The effect is similar to how players in the popular digital game Tetris rotate, align and translate pieces to form a solid plane of uniform blocks. In the game, players rotate a piece so it lines up ...

The world’s rarest mineral does not look especially imposing at first glance. It is a faceted orange gem, just 1.

Introduction -- Physical properties of minerals -- Elements of crystal chemistry -- Aspects of crystal structures -- Chemical composition of minerals -- Crystallography: external symmetry of minerals ...

The mineral pyrite was historically nicknamed fool’s gold because of its deceptive resemblance to the real precious metal — gold. The term was often used during the California gold rush in the 1840s ...

An international research team involving scientists from the University of Vienna, the Faculty of Physics of the University of Warsaw and University of Edinburgh has described the process of growing ...

The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI. Despite the evidence for a limited contribution of crystal settling to the origin of magnetitite layers, some intervals of these ...

GeoBioMed — a new transdisciplinary approach that integrates the fields of geology, biology and medicine — reveals that kidney stones composed of calcium-rich minerals precipitate from a continuum of ...

Meet kyawthuite, Earth’s rarest mineral. With only one known sample, this tiny gem reveals how much is still hidden underground.

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. David Bressan is a geologist who covers curiosities about Earth. A 15-year study led by the Carnegie Institution for Science ...

Minerals are geologic time capsules of the environments in which they form. With the right approach, their mysteries can be cracked open to reveal key features of the ancient Earth or other planets.

If every mineral tells a story, then geologists now have their equivalent of The Arabian Nights. For the first time, scientists have cataloged every different way that every known mineral can form and ...

An international research team involving scientists from the University of Vienna, the Faculty of Physics of the University of Warsaw and Univeristy of Edinburgh has described the process of growing ...