Fluorite is well known and prized for its rich variety of colors, most commonly pale green, purple, yellow, orange, blue, pink and colorless. “We acquired this specimen because it is a very nice quality fluorite with an attractive color and it is large enough to be exhibited,” Curator Jeff Post says. [...more]
Smithsonian Institution Libraries has recently acquired a rare first edition of Darwin's Geological Observations on the Volcanic Islands, Visited During the Voyage of the H.M.S. Beagle. [...more]
The Hope Diamond’s red glow has long been considered a unique property of that stone. Most blue diamonds produce a bluish-white phosphorescence if exposed to ultraviolet light. The few other diamonds known to emit red phosphorescence were commonly assumed to have been from the even larger original stone from which the Hope was cut. [...more]
The geologic faults responsible for the rise of the eastern Andes mountains in Colombia became active 25 million years ago—18 million years before the previously accepted start date for the Andes’ rise. [...more]
Caught on camera!This short video of an ocelot was taken by Smithsonian scientists during a recent camera-trap survey of these animals in the Peruvian Amazon. [...more] |
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(Courtesy of Joseph Kolowski) |
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