Discuss the implication of growing diamonds: In the NOVA scienceNOW video segment, Neil visits a "diamond farm"—a secret location where the diamonds are "chemically, physically, and optically ...

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 ...

Converting graphite into diamond has been a long held dream of alchemists the world over. In the modern era, materials scientists have puzzled over this process because it’s hard to work out why the ...

This illustration depicts a new technique that uses a pulsing laser to create synthetic nanodiamond films and patterns from graphite, with potential applications from biosensors to computer chips.

It is hard to imagine that graphite, the soft "lead" of pencils, can be transformed into a form that competes in strength with its molecular cousin diamond. It is hard to imagine that graphite ...

Since graphite—the dark material used in regular old pencils—and diamonds are both made from carbon, it’s technically feasible to turn the former into the latter. You just need to apply a little ...

THE prospect of making materials so hard they can dent diamond has come a step closer with insight into the structure of a new form of superhard graphite. In 2003, an experiment suggested that ...

Exposing this layered structure to an ultrafast-pulsing laser instantly converts the graphite to an ionized plasma and creates a downward pressure. Then the graphite plasma quickly solidifies into ...