And a good STEM project — To analyze a crystallization event in a liquid, you typically have to put the crystal on (or in) something. Most of the time that isn’t a problem, but what if you were required to look at the shape of the droplet? Or a live bug that you don’t want crawling…

and what it could tell us planetary processes in our solar system When you squeeze something, it should get smaller — that’s just common sense. You squeeze a sponge to make it smaller, so that water gets pushed out. But why doesn’t the water compress along with the sponge as you squeeze it? Why doesn’t the water stay in the sponge, but…

Nearly a mile underground in the Northeast part of England, there are crystals and life, so that’s where I went. I was part of a NASA Jet Propulsion Lab team to go deep underground in search of bacteria, and if found, determine if they are alive or dead. If they…

Have you ever watched a bug or a lizard on a cold morning? They remain motionless until the sun warms them. You can pick it up, and it won’t do anything to escape. The viral videos of a Florida iguana on a winter cold-snap is a great example. …

getting comfortable with next-level access to museum minerals — A museum mineral collection is a vast repository of Earth and planetary materials. It is a resource for researchers looking to gain access to the rarest minerals and gems, and those that are looking for intricate details in species variation. Some researchers need access to common minerals, but don’t have…

Toxic and radioactive metals left over from the nuclear fuel cycle are of primary concern to the health of humans and the environment. Why? Because as the uranium from the reactor core ‘burns’, it decays to other elements, and leaving a pile of toxic material. Most of these remaining elements…

Seawater and Minerals — Climate change has many impacts on our planet. Some of the ones you might hear about in the news include sea-level rise caused by melting ice and ocean heating, increases in wildfires because of long-term droughts, changes in extreme weather events due to variations in atmospheric heating, and acidification of…

add a bit of interactive educational fun to the classroom — Crystals are fun and easy to grow, and it’s a great introduction to the sciences. Anyone can grow beautiful crystals, you just need a little bit of time and a couple of ingredients. I decided to write this post because my son’s teacher wanted to add some crystal growing experiments…

Certain crystals have tiny levers inside them that when tripped, will capture and entomb atoms. — The mineral kingdom is full of interesting and useful minerals that can mimic biological processes. Just as finding new disease cures from plants takes a lot of trial-and-error, walking down a trail and finding plants to eat, or using plants and minerals in art, minerals have amazing properties for advancing…