I read a story on Salon recently about a new mineral that was discovered in Western Australia: putnisite. Although it will never be a gemstone that Kelly can make into jewelry (it’s beautiful – purple with a pink streak – but its Mohs hardness is only 1.5-2), putnisite is amazing because while most minerals fall into a “family” of common minerals, this is one is truly unique. In addition to calcium, sulphur, oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon, it also contains both strontium and chromium, and the chemical combination of all these in putnisite make it unlike any of the other 4,000 or so known minerals in the world. It is “completely unique and unrelated to anything.”
How cool is that?
-Geoff
The Books are Taking Over... 