Futurology

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Diamonds can now be created from scratch in the lab in just 15 minutes (www.earth.com)

submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

They do mention that. Likely have applications in industrial drilling and sandpaper

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Shoe soles.

[–] threelonmusketeers 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Really? That's pretty cool.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

No, see my comment above. It's a reference to a Paul Simon song, "Diamonds on the soles of her shoes". While they might make the shoe soles last longer, they would be abrasive to flooring materials, and so not really practical at any price.

[–] threelonmusketeers 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Ah thanks for the clarification. What was the point (ha!) of the shoes in the song? Surely it wasn't just scratching floors?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

The song is a rich girl/ poor boy love song with some significant political commentary, made more palatable by the catchy tune. The rich girl is so wealthy she could afford to have diamonds on her shoe soles. This was released on Graceland in 1986. Diamonds were/are mined in South Africa - dug from the ground by poor South Africans. The whole story about DeBoers controlling the supply and price of diamonds may not have broken at that point. And even to this day we can't synthesize large 'jewelry' grade diamonds.