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 ...

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.

Swedish physician, botanist and zoologist Carl von Linné is today famous as the father of binomial nomenclature, a system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts ...

CU Boulder philosopher and planetary scientists at Carnegie Institution for Science argue that existing system of mineral classification fails to account for ‘mineral evolution’ Maybe a diamond is ...

Water helped 80+% of mineral species to form; Biology had a direct or indirect role in ~50%; One-third formed exclusively through biological processes Pyrite (“Fool’s Gold”) formed in 21 ways -- the ...

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 ...