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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Was the stone that sealed Jesus's tomb round or square?

Archaeologist Amos Kloner's survey of more than 900 Second Temple-era burial caves found only four with round, disk-shaped stones—all belonging to the very wealthy. The other 98-plus percent used square, cork-shaped stones, suggesting the popular image of a wheel rolled away from Jesus's tomb is probably a later artistic invention. The Greek verb translated as "rolled" can also mean "moved."

The first appearance of bioluminescence was at least 540 million years ago

After analyzing fossils, genetic data, and statistical methods, scientists believe octocorals were the first organisms to evolve light-producing abilities. As a result of independent evolution across at least 94 species, this phenomenon is connected to a diverse range of behaviors.

The pharmaceutical industry evolved, in part, from the discovery of synthetic dyes

In 1856, a chemist accidentally discovered mauveine, the world’s first synthetic dye, while trying to make quinine to treat malaria. The synthetic dyes that followed helped reveal germs under microscopes, paving the way for modern imaging techniques and breakthrough treatments, such as antibiotics.

Explore a 3D model of the experimental setup Rosalind Franklin used to take Photo 51

To capture the X-ray diffraction image of DNA from the thymus of a calf, Franklin built a humidity-controlling camera to isolate the B form of DNA. The exposure lasted 60 hours and produced a cross pattern, indicating a helical structure.

See photos of rare spotless giraffe born at zoo

A spotless giraffe was born at a zoo in Tennessee in the summer of 2023, with experts claiming the specimen is the only solid-colored animal of the species with genes for "reticulation," or the normal patchwork look. The phenomenon is so rare many...

The most advanced 'bunker-buster' bomb can penetrate 200 feet below soil or concrete

The GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator is delivered exclusively by the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, which carries only two at a time. Using GPS-guided fins and a steel alloy casing, it burrows 200 feet underground before detonating.

The archaeological discovery that shifted scientists' understanding of human evolution

In 2003, archaeologists in Indonesia uncovered the remains of a 3-foot-tall skeleton that appeared to belong to a new type of human. Read this article to learn how the discovery of this 50,000-year-old skeleton upended the idea that human evolution...

One study suggests that dark matter may have originated from a dark Big Bang

A student-faculty team at Colgate University modeled the event as occurring months after the conventional Big Bang and determined the potential gravitational wave signal that would have been left behind. Future gravitational wave detectors are expected to be sensitive enough to observe this signal, if it exists.

Watermelons were once neither red nor sweet

The gargantuan summer picnic staple has a fascinating story: 100 million tons are produced worldwide and they take up the most space of any vegetable crop in the world. But not long ago, the flesh of the melon was white and it had a bitter taste.

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.

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

Larger animals like giraffes, elephants, and blue whales have developed a unique defense against cancer, a phenomenon known as Peto's Paradox

The Great Salt Lake's distinct dual coloration results from high-salinity organisms that only live in the northern portion and produce a purple protein.

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.

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.

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

Some coin denominations have ridges etched on their sides, partly to prevent counterfeiting, in a practice called 'reeding.'

Fear or disgust related to clusters of holes and cracks, called trypophobia, may stem from evolutionary processes to help us avoid pathogens.

Objects can be 3D printed with light by projecting 2D computerized tomography (CT) scans onto rotating cylinders of resin, which solidify upon exposure.

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.

The first image of a black hole was captured by creating an Earth-sized virtual observatory from a network of eight radio telescopes.

Visualize how CRISPR-Cas9—a type of immune system used by single-celled organisms to attack invasive viruses—targets and makes precise changes to a gene's DNA.

An initial public offering or 'IPO' is the process of a private company becoming public by putting shares of the company on the stock market for purchase.

Ebola species have historically been named after where they were discovered, stigmatizing residents who live there, including Bundibugyo, in Uganda.

In 1984, Operation Smash Hit intentionally crashed a 239-ton train into a nuclear waste canister at 100 miles per hour to prove the canister's safety, which remained completely intact and lost just 0.29 of its 100 pounds of pressure.

Budweiser stores yeast derived from the original 1800s strain in a secret bunker, which only the Head of Yeast Management can access—not even the CEO

The animatronic shark from Steven Spielberg's 'Jaws,' the first modern blockbuster, was a complex underwater apparatus called 'Bruce.'

NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama spent the 2025 summer training with monks in central China to enhance his body and mind.

Explore chaos in this simulation of two double pendulums, where small differences in the release angles produce wildly different outcomes.

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.

The most expensive ad of all time was for Chanel No. 5 perfume and cost roughly $33M to produce in 2004—about $57M in today's dollars.

Hear 50 years of iconic hip-hop samples, the genre's foundational looped tracks

Explore an interactive map built from more than 100,000 survey responses on where people find joy in their lives

Georgia O'Keeffe's flower paintings are often assumed to be sexual, though the artist claimed she was simply interested in highlighting the beauty of flowers that most people neglect