Researchers are developing a handheld instrument, much like a tricorder from the "Star Trek" television show, that will allow almost instant identification of minerals. The pocket-sized instrument ...

Today's activities will focus on the physical properties of minerals and you will use physical properties to identify 11 common rock-forming and ore minerals. In class you will be using the mineral ...

Minerals are naturally occurring, non-living compounds of elements. They are the building blocks of rocks. Geologists are greatly interested in minerals because they can reveal an enormous amount ...

Scientists have discovered that the mineral jarosite breaks down organic compounds when it is flash-heated, with implications for Mars research. Jarosite is an iron sulphate and it is one of several ...

The two bills are intended to stimulate innovation in the U.S. to produce technologies for identifying, mining, processing and recycling minerals. Sens. John Hickenlooper and Thom Tillis are ...

When news broke late last month that an unidentified bright blue mineral had been found in Adventure Mining Company’s historic Upper Peninsula copper mine, many people made speculations on social ...

Researchers at CSIRO, Australia’s science agency, are investigating the properties of plumbian orthoclase, a glowing green mineral that is part of the country’s mining industry revolution. Plumbian ...

It’ll be a snap to identify gemstones once Robert Downs finishes his library of spectral fingerprints for all the Earth’s minerals. Downs is almost halfway there. So far, the associate professor of ...