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sciencesoup:

Peanut Butter Diamonds
Natural diamonds are made of pure carbon, and are formed deep inside the Earth where intense heat and pressure compress the carbon into diamond over millennia. Many everyday materials have a very high carbon content, and peanuts are one of them. The Centre for Science and Extreme Conditions at Edinburgh University has demonstrated that under extreme pressure, diamonds can be made from peanut butter. Simulating the necessary conditions was no walk in the park—their technique involved heat around 1,093°C and pressures of up to 61 tonnes per square centimetre. The pressure was achieved using the “stiletto heel effect”, squeezing the peanut butter between the hardest known substance—diamonds—which allowed the peanut butter’s carbon bonds to break down and reform into artificial diamond. Though they’re pure carbon, peanut butter diamonds are quite small, and impurities create a greenish or yellowish tinge—so they can instantly be distinguished from natural diamonds. But they are proof that materials containing carbon can be turned into diamonds. Researchers at Edinburgh University are hoping to improve this technique, recreate pressures much greater than even at the centre of the Earth. This can be used to test new and existing drugs at high pressure, helping researchers understand their stability and therefore the ways in which to improve them—but the ultimate goal is to create metallic hydrogen. Large diamonds are be needed to achieve this, which would be expensive—but not if they’re made artificially from peanut butter. Creepily, the same process can also be used to turn ashes into diamonds. Some companies offer the service of creating memorial gems from your deceased loved ones, but be prepared to pay a hefty price.

Peanut Butter Diamonds

Natural diamonds are made of pure carbon, and are formed deep inside the Earth where intense heat and pressure compress the carbon into diamond over millennia. Many everyday materials have a very high carbon content, and peanuts are one of them. The Centre for Science and Extreme Conditions at Edinburgh University has demonstrated that under extreme pressure, diamonds can be made from peanut butter. Simulating the necessary conditions was no walk in the park—their technique involved heat around 1,093°C and pressures of up to 61 tonnes per square centimetre. The pressure was achieved using the “stiletto heel effect”, squeezing the peanut butter between the hardest known substance—diamonds—which allowed the peanut butter’s carbon bonds to break down and reform into artificial diamond. Though they’re pure carbon, peanut butter diamonds are quite small, and impurities create a greenish or yellowish tinge—so they can instantly be distinguished from natural diamonds. But they are proof that materials containing carbon can be turned into diamonds. Researchers at Edinburgh University are hoping to improve this technique, recreate pressures much greater than even at the centre of the Earth. This can be used to test new and existing drugs at high pressure, helping researchers understand their stability and therefore the ways in which to improve them—but the ultimate goal is to create metallic hydrogen. Large diamonds are be needed to achieve this, which would be expensive—but not if they’re made artificially from peanut butter. Creepily, the same process can also be used to turn ashes into diamonds. Some companies offer the service of creating memorial gems from your deceased loved ones, but be prepared to pay a hefty price.

Source: sciencesoup

(via whirvel)

Source: iraffiruse

sciencesoup:

A Desert Inn

Heading into the vast, barren Kalahari Desert of southern Africa soon, and need a place to crash? I’m sure the peculiar Sociable Weaver bird (Philetairus socius) will be happy to accomodate you. They live in organised colonies and are expert architects, building the largest tree nests in the world out of sticks, grass and cotton. These often honeycomb around telephone poles, for lack of suitable trees. The birds are “sociable” because they’re not in the least territorial, and kindly let other nest in their giant homes too, regardless of species. The nests are popular because the insulate from both the heat and the cold, and they accommodate up to 400 birds at any given time—the South African pygmy falcon, the pied barbet, familiar chat, red-headed finch, ashy tit, and rosy-faced lovebird all find shelter there, nesting right alongside the Sociable Weavers. Vultures, owls, and eagles also roost on the roof of the nest. It’s believes that the Weavers are so willing to share their homes because the other birds can show them new sources of food, and can help keep an eye out for danger—so, amazingly, the teeming nests are like regular inns. Over the years, they just keeping growing and growing, some reaching 6 metres wide and 3 metres tall, and they give wonderfully quirky personalities to inanimate poles.

(Image Credit: Dillon Marsh)

Source: sciencesoup