Music Friday: Stevie Wonder Sings About Girl With ‘Diamonds in Her Shoes’

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you awesome songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, R&B legend Stevie Wonder teams up with pop princess Ariana Grande in the high-energy, gospel-tinged showstopper, "Faith," from the soundtrack of the 2016 animated family flick, Sing. In the first line of the song, Wonder describes a young …

Super-Diamond Predicted to Be 30% Tougher Than Traditional Counterpart

Diamond is made of pure carbon and is the hardest material known to man. However, scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA, conducted millions of supercomputer simulations to predict the existence of a carbon-based "super-diamond" that is 30% tougher than its traditional counterpart. Their next challenge is figuring out how to produce the new super-diamond on Earth. …

Marriage Rates in US Return to Pre-Pandemic Levels, Reports the CDC

After enduring a COVID-related slump, marriage rates in the US are finally back to pre-pandemic levels, according to stats released by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Exactly 2.06 million couples took their vows in 2022, the first time the number has surpassed 2 million since 2019. The rate of 6.2 marriages per 1,000 population was the highest …

Suitors During 1600s Expressed Romantic Sentiments Via Silver Thimbles

Wow, how times have changed. Did you know that during the 1600s young suitors expressed their love by gifting silver thimbles engraved with courtship quotations? Curators at National Museum Cardiff in Wales believe that thimbles, worn on the finger during needlework, were considered an intimate (and therefore romantic) possession, suitable as a gift between lovers. The discussion about romantic silver …

Gold by the Numbers: These Fun Facts Will Have You Scratching Your Head

The glint of gold caught the eye of early man more than 5,000 years ago and has been coveted by ancient and modern civilizations ever since. We can all agree that gold is rare, valuable and astonishingly beautiful, but here are some little-known, fun facts about the precious metal — as provided by the World Gold Council — to share …

Music Friday: Dastardly Coconut Crab Tamatoa Is ‘Shiny’ in Disney’s ‘Moana’

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you wickedly fun songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, a giant-sized, treasure-hoarding coconut crab named Tamatoa brags about sparkling like a wealthy woman's neck in “Shiny” from Disney’s 2016 animated blockbuster, Moana. The song's official video has been viewed more than 596 million times on YouTube. …

Emily Ratajkowski’s Engagement Diamonds Now Reside in Two ‘Divorce Rings’

On Tuesday, model and author Emily Ratajkowski shared with her 30 million Instagram followers pics of her engagement diamonds reimagined into two "divorce rings." Ratajkowski told vogue.com, “The rings represent my own personal evolution. I don’t think a woman should be stripped of her diamonds just because she’s losing a man.” Back in 2018, Ratajkowski and former spouse Sebastian Bear-McClard …

Owner of Dorothy’s Ruby Slippers Finally Reunited With Stolen Hollywood Icons

Michael Shaw, the collector who lent his pair of Dorothy's Ruby Slippers to the Judy Garland Museum in August of 2005 only to be shocked by news of a brazen smash-and-grab one week later, was recently reunited with his treasured Hollywood memorabilia in a private ceremony at the scene of the crime. “It’s like welcoming back an old friend I …

Metahuman Artist MonoC Collaborates With Gemfields to Promote Rubies

Metahuman artist MonoC undergoes a “gemorphosis” after falling in love with rubies in a two-part video collaboration sponsored by Gemfields, a world-leading supplier of responsibly sourced colored gemstones. MonoC (pronounced "maa·nok") doesn't exist in real life, yet she has nearly 50,000 followers on Instagram and is sought out by top brands to endorse products. The metaverse jetsetter is able to …

Nasa: ‘Necklace Nebula’ Formed When One Aging Star Engulfed Another

Fifteen-thousand light years away in the northern constellation of Sagitta (the Arrow), a pair of aging Sun-like stars orbited each other so closely that the larger of the two eventually completely engulfed the other. Nasa scientists believe that the smaller star continued orbiting inside its dominant companion, increasing the giant’s rotation rate. The bloated companion star spun so fast that …