Easily digestible tech news... http://www.techdirt.com/ en-us http://www.techdirt.com/images/td-88x31.gifhttp://www.techdirt.com/ Thu, 4 Oct 2012 17:00:00 PDT Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101004/02180911273/dailydirt-diamonds-diamonds-everywhere.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101004/02180911273/dailydirt-diamonds-diamonds-everywhere.shtml Aluminum used to be the most expensive metal in the world... but it's no longer as highly regarded as it once was. Here are just a few links on one of our favorite allotropes of carbon.

• Forget OxiClean. The "power of diamonds" can help clean away tough stains in every laundry load. Nanodiamond particles in laundry detergents can dislodge dirt from fabrics without using hot water -- saving energy and adding some sparkle. [url]
• There's a recently de-classified deposit of impact diamonds in Russia -- and it's so big that it's estimated that this resource could serve the world's diamond needs for 3,000 years. These impact diamonds are twice as hard as traditional gemstones because they're formed when a carbon-rich meteor collides with the earth and the resulting explosion creates this unique material. [url]
• Diamonds aren't as rare as most people think they are -- if you're willing (or able) to travel a few thousand light years, you can find a whole planet made of diamond. A carbon-rich planet that is probably crystalline (and hence diamond-like) orbits the pulsar J1719-1438, and it's the most dense planet seen so far. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post.

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]]> urls-we-dig-up http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20101004/02180911273 Thu, 3 Nov 2011 17:00:00 PDT Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111007/14242116258/dailydirt-diamonds-dont-just-look-pretty.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111007/14242116258/dailydirt-diamonds-dont-just-look-pretty.shtml

Chemical impurities locked inside diamonds could help clarify some major geological processes. We don't know much about how the carbon cycle from the ocean floor mixed with the Earth's mantle, but superdeep diamonds could give us some clues. [url]

About 4,000 contact lenses with embedded gold flakes and diamonds will be made available for sale in India. "Your optometrist must have been a thief because he stole some gold and diamonds and put them in your eyes..." [url]

De Beers is investing in artificial diamond manufacturing for the semiconductor industry. In a few years, maybe marriage proposals will include microchips that are graded on their color, cut, clarity, etc... [url]

To discover more interesting science-related stuff, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]  

By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

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