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Today’s Exhibit of the Day? The Museum’s giant amethyst geode. Standing 9 ft (2.7 m) tall and weighing around 11,000 lbs (5,000 kg), it’s one of the largest specimens in our halls. How did this dazzling geode come to be? About 135 million years ago, the continental plates carrying South America and Africa began to separate. Magma poured out from fractures in Earth’s crust and large gas bubbles escaped from within the magma—becoming trapped in the rock as it solidified, forming cavities. Groundwater flowing into these spaces brought dissolved silica, which crystallized into quartz. Over millennia, most of these quartz crystals turned into rich purple amethyst. Spot this and other amazing specimens in the Museum’s Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals!

Photo: D. Finnin/ © AMNH 

The tradition of the Christmas tree originated in eastern Europe more than 500 years ago. Today, it has become a thriving industry, employing nearly 100,000 people and generating almost $2 billion in revenue annually. Approximately 25-30 million natural Christmas trees are harvested each year, with about 30 percent coming from the Pacific Northwest. Sales of real Christmas trees have increased by nearly 20 percent since 2020, and artificial trees are also popular.

While artificial trees have faced criticism for the chemicals used in their production and their environmental impact, live trees also have their drawbacks.

via The Toxic Truth About Your Christmas Tree

Atomic Gardening refers to a mid-20th-century scientific technique that involved exposing plants to radiation in order to induce mutations and create new, potentially improved varieties. The idea behind atomic gardening was to harness the mutagenic effects of radiation, such as X-rays or gamma rays, to induce random genetic mutations in plants. Scientists believed that some of these mutations might lead to desirable traits, such as improved yield, disease resistance, or other beneficial characteristics.

This approach was explored as a method for crop improvement and was part of broader efforts to increase food production in the post-World War II era. The hope was that by exposing plants to radiation, researchers could generate genetic diversity more rapidly than traditional breeding methods, allowing for the development of new and improved crop varieties.

The term "Atomic Gardening" gained popularity in the 1950s and 1960s when various countries, including the United States, conducted experiments in which crops like wheat, rice, and barley were exposed to radiation. However, the technique eventually fell out of favor as researchers better understood the complexities of genetic mutations and the potential risks associated with ionizing radiation. Modern genetic engineering techniques have largely replaced atomic gardening in contemporary agricultural research. However, it remains popular in the Asia-Pacific region.

*Photo | Rio Star Grapefruit: https://historycollection.com/atomic-gardening

Tesla is recalling nearly all vehicles sold in US to fix an autopilot fault

Psychedelic Cryptography

California-based nonprofit group called Qualia Research Institute has awarded cash prizes to artists who made videos encoded with hidden messages that can be most easily deciphered by a person who is tripping on psychedelic substances, such as LSD, ayahuasca, or psilocybin mushrooms.