Zircons Are Not the Gem You Probably Think They Are

What’s in a name? If you could ask the humble zircon, the answer might be mistaken identity and decades of undeserved obscurity. In the Victorian era, the peak of popularity for zircons, a mined mineral, colorless ones were regularly used as diamond alternatives and blue ones were particularly popular. “Zircon can come in a wide…

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Diamonds Help to Create Million Dollar Smiles

Dr. Thomas Connelly has turned the cliché “million dollar smile” into reality. In 2021, the “Father of Diamond Dentistry” — as Rolling Stone named him — reconstructed Post Malone’s smile with 18 porcelain veneers, eight platinum crowns and two six-carat diamonds replacing the singer-songwriter’s upper canines. Just diamonds. The total cost: $1.6 million. “Posty needed…

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First Bird Flu Deaths Reported In Antarctic Penguins

Why It Matters: Penguins are already under pressure. The familiar black-and-white birds are facing numerous threats, including climate change, pollution and commercial fishing. Three Antarctic penguin species — emperor penguins, southern rockhopper penguins and macaroni penguins — are listed as vulnerable or near threatened. Before H5N1 arrived in the Antarctic region last fall, highly pathogenic…

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