To synthesize the crystals, the team compressed highly ordered pyrolytic graphite to pressures as high as 20 gigapascals, ...

Diamonds are famous for their strength, but scientists have long suspected that another form of diamond might be even harder.

A Chinese research team has produced bulk hexagonal diamond, a crystal structure long theorized to be harder than ...

Molten carbon can form into either diamond or graphite. A new study shows how graphite can sometimes form even under conditions that should lead to diamond. (Getty Images) The graphite found in your ...

Atomic structure of the hexagonal diamond. Image from the study. Researchers named it lonsdaleite, after crystallographer ...

James is a published author with multiple pop-history and science books to his name. He specializes in history, space, strange science, and anything out of the ordinary.View full profile James is a ...

The diamond was around 0.04 inches in size and exhibited more sturdiness and resistance compared to typical cubic diamonds.

First identified in 1967, lonsdaleite is the hardest naturally-occuring mineral ever discovered—yes, it’s even harder than diamonds. Lonsdaleite, however, has only been found in meteorites, suggesting ...

Researchers made small, pure samples of the elusive mineral lonsdaleite – also known as hexagonal diamond — and tested its ...

Australian scientists have discovered strangely folded diamonds in rare meteorite samples. In investigating how they came to form, the team found evidence that they were forged in a cataclysm on an ...

The graphite found in your favorite pencil could have instead been the diamond your mother always wears. What made the difference? Researchers are finding out. How molten carbon crystallizes into ...

Molten carbon can crystallize into diamond or graphite, but it has been difficult to study this process. New simulations show that graphite can sometimes "hijack" the pathway that would lead to ...