How diamonds form in the deep earth

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.

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.

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.

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.

Earth's core is leaking precious metals, including gold

Earth's core, containing 99.999% of all known gold, is leaking trace amounts of precious metals into the mantle. Advanced isotopic methods have detected this leakage at volcanoes in Hawai'i, providing new insights into the movement of material beneath Earth's surface.

Convection flows in Earth’s mantle drive the movement of tectonic plates

These processes transfer heat from Earth’s core to the surface via rising magma plumes, while cooler, denser rock falls into the mantle at rates similar to human fingernail growth. These rates are determined by combining seismic data with computer simulations to model Earth’s interior.

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.

Helium formation, from radioactive decay inside Earth to nuclear fusion within stellar cores

Over the course of billions of years, uranium and thorium undergo alpha decay, producing helium nuclei—two protons and two neutrons—which become helium atoms after gaining two electrons. This helium becomes trapped in underground reservoirs along with other gases and can be recovered during natural gas extraction.

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.

Extraterrestrial volcanoes spew material present during their formation

Unlike Earth's volcanoes that release lava, cryovolcanoes on distant moons erupt cold jets of water, ammonia, and other light gases present during the formation of their host planet. The movement of internal heat produced during formation is thought to drive icy plume movement.

Earth is the only terrestrial planet with a magnetic field

Its magnetosphere emerges from a complex interior process of electrical conduction, heat, and motion known as the geodynamo. The magnetic field shields the Earth from unsafe cosmic radiation, providing one of the many conditions required for life.

Learn about deep water corals and the coral gardens they slowly build in the dark

Found throughout the world's ocean basins at depths beyond 200 meters (660 feet), these corals do not rely on photosynthetic organisms for nutrients and instead rely on food that's fallen from the ocean surface. Beyond forming larger reefs over the course of thousands of years, smaller coral gardens are built with the aid of underwater worms.

How Oceans were formed

Nonprofit organization American Oceans briefly explains the formation of the oceans, which cover over two thirds of Earth’s surface. They were formed by centuries of rain from the condensation of Earth's original gasses.

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.

Scientists can determine Earth's past climate conditions by analyzing air trapped in microscopic bubbles within ice cores—columns of compressed snow layers that build up over hundreds of thousands of years.

How Venus formed

Sometimes called the Earth's twin, Venus certainly isn't an identical one. The second brightest object in the nighttime sky, right after the Moon, while Venus has a central iron core and a rocky mantle like Earth's, that's where the similarities end. Discover these and other facts in this video.

How do planets form? An interview with a planetary scientist

Dr Farzana Meru, assistant professor and planetary scientist, shares how planets come to be in this interview. Protoplanetary discs are swirling, dusty, and gaseous formations that form and revolve around stars. Some 4,000 extra-solar planets have already been discovered, and through these protoplanetary discs more are on the way.

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.

An overview of the metals obtainable through deep-sea mining of nodules and crusts

Polymetallic nodules are a source of manganese, cobalt, nickel, copper, molybdenum, and platinum, which are used in batteries, fuel cells, and metal alloys of electric vehicles. Seamount crusts contain rare-earth elements deemed essential to US national and economic security, including neodymium and dysprosium used to make permanent magnets.

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.

How chemical bonds between atoms form molecules and large geometric structures

In ionic bonding, one atom transfers at least one electron to another atom, forming two atoms of opposite charge. These atoms attract one another and can stack up in a 3D grid called a lattice. Covalent bonding, where electrons are instead shared, can produce enormous molecules, such as the two found in human chromosome 13, which each contain 37 billion atoms.

The surprising world of coal seam fires

Hundreds of coal seam fires are actively smoldering around the world at any given time, including some that have stayed lit for centuries. These fires have occurred naturally for millions of years, lit atop deposits of coal in the earth. Dive into...

Demystifying the claim that crude oil is inorganically created and a renewable resource

The abiogenic petroleum theory holds that fossil fuels originate in Earth's mantle and are constantly replenished, rather than formed by microorganisms over millions of years. While inorganic chemical processes can produce simple hydrocarbons, the range of complex molecules found in crude oil suggests an origin from a diverse set of organisms. Isotope analyses of these molecules also support the model that they originated from living things that preferentially take up certain isotopes over others.

Explore the animals that populate the depths of the ocean, from fish and coral in the first few hundred feet, all the way down to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

Meet the Earth's 'radiation donuts'

Radiation donuts might summon up a certain television cartoon character's favorite snack, but they're something else entirely. Also known as Van Allen belts, these zones of radiation arise from charged particles emitted from the sun and subsequently captured by the Earth's magnetic field. Understanding the underlying physics of the Van Allen belts is critical to modern-day telecommunications.

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.

The oldest DNA recovered so far is 2 million years old

The oldest DNA recovered so far is about 2 million years old and has given scientists an unadulterated peek into ancient history. This nine-minute video explores the findings and implications of the DNA, which was pulled from frozen soil in...

Watch how deep-sea mining equipment collects and processes polymetallic nodules—metal-rich, potato-shaped rocks—from the ocean floor and creates environmentally damaging plumes of sediments.

Volcanoes 'die' when their supply of magma runs out, if they are shifted away from their underlying magma reservoir, or if they get clogged by collapsing or their magma cooling back into rock.

Bone marrow (soft tissue found inside certain bones) generates roughly 500 billion new blood cells each day

Dirty lightning is a thunderstorm created from friction between rising and falling flows of ash and smoke during volcanic eruptions.

See how fireworks are made and learn how metals like magnesium and copper are responsible for different colors.

Shooting stars, or meteors, are fragments of asteroids and comets that burn up as they enter Earth's atmosphere, creating streaks in the sky called meteor showers.

All rainbows are 'raincircles' caused by water droplets separating white sunlight into a spectrum of colors, but Earth's surface blocks the bottom half of the circle from our line of sight.

According to the physics of black holes, our 4D reality may be a hologram—a projection of information coded on a 2D surface on the edge of the universe.

The boiling temperature of water decreases with increasing elevation because the molecules need less energy to overcome the lower atmospheric pressure associated with thinner air.

Corals are themselves not coral reefs—the term refers to the tiny marine invertebrates that build the rigid reef.

While atoms are normally made of protons, neutrons, and electrons, exotic ones have been built with antimatter—alternate versions of normal matter that live for fractions of a second and are about a billion times as rare.

Researchers believe the brain consolidates memories, processes emotions, and plans for the future during dream states

Memecoins are a type of cryptocurrency—a form of digital currency with a wide variety of uses—created around popular 'memes,' or viral internet jokes.

Pure water does not conduct electricity because this flow of energy requires the movement of charged particles, and water is a neutral molecule.

The original copy of the Declaration of Independence is not a pristine document, and even features a smudged anonymous handprint in the bottom left corner.

Scientists have struggled to pin down Ebola's natural reservoir species for decades, but the available evidence suggests that it's very likely fruit and insect-eating bats found in Africa.

Apollo astronauts left items in the moon's 'toss zone,' including golf balls, family photos, and bags of human waste, to make room for lunar rocks.

Massive 3D printers have been used to build homes by stacking layers of 'concrete toothpaste,' a fire-resistant material that effectively insulates against outside noise.

A researcher recently discovered an interview from 1967 between groundbreaking journalist Joan Didion and the Grateful Dead, years before the band became an institution.

To reduce wrinkles in clothing, research recommends gentle wash cycles with more water and tumble drying with smaller loads and longer times.

When a Paris department store hesitated to sell Estée Lauder's perfume, she 'accidentally' broke a bottle, causing the smell to spread throughout the store and shoppers to start asking to buy the scent.

Watch how algorithms can be designed to train themselves and self-improve without human input, to the point where the optimized code is too complex for programmers to understand.

Dozens of S&P 500 stocks, including Coca-Cola and Walmart—known as the dividend aristocrats—have increased dividends every year for 25 years