays and observing how the beams were deflected. The photo had a 62-hour exposure time and indicated a helical structure for DNA.

As of 2025, humans have only dug 0.2% the way to Earth's center

The Kola Superdeep Borehole revealed two billion-year-old fossils and underground water, but the immense temperature and pressure prevented further tunneling. Beyond those depths, scientists know of Earth's interior by analyzing how seismic waves move.