If You Thought Diamond Was the Hardest Material Known to Man, We've Got News For You

Researchers in Moscow have developed a new method of synthesizing a material that far exceeds the hardness of a diamond. Ultrahard fullerite, which is composed of spherical molecules made of 60 carbon atoms, is so extraordinary that it has no place on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness.

For hundreds of years, diamonds have been celebrated as the hardest substance known to man. In fact, when German geologist Frederich Mohs designed his hardness scale in 1812, diamond was positioned at the top with the maximum rating of 10. It was believed that the only thing that could scratch a diamond was another diamond.

Now, 200 years later, scientific breakthroughs are changing the way we look at ultrahard materials.

When subjected to the Vickers hardness test (which basically analyzes what materials are hard enough to dent others), fullerite was able to leave an impression in the surface of a diamond. While natural diamond has a hardness value of nearly 150 GPa (gigapascals), fullerite boasts values that range from 150 to 300 GPa, according to sciencedaily.com.

So, if fullerite is now the world's hardest material, might it usurp diamond as the most coveted bridal gemstone of future generations? The short answer is “unlikely.” There is no indication that fullerite could be faceted like a diamond or that its optical properties — such as its refractive index or dispersion — would yield the brilliance of a diamond.

Researchers from the Technological Institute for Superhard and Novel Carbon Materials (TISNCM) in the town of Troitsk, Russia, see fullerite as a valuable material for industrial applications, primary in the field of metals and other materials processing.

Currently, industrial-grade diamonds can be used to polish, cut or wear away almost any material. They are vulnerable and show greater wear, however, when working on ferrous metals at high temperature because carbon is soluble in iron. Fullerite promises to be a viable alternative. Very simply stated, the harder a tool is, the longer it will work.

(Diamond indent image: Courtesy of Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology; Frederich Mohs: Wikimedia Commons; Drill bit: Wikimedia Commons; Diamond: uncredited; Molecule rendering: University of Amsterdam)

Super Real Estate Agent and Reality Star Ryan Serhant Shuts Down NYC’s Times Square for Epic Marriage Proposal

New York City’s bustling Times Square was eerily silent on Sunday morning as reality star/real estate agent Ryan Serhant got down on one knee to propose to girlfriend Emilia Bechrakis with a huge radiant-cut diamond set on a plain white-metal band.

With the help of the Mayor’s office and 50 NYPD officers, the hunky lead character of Bravo’s primetime Million Dollar Listing New York used his celebrity status to effectively shut down one of the busiest parts of the city — from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. — to make the occasion truly memorable.

"No one has ever done something like this. But I'm only going to propose once in my life, so I wanted to make sure that I did something special," Serhant told E! News.

The epic proposal will be featured in the upcoming fourth season of the popular show, which airs on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. Spoiler alert: Bechrakis said, “Yes!”

See the simple, but lovely, engagement ring at E! News… Click link

On Monday, Serhant posted a photo of the Times Square proposal to his Facebook page along with this explanation: “Yesterday morning I shut down Times Square and a little boy from Texas (me) proposed to a little girl from Greece (Emilia) in this crazy city called New York. I need to say thank you for the help of 50 NYPD officers, the Mayor's office, and the Times Square Alliance. We had the heart of this city completely to ourselves. Like I've always said... GO BIG OR GO HOME.” The post was punctuated by a diamond icon.

Serhant seemed to impressed by the power of Facebook and social media when he commented later, "Is this what going viral is? 284,000 likes? 16 million people??"

The 29-year-old Bechrakis, who is an attorney, was floored by the over-the-top proposal. She told E! News, “I was not expecting this at all. He's really outdone himself!"

The 30-year-old, 6’3” native of Houston and former soap actor has made a name for himself as one of New York City's top real estate brokers. Million Dollar Listing New York chronicles the adventures of Serhant and two other real estate agents as they strive to sell some of the priciest properties in the five boroughs.

Tail-Shaped Bone Earrings Carved by Ancient Ancestors Are the Oldest Ever Found in North America

Two matching sets of tail-shaped bone earrings carved by our ancient ancestors are the oldest examples of jewelry adornments ever found in North America, according to a team of Alaskan archaeologists.

The items, which were unearthed at the Mead site between Fairbanks and Delta Junction, AK, offer a rare glimpse at the importance of self-adornment in ancient cultures and reveal the skills and artistry employed to put them together.

The artifacts are approximately 12,000 years old, according to Barbara Crass, director of Shaw Creek Archaeological Research. “Outside of a few beads there’s nothing else that age and artistic in the New World or at least North America,” she told newsminer.com.

Each earring of the larger set measures approximately 4mm wide, while the smaller earrings are about half that size.

While the materials and designs may seem unsophisticated, Crass contends they were advanced for their time period when primitive man was first developing pottery and ground stone tools.

In a press release, Crass described the smaller of the earring sets as “elegant inverted V-shapes designed for suspension. They have tiny serrations on the interior edges of the V and delicate cross-hatching along the outer edges, possibly representing stylized bird tails.”

Working with researchers from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the Shaw Creek team has been unearthing artifacts from the Mead site since 2009. The earrings were actually found in 2013, but Crass decided to hold off on the announcement for a year in the hope of finding additional jewelry items in 2014. When they didn’t materialize, the team opted to go public with what they had, reported newsminer.com.

According to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Office of History & Archaeology, the Mead site is one of three archaeological sites in Alaska that have yielded data to show that a broad-based hunting and foraging economy was practiced in this area at the end of the last ice age.

These sites contain artifacts directly associated with extinct mammals, such as wapiti, bison and mammoth, and provide new clues about human adaptation to environmental change.

(Earrings photo: Barbara Crass, Shaw Creek Archaeological Research; Dig photo: Alaska Department of Natural Resources.)

World’s Most Expensive iPhone 6 Features 6,128 Diamonds, Including a 51.29-Carat Fancy-Cut Gem in the Shape of the Apple Logo

Hot on the heels of Apple’s introduction of the new iPhone 6, London designer Alexander Amosu has introduced an 18-karat gold version glittering with 6,127 brilliant-cut accent diamonds and punctuated by a 51.29-carat fancy-cut diamond in the shape of the iconic Apple logo. The price tag for what’s being touted as the world’s most expensive iPhone 6 is $2.76 million.

Named the “Amosu Call of Diamond iPhone 6,” the device takes more than two months to complete because every one of the VVS1-clarity diamonds is painstakingly set by hand, according to Amosu. The diamonds completely cover the phone back, as well as all four side bezels.

The 18-karat gold case weighs about 85 grams (3 ounces) and the back panel may be engraved with the name of the customer or the name of a business.

For those looking for a more modestly priced version of Amosu’s blingy iPhone 6, the designer offers a 24-karat yellow or rose gold-plated version (with no diamonds) for about $3,900.

Last Tuesday, Apple rocked the world with its introductions of the iPhone 6, Apple Watch and a new mobile payment system called Apple Pay.

Amosu is hardly a newcomer to the world of luxury tech. He previously made headlines with his diamond-encrusted iPhone 2, which was priced at $144,000, and the world’s most expensive Blackberry handset, which sold for $195,000, according to the Mirror.

Music Friday: Stevie Nicks Sings of Precious Gems, Not Premium Gin, in 2001’s ‘Bombay Sapphires’

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring your great songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the lyrics or title. In honor of September’s official birthstone, we present Stevie Nicks singing her 2001 release, “Bombay Sapphires,” an emotional ballad that shines the spotlight on precious gemstones, not the famous gin.

In this song about moving on after a turbulent relationship, Nicks sings, “It's like Bombay Sapphires / Hey, I can take you higher / Whatever you desire / I can mend your heart.”

“Bombay Sapphires” generated a bit of confusion when it was released as the 11th track on Nicks’ critically acclaimed Trouble in Shangri-La album. Was she referencing exotic blue gemstones or Bacardi’s popular premium gin?

Nicks answered the question directly in a 2001 interview with In News Weekly. “Has the liquor company called to say ‘thank you’ and did they send over some product? No they haven’t. It’s not Bombay Sapphire. It’s Bombay Sapphires,” she said.

Nicks further explained that she got the idea for the song many years prior to its release when she was chatting with friends about jewelry and gemstones, particularly rubies and Bombay sapphires.

“It’s like a like a blue-gray kind of star sapphire thing,” she said. “It's the color of the ocean, and that's what I wrote it about. And I purposely put the 'S' on it so that they wouldn't think I was writing about gin.”

According to a Stevie Nicks fan site, the artist wrote “Bombay Sapphires” in 1999 while on vacation in Hawaii. She was apparently coming off an emotional breakup with on-again, off-again love interest Lindsey Buckingham and was ready to move on with her life.

In a vh1.com interview from 2001, Nicks said Hawaii’s beautiful beaches inspired her to write the line “I can see past you to the white sand.”

“That sentence right there is the whole reason for Bombay Sapphires,” she told vh1. “It means that I'm really trying to get over something, and though I'm freaked out about it... I can see past all of these problems to the incredibly beautiful white sand and the ocean beyond it. It's really important for me to tell people that if they're in an unhappy situation they should not stay forever and be miserable.”

Nicks’ Trouble in Shangri-La album scored a Top 5 position on Billboard’s Top 200 albums chart. During her storied career as a soloist and with Fleetwood Mac, Nicks amassed more than 40 Top 50 hits and sold more than 140 million albums. She still tours regularly at the age of 66.

We invite you to check out the video of Stevie Nicks singing "Bombay Sapphires." The lyrics are below if you'd like to sing along.

(Stevie Nicks photo by Matt Becker, melodicrockconcerts@gmail.com / Wikimedia Commons. Star of Bombay photo by Chip Clark, Smithsonian Institution.)

“Bombay Sapphires”
Written and performed by Stevie Nicks.

You beloved
Were to me everything
That love stood for
To love one another
For a while, was enough
It was all that I lived for

How can I go on without you?
Can I go on without you?
Will I tell myself, this time
I'm gonna to have to move on

It's like Bombay Sapphires
Hey, I can take you higher
Whatever you desire
I can mend your heart

It is green
Ooh, it is aquamarine
It is colors I have never seen
I can see past you
To the white sand
It is blue
Ooh, it is not about you
It is all true
You know who I am

The sea never changes, not really
It is the constant in my life
I always return here
To the flash of those colors
Through every window
The wind through the night

Here I am dramatic
Here I am not waitin'
Here I am not listenin'
To the call of the world

Well it's like Bombay Sapphires
Hey, I can take you higher
Whatever you desire
I can mend your heart

And it's like purple haze
It's there every day
It's passion never fades
You know what I mean

It's like Bombay Sapphires
Hey, I can take you higher
Whatever you desire
I can mend your heart

I can mend your heart
I can mend your heart
I can mend your heart
I can mend your heart
Whatever you desire
Whatever you desire
Whatever you desire