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The world’s rarest minerals

Nevadaite (Cu2+,Al,V3+)6[Al8(PO4)8F8](OH)2·22H2O) is a category 1 and 2 rarity–formed from the scarce elements vanadium and copper under very restricted environmental conditions. The crystals are colorful but microscopic, and only known from two localities–Eureka County, Nevada, and a copper mine in Kyrgyzstan. Credit: Robert Downs, University of Arizona. Scientists have inventoried and categorized all of Earth’s rare mineral species described to date, each sampled from five or fewer sites around the globe. Individually, several of the species have a known supply worldwide smaller than a sugar cube. These 2,550 minerals are far more rare than pricey diamonds and gems usually presented as tokens of love. But while their rarity would logically make them the most precious of minerals, many would not work in a Valentine’s Day ring setting. Several are prone to melt, evaporate or dehydrate. And a few, vampire-like, gradually decompose on exposure to sunlight. Their greatest ...

You Can't Get Entangled Without a Wormhole

You Can't Get Entangled Without a Wormhole:-Quantum entanglement is one of the more bizarre theories to come out of the study of quantum mechanics -- so strange, in fact, that Albert Einstein famously referred to it as "spooky action at a distance." Essentially, entanglement involves two particles, each occupying multiple states at once -- a condition referred to as superposition. For example, both particles may simultaneously spin clockwise and counterclockwise. But neither has a definite state until one is measured, causing the other particle to instantly assume a corresponding state. The resulting correlations between the particles are preserved, even if they reside on opposite ends of the universe. But what enables particles to communicate instantaneously -- and seemingly faster than the speed of light -- over such vast distances? Earlier this year, physicists proposed an answer in the form of "wormholes," or gravitational tunnels. The group showed th...

Scientists Are Mapping The World's Largest Volcano

New 3-D maps reveal some of the features of the Pacific's Tamu Massif, including this long cliff. Imaging courtesy of Schmidt Ocean Institute After 36 days of battling sharks that kept biting their equipment, scientists have returned from the remote Pacific Ocean with a new way of looking at the world’s largest—and possibly most mysterious—volcano, Tamu Massif. The team has begun making 3-D maps that offer the clearest look yet at the underwater mountain, which covers an area the size of New Mexico. In the coming months, the maps will be refined and the data analyzed, with the ultimate goal of figuring out how the mountain was formed. It's possible that the western edge of Tamu Massif is actually a separate mountain that formed at a different time, says William Sager, a geologist at the University of Houston who led the expedition. That would explain some differences between the western part of the mountain and the main body. The team also found that the massi...

The Stone Hunters

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