We're moving beyond basic mineral identification, which you can do with a simple geology kit. Instead, we're diving into the quantitative methods we use to study minerals. This involves using specialized instruments in our lab, though there are many other tools out there. We're focusing on the instruments we're most familiar with since we have a good selection right here in the lab.
29 Dec 2024
The Mineral Detective — part 1
This podcast episode introduces the hosts, Aaron Celestian, the curator, and Kriss Leftwich, the collections manager, of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County’s mineral sciences department. They discuss their current research into unusual growths on saber-toothed cat fossils and then explore various properties of minerals, such as color, luster, hardness, and reactivity, explaining how these properties are used for identification, analysis, and applications in fields like art and archaeology. The episode also features a discussion of the unique properties of minerals and rocks and how humans take advantage of them. Finally, they preview future episodes focused on laboratory tools and a deeper exploration of mineral colors.
16 Dec 2024
What is a mineral?
Geologist Dr. John Smith explores the nuances of mineral classification, examining what constitutes a mineral and providing insightful examples to clarify the often-misunderstood concept.
16 Dec 2024
The Intro
Host Lex Fridman interviews Ensemble AI co-founders Alex Reneau & Zach Albertson about their innovative Feature Enhancement technology that empowers data scientists to achieve state-of-the-art machine learning results without complex models.
1 Jun 2024
Diamond: origin, color, history, and other stories
Most of the big diamonds form deep in the Earth, between 410km and 660km (250 to 400 miles deep), and nearly all of them are older than 1 billion years. This is one reason why they are so interesting, because the mineral inclusions stuck inside these are essentially windows into Earth's geologic past and also a glance of what the deep Earth chemistry is like. Diamonds are the only way we can get samples of these inaccessible locations, but are critical for our understanding of Earth processes. Diamond research as been use to as evidence of the onset of plate tectonics, crustal recycling, as geobarometers and geothermometers, and as a source to discover new minerals that only grow in these parts of the Earth.
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26 Apr 2024
Crystals and Radioactive Waste
What happened to all the radioactive waste from the Fukushima nuclear disaster, and why were crystals used to clean it up? All this in more in this episode Pocketful of Xtals.
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26 Mar 2024
Borghese-Windsor Cabinet
Decorated with exquisitely carved agate and other precious stones, the crystal that make up the cabinet hold the secrets to historical trade that haven’t been documented in books. Made in Rome, it belonged to Pope Paul V Borghese (ruled 1605-21), whose coat of arms (the eagle and the dragon) is featured above the central niche. Already in an English private collection by 1821 when it was offered for sale with its stand in London, the cabinet was then acquired by King George IV (ruled 1820-30). It remained in the British Royal Collection until 1959, when it was sold with the collection of Queen Mary. Such showpiece cabinets–brilliantly colored in their use of precious materials, but also intriguing with their multiple drawers–were the most prestigious display furniture in Europe from the late sixteenth to early eighteenth century. They were used to store such treasures as medals, gems, and small bronzes or ivories, as well as private documents.
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Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
1 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
5 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 20 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
27
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
32
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