As skygazers in North America were enjoying the spectacle of a total lunar eclipse late Thursday night, a lunar lander captured the same eclipse — including a "diamond ring effect" — from a totally different point of view. And the results were spectacular. Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lunar lander, which successfully descended to the moon's surface on March 2, became …
Music Friday: Thai Star Ploychompoo Sings, ‘You’ve Got Me Cut Like a Diamond’
Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you fun songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, the Thai-German pop star known as Ploychompoo performs “Diamonds,” a 2017 tune about a boyfriend who brings out the best in her and gives her the confidence to shine like a precious stone. In the song, the multi-talented …
Lady Gaga’s Fiancé Proposed to Her With Blade of Grass AND a Huge Diamond
Lady Gaga revealed on Tuesday’s episode of the Howard Stern Show how her now-fiancé Michael Polansky proposed to her with a simple blade of grass — before augmenting the symbolic, but modest, token of his love with an oval-cut diamond ring said to be worth upwards of $2 million. “He got me two rings and one of them was the …
NYC Transit Workers Rescue Irreplaceable 18-Karat Ring From Subway Grate
New York City Transit workers recently came to the aid of a distraught woman who had accidentally dropped an irreplaceable 18-karat gold ring into a subway grate above the "6" line in East Harlem. Bronx resident Myra Lora and her boyfriend were walking along Lexington Avenue at 103rd Street when Lora went to take off a glove. As the glove …
How Decoys, Diversions Ensured Safe Passage of 3,106-Carat Cullinan Diamond
On January 26, 1905, Captain Frederick Wells was conducting a standard inspection of the Premier Mine in South Africa about 18 feet below the surface when a glint off the wall caught his eye. At first, he thought it was a shard of glass embedded by a practical joker. But, then he pulled out his pocket knife and pried the …
Archaeologists Discover 2,600-Year-Old ‘Pot of Gold’ at Karnak Temple in Egypt
A team of Egyptian and French archaeologists recently unearthed a 2,600-year-old "pot of gold" at Karnak Temple near Luxor, Egypt. The most remarkable item extracted from the broken pottery vessel was a gold statuette honoring the ancient deities Amun, Khonsu and Mut. Referred to as the Theban Triad, the three figures included Amun, the chief deity of Thebes; Mut, the …
Music Friday: Tony Bennett Eyes a Diamond Bracelet, But All He Can Give Is Love
Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you nostalgic songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today’s tune, “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love,” has its roots in New York City during the Roaring Twenties. In the song, a young suitor tells his girlfriend that he really wants to buy her a fine-quality diamond …
Scientists Identify Meteoric Composition of 2,700-Year-Old Burial Jewelry
New analysis of 26 jewelry artifacts unearthed 60 years ago at early Iron Age graveyards in Poland — and stored unceremoniously at the Częstochowa Museum — revealed that five of them were crafted from meteoric metal. Armed with cutting-edge technology, Polish and French scientists recently revisited the 2,700-year-old objects extracted from burial sites at Częstochowa-Raków and Częstochowa-Mirów, and were surprised …
Al Roker’s Daughter, Leila, Shares Pics of Her New Pear-Shaped Diamond Ring
Leila Roker, the daughter of The Today Show's affable weatherman Al Roker, is sporting a pear-shaped diamond engagement ring after accepting a romantic marriage proposal from boyfriend Sylvain Gricourt in Venice last Friday. On Sunday, the 26-year-old freelance journalist and content creator turned to Instagram to announce the big news. Roker shared a carousel of photos from the momentous event …
Prized for Millennia, Nephrite Jade Is the World’s Toughest Natural Mineral
In the world of gemstones, hard and tough are two very different things. While diamond may be the hardest material known to man, when rating a gemstone's resistance to breaking or chipping, a special variety of jade rises to the top of the "toughest minerals" list. For millennia, nephrite jade has been revered not only for its beauty, but also …