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Nanodiamonds Are Not Forever

An anonymous reader writes "Livermore Labs and the Belgian Institute of Astrophysics (Catholic University, Leuven) are reporting today that nanodiamonds trapped by U2 spyplanes are pretty common (one part per 1000 in meteors), but don't originate from violent supernovae as previously thought. Instead their absence in comets suggest they formed after our solar system (are not pre-solar) by chemical vapor deposition -- and from much less violent asteroid collisions. Their technique of spectroscopy is compared to looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack by burning down the haystack. It seems these diamond time capsules are close to perfect tracers for guessing the initial conditions when life first formed in the universe. On April 23-24, a large flux of identifiable comet dust will streak through our stratosphere from the Grigg-Skjellerup earth-crossing dust trail."

3 of 25 comments (clear)

  1. Not all articles make it to the front page by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 2, Interesting

    That's why this is the front page for people who don't want edited content.

    Work on non-default comment reason-modifiers while you're at it.

    --
    My God, it's Full of Source!
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  2. Diamonds are not worth anything. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    On a diamond-related note:

    As this article in The Atlantic ("Have you ever tried to sell a diamond?") points out - diamonds are only perceived to be worth anything because of the diamond cartel.

    In the marketing coup of the century they've managed to convince the world that diamonds are rare and precious - both of which are completely untrue. Think about that the next time you hear "diamonds are forever" - it's advertising propaganda that people have been brainwashed into believing is true.

  3. Re:"trapped"? by geoswan · · Score: 2, Interesting
    ...it uses a super-low density foam type material...

    Maybe they used aerogel?