Thanks to the many holidays that take place during December, the month is almost synonymous with gift-giving. For some, receiving presents can occur beyond these seasonal holidays, especially if your ...

There is a lot of confusion between zircons, a mined mineral, and cubic zirconia, an inexpensive synthetic crystal. But jewelry designers know the difference. The ranks of independent designers who ...

To put it mildly, this is one gem of a gem. Scientists using two different age-determining techniques have shown that a tiny zircon crystal found on a sheep ranch in western Australia dates back to ...

Listen to Short Wave on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts. The mineral zircon is the oldest known piece of Earth existing on the surface today. The oldest bits date back as far as 4.37 ...

The oldest known Earth stuff that remains on the surface of our planet is a mineral that's been called the "Time Lord" because it's so incredibly good at keeping geologic time. The mineral is zircon, ...

Zirconium, the metal extracted from the mineral, zircon, may not be well-known, but its remarkable properties make it indispensable in nuclear power, the chemical industry, medicine and more. Since ...