Diamonds

We all do laundry, or are perhaps lucky enough to have someone who does laundry for us. Most of that wash is done in warm or hot water, because, regardless of the claims made for laundry detergents, most detergents don't work very well in cold water. Unfortunately, the wash water has to be heated, and given an average wash temperature of about 40°C (104°F), this uses around 5-10 kWh per load. If both the temperature of the water and the amount of water used in clothes washing could be cut in half, nearly a trillion kilowatt-hours of energy could be saved each year - 0.5% of the world's total energy use. All that is stopping us is finding better laundry detergents. That's where the diamonds come in.  Read More

German tuner Gemballa has announced an innovation that should lead to many cars that surpass the gaudiness of even its own gold-splashed Mirage GT Gold Edition. It's a car finish made from crushed diamonds.  Read More

It's been said that nothing exceeds like excess, and Hublot's unique diamond-crusted Big Bang watch certainly fits the bill. The company claims that the watch is the most "precious" timepiece it's ever created in its 32-year history (Hublot, which means porthole in French, was founded by Carlo Crocco in 1980). Indeed, if there's a more expensive watch in existence, we have yet to see it.  Read More

Carbon is the fourth-most-abundant element in the universe and comes in a wide variety of forms, called allotropes, including graphite, graphene, and the hardest natural material known to man, diamonds. Now scientists have discovered a new form of carbon that is capable of withstanding extreme pressure stresses previously only observed in diamond. Unlike crystalline forms of carbon such as diamonds, whose hardness is highly dependent upon the direction in which the crystal is formed, the new form of carbon is amorphous meaning it could be equally strong in all directions.  Read More

With sizes typically measured in micrometers, Micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) devices are already being used in applications such as super-accurate sensors, energy-harvesting devices, and electronic signal amplifiers. Given how difficult it would be to replace such systems' moving parts as they wear out, it would be ideal if those parts could be made from as hard a material as possible. Well, while most MEMS are presently made chiefly of silicon, researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) are now on their way to making them from diamonds.  Read More

Matthew Bailes is Pro-Vice Chancellor (Research) of the Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, and was one of the scientists responsible for the discovery of the diamond planet which received widespread news coverage over the last few weeks. In a well-penned article, Bailes discusses the reaction to the discovery and raises some very interesting questions about the way the scientific method is used and abused by the media.  Read More

Diamonds aren’t just a girl’s best friend - they also boast outstanding physical properties that makes them an ideal material for industrial applications such as cutting and polishing. It is extraordinarily hard, conducts heat well and is practically inert to chemical substances. Ceramics – particularly high-performance ceramics – are likewise able to demonstrate special qualities. They are robust and withstands high temperatures. Researchers have now created a diamond coated ceramics composite material that combines the best of both materials.  Read More

Current computers operate using binary coding; thousands to trillions of small electrical circuits representing a binary digit (bit) of information that represent a "1" when the circuit is switched on and a "0" when switched off by means of an electronic switch. The future of computing is to move this to a quantum scale, where the weird properties of subatomic particles can be used to create much faster computers. A new device developed by Harvard scientists which uses nanostructured diamond wire to provide a bright, stable source of single photons at room temperature represents a breakthrough in making this quantum technology a reality.  Read More

Swiss luxury watchmaker Blancpain has continued its annual tradition of celebrating the most romantic day of the year with a new design set for release on February 14th 2010. This speciality timepiece combines an sinuously-contoured silhouette created by a glittering border of over 500 precious stones. A heart is set into the dial fashioned in white and pink mother-of-pearl and echoed in pink sapphires and diamonds encircling the dial. A heart-shaped diamond appears at 12 o'clock, while the pin buckle is set with a pear-shaped pink sapphire. The straps are satin, and only 14 of these extraordinary limited edition ensembles will be created - the price is unknown, but rest assured, it will represent a whole lotta love!  Read More