the mineral erionite is a carcinogen, and chronic exposure to this mineral has been linked to excess mortality from mesothelioma in a number of villages in Turkey?
the mineral athabascaite was discovered in 1949 during a research study of radioactive materials collected from Lake Athabasca in Saskatchewan, Canada?
the streak of a mineral, the color of the mark it makes when rubbed on a plate, is usually a more consistent identifier than the color of the original mineral?
the only known source of the mineral Macaulayite in the world is in a quarry at the foot of Bennachie, Aberdeenshire – but it may also be present on Mars?
when yellow crystals of mosesite, a very rare mineral found in deposits of mercury, are heated to 186 °C (367 °F), they become isotropic?
the uncommon thorium nesosilicate mineral Huttonite (unit cell pictured) was first discovered in 1950 in New Zealand?
decades after its discovery in 1955 in Turkey's Bursa Province, bursaite was officially discredited as a mineral in 2006?
taranakite, a mineral formed from the reaction of clays or aluminous rocks with materials derived from bat or bird guano, was first found in New Zealand's Sugar Loaf Islands in 1865?
CRISM is a spectrometer on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and will be used to find minerals on the surface of Mars?
mineralogist George Switzer persuaded Harry Winston to donate the Hope Diamond (pictured) to the Smithsonian Institution, establishing the National Museum of Natural History's gem and mineral collection?
jerrygibbsite ((Mn,Zn)9(SiO4)4(OH)2) is a rare mineral of which there are only five known samples in the world?
rubicline was the first mineral discovered with rubidium as an essential constituent?
silicosis is a lung disease caused by inhalation of silica, the second most common mineral on earth's crust?
crystals of Paulingite, a rare zeolite mineral found in vesicles in the basaltic rocks from the Columbia River, form a perfect clear rhombic dodecahedron?