Month: September 2016

There are roughly 200 varieties of natural gemstone known in the world today. Alongside the world’s precious gems (diamond, ruby, sapphire, and emerald) are numerous semi-precious stones, some of which are so incredibly rare that their value outstrips many of the world’s most valuable precious gems. Here are a few of the rarest from around the world.

1. TANZANITE // FOUND ONLY IN TANZANIA

 
Tanzanite is a beautiful blue variety of the mineral zoisite, and is so named because it is only found in a small area near the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. The stone was not discovered in commercial quantities until the 1960s and since then its popularity has grown tremendously, thanks largely to the efforts of Tiffany & Co. Heat-treating tanzanite at very high temperatures can improve the blue coloration, so most gems on the market have been treated in this way, but any tanzanite that has not been heat-treated and has a strong blue color naturally will be of a much higher value. Because it is only found in one small location, the value of tanzanite looks likely to soar over time; once those mines have been emptied there will be no new stones coming onto the market—unless a new source is found.

2. BLACK OPAL // THE DARKER THE BETTER

 
Opals are usually a creamy-white color and are made special by the rainbow-colored inclusions that reflect the light as the stone is moved. Black opals are much rarer, because almost all of them are found in mines in the Lightning Ridge area of New South Wales in Australia. The darker their background color and brighter the inclusions, the more valuable the stone. One of the most valuable black opals of all time is the “Aurora Australis,” which was uncovered in Lightning Ridge in 1938. The 180-carat opal is especially admired due to its large size and intense harlequin coloration; in 2005 it was valued at AUS $1,000,000, or about $763,000 U.S.

3. LARIMAR // ONLY FOUND IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

 
Larimar is a very rare blue variety of the mineral pectolite and is found in only one small area of the Dominican Republic. This turquoise stone’s name was created by the man who brought the stone to prominence in 1974, Miguel Méndez—he took the first part of his daughter’s name, Larissa, and combined it with the Spanish word for sea, mar, to create the portmanteau larimar. Locals had known of the existence of the stone for generations, because small examples had washed up on the seashore, but it was not until the 1970s that sufficient quantities were found in the ground to open a mine.

4. PARAIBA TOURMALINE // NEON LUSTER

 
Tourmalines are common in many colors across Brazil, but the Paraiba tourmalines are the only stones with a bright turquoise hue, thanks to their copper content. The very rare gems were discovered in 1987 by determined miner Heitor Dimas Barbosa, who had been driven by a belief that something special lurked under the hills of the Brazilian state of Paraiba. Barbosa was right, and after years of fruitless digging, he finally unearthed a tourmaline of unrivaled neon blue that set the gem market alight. The extremely rare stone (only one stone is mined for every 10,000 diamonds) then became intensely sought-after. In 2003 very similar turquoise-colored tourmalines were found at mines in the mountains of Nigeria and Mozambique, although some say they are not quite as striking as the Paraiba tourmaline.

5. GRANDIDERITE // ONE EXCEPTIONAL EXAMPLE

 
Grandiderite was first described in 1902 by French mineralogist Alfred Lacroix, who found it in Madagascar and named it in honor of the French explorer Alfred Grandidier, an expert on Madagascan natural history. This extremely rare blue-green mineral has been found in a number of places around the world, but so far only Madagascar and Sri Lanka have produced any gem-quality stones, and these are still extremely scant. The majority of the known stones are translucent, but the most rare, and therefore most valuable, example ever found was transparent. In fact, the stone was initially assumed to be another rare gem, serendibite, because grandiderite of that color and transparency had yet to be seen. The gem was only identified as grandiderite after expert analysis and was subsequently sold for an undisclosed sum. It’s safe to assume that if a gem of similar quality were to be unearthed, its scarcity alone would ensure it fetched an extremely high price.

6. ALEXANDRITE // COLOR-SHIFTING GEM

 
The amazing color-changing stone alexandrite was discovered in 1830 in the Ural Mountains in Russia and named after Russian tsar Alexander II. A variety of chrysoberyl, the stone’s remarkable color-shifting capability makes it especially sought-after: In sunlight the stone looks blue-green, but under incandescent light it becomes red-purple. The degree of color change varies from stone to stone, with some only showing marginal change, but the most valuable are clear stones that demonstrate complete color change.

Although some large examples of the stone have been found (the Smithsonian houses the world’s largest known cut sample of alexandrite at 65.08 carats), the majority are under one carat. This means that the value of a gem under a carat may only be $15,000, but a stone larger than one carat might fetch as much as $70,000 per carat.

7. BENITOITE // STATE GEM OF CALIFORNIA

 
Benitoite is only mined in one small area of California, near the San Benito River (hence the name), but the mine closed for commercial mining in 2006, making this gemstone yet more scarce. The gem was first identified around 1907 by geologist George Louderback and has a deep-blue color that shows especially interesting qualities when caught under UV light, when it glows fluorescent. The gem was named the official state gemstone of California in 1985 in recognition of the fact that, despite it being found in trace quantities in Arkansas as well as Japan and Australia, California is the only place where it can feasibly be mined. Due to the rarity of discovering a good quality benitoite of a reasonable size, it can fetch huge prices on the open market—a well-cut benitoite stone at over 2 carats can fetch more than $10,000 a carat.

8. PAINITE // ONCE THE WORLD’S RAREST GEM

 
Painite was first discovered by British gemologist Arthur Charles Davy Pain in 1951 and recognized as a new mineral in 1957. For many years only one specimen of the dark red crystal was in existence, housed at the British Museum in London, making it the world’s rarest gemstone. Later on other specimens were discovered, although by 2004 there were still fewer than two dozen known painite gems. However, in recent years a couple of mines in Myanmar have begun to produce some painite, and there are now said to be over 1000 stones known. The scarcity of this gem has made it extremely valuable and just one carat can fetch more than $60,000.

9. RED BERYL // TINY AND SCARCE

 
Red beryl, also known as bixbite or red emerald, is so rare it is estimated by the Utah Geological Survey that a single such gem is uncovered for every 150,000 gem-quality diamonds. Pure beryl is colorless and only gains its bright hues from impurities in the rock: chromium and vanadium give beryl a green color resulting in an emerald; iron provides a blue or yellow tint creating aquamarine and golden beryl; and manganese adds the deep-red color to create red beryl. Red beryl is only found in Utah, New Mexico, and Mexico, and the majority of examples found are just a few millimeters in length, too small to be cut and faceted for use. Those that have been cut are generally less than a carat in weight, and a red beryl of 2 or 3 carats would be considered exceptional.

10. TAAFFEITE // DISCOVERED BY CHANCE

 
Austrian-Irish gemologist Count Edward Charles Richard Taaffe bought a box of cut stones from a jeweler in Dublin in the 1940s, thinking he had purchased a collection of spinels. But on closer inspection, he noted that one of the pale mauve gems was not reacting to the light in the same way as the rest of the spinels, so he sent it off to be analyzed. The results revealed that he had discovered a hitherto unknown gemstone—a serendipitous but frustrating situation, since he had discovered a cut gem and had no idea where the mineral naturally occurred. Fortunately, once the new stone had been announced, many other collectors re-examined their own spinel collections and a number of other samples were uncovered. Finally the source of the stone was tracked down to Sri Lanka, although a handful have also been found in Tanzania and China. It is thought that less than 50 examples of taaffeite exist—many of which are housed in geological and private collections, making this gemstone so rare the ordinary public are unlikely to ever encounter it.

The best time to start saving for your child’s education was yesterday. Four years of college can add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars, and tuition prices are only getting higher. Parents who start putting away money years before their child’s first acceptance letter rolls in are already a step ahead of many American families. But simply saving isn’t enough: If the money isn’t being held in the right type of account, parents risk leaving some serious money on the table.

As Money reports, the most recent “How America Saves for College” report [PDF] from Sallie Mae shows that 61 percent of families keep that money in a general savings account, where it can accrue minimum interest. Keeping your money in a savings account is definitely better than hiding it under your mattress, but most banks don’t set interest rates for these accounts any higher than one percent. A 529 college savings plan may offer double that—or possibly even more.

529 savings plans are tax-advantaged programs that vary from state to state. If parents commit to using the savings to pay for approved college expenses, they could end up growing thousands more than they would have in a regular savings account. Additionally, any money they invest grows tax-deferred and the earnings put away for higher educational purposes can’t be taxed.

About 37 percent of parents use this method to save for college, which is a boost from the past few years. A couple of pitfalls that might turn parents away are the potential investment fees and inflexibility in terms of how the money can be spent. Whether parents decide to go with a simple savings account or something that will deliver more bang for their buck, the most important step they can take is to start saving as early as possible.

[h/t Money]

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Thanks to widespread vaccination campaigns, NBC News reports, global health experts announced on Tuesday, September 27 that North, South, and Central America are now officially free of endemic measles cases.

Measles—which can cause brain swelling, pneumonia, and, in extreme cases, death—was once responsible for nearly 2.6 million annual deaths worldwide. In 1963, physicians developed a vaccination for the highly contagious airborne virus, and in the 1980s officials launched a 22-year campaign involving mass vaccination against measles, mumps and rubella throughout the Americas, the Pan American Health Organization (P.A.H.O.) said in a statement.

Today, measles is the fifth vaccine-preventable disease to be eliminated from the Americas, they added, along with smallpox, poliomyelitis, rubella, and congenital rubella syndrome.

Malaria was eliminated from America in 2002, and the Western hemisphere’s last case of endemic measles—meaning it wasn’t caused by an imported strain of the disease—was in 2002. (There have been documented cases of non-endemic measles in the U.S. since then. More on that later.) But even though it typically only takes a region three years to be declared free of a disease, it took 14 years this time around for officials to certify the fact, The New York Times reports. Experts attributed the lag to a variety of factors, including a lack of communication between local and national health departments; unvaccinated migrants; and war-torn regions that weren’t accessible for physicians.

Still, the P.A.H.O. warns, measles remains a global threat: In 2015, 244,704 measles cases were reported worldwide. To prevent imported cases, it’s important to maintain high vaccination coverage rates in the Americas, they said.

In late 2014 and early 2015, 125 people were diagnosed with measles. The initial outbreak is thought to have occurred in California’s Disneyland; it then spread to multiple states, Mexico, and Canada. The disease strain originated in the Philippines—but its rapid spread revealed that many kids aren’t fully vaccinated. A study later revealed that around 9 million U.S. children are susceptible to measles, either because they haven’t received the shots or because they aren’t up to date with them.

[h/t NBC News]

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The second-largest living fish is a gentle giant with some peculiar habits and a knack for instigating cryptozoological debates. Brush up on your basking shark trivia with these 10 tantalizing tidbits.

1. THEY’RE BUS-SIZED FILTER-FEEDERS.

The two biggest fish in the sea consume surprisingly tiny animals. Basking sharks can grow to be 36 feet long and weigh four tons or more. Within the world of fish, this impressive size is exceeded only by that of the enigmatic whale shark. Those of you with a shark phobia will be relieved to learn that neither species is a big-game hunter; on the contrary, they eat plankton, fish eggs, and other minuscule organisms.

Like whale sharks, basking sharks use filtration to capture their food. The gills of both fish are lined with bristle-like, 3-inch structures called “gill rakers.” When it comes to capturing food, these rakers are critical. To feed, a hungry basking shark opens its colossal mouth—which is 3 feet wide in adult specimens—and swims around at a leisurely 2.5 to four mph. Any prey that might be floating in its path are corralled into the mouth, ensnared by the gill rakers, and then forced down the shark’s narrow throat.

By filtration system standards, the whole apparatus is a model of efficiency. In just 60 minutes, a basking shark can strain at least 1800 tons of water through its gills.

2. PEOPLE USED TO CALL THEM “SUNFISH.”

Over the centuries, English-speakers have given these leviathans plenty of different names, including elephant sharks, bone sharks, and hoe-mothers (“hoe” being descended from the Gaelic word for dogfish). In Scotland and Ireland, the preferred moniker used to be “sunfish.” However, by the turn of the 18th century, this name had become problematic because many people had started using it to describe the ocean sunfish, an entirely different animal with a compressed body and really weird teeth.

Then, in 1769, Welsh naturalist Thomas Pennant argued that the filter-feeder should be renamed the basking shark. Why’d he pick that particular name? Like most scientists at the time, Pennant believed that these huge fish hang around near the surface of the ocean in order to absorb solar rays. More recent evidence suggests they really do this because, at higher latitudes, plankton congregates just under the surface. Soaking up sun probably isn’t their main objective. Maybe it’s time for another name change.

3. BASKING SHARKS CAN GO AIRBORNE.

Boaters need to give basking sharks a wide berth. The giant fish might not be man-eaters, but they can still be dangerous. Biologists aren’t sure why, but basking sharks occasionally launch themselves out of the water Free Willy–style and come crashing back down with tremendous force. Maybe they do this in order to impress the opposite sex. Or perhaps breaching the surface helps them get rid of lamprey eels and other parasites that latch onto their skin. Regardless, you’ll want to maintain a respectful distance between your vessel and the sharks. In 1937, one breaching individual accidentally capsized a small boat that was passing through the Firth of Clyde, off the coast of Scotland. Three people drowned.

4. THEIR OIL-RICH LIVERS HELP KEEP THEM AFLOAT.

To regulate their buoyancy, most fish depend on a swim bladder. By regulating the amount of gas inside this organ, a fish can change or maintain its current depth. However, sharks don’t possess swim bladders. Instead, many species have enlarged livers that are filled with helpful oils. These oils sport high concentrations of squalene, a low-density hydrocarbon. Because it’s lighter than seawater, it gives the sharks buoyancy. As a way to compensate for their immense body size, basking sharks have evolved huge, squalene-filled livers—without which they’d sink like rocks.

Historically, basking shark livers were a valuable resource. In Europe and elsewhere, oils extracted from them became a common type of lamp fuel during the 1700s and 1800s. Simultaneously, the squalene was used as a key ingredient in perfumes, industrial lubricants, and man-made silk. Even today, it’s used to temper high-grade steel. To feed the world’s thirst for basking-shark livers, fishermen once slaughtered the animals en masse. Between 1946 and 1986, harpoon fisheries in Ireland, Scotland, and Norway killed 77,204 of them. Fortunately, numerous protective measures have since come into effect, and it’s now illegal to hunt basking sharks in many places.

5. GREAT WHITES AND ORCAS MIGHT BE NATURAL PREDATORS.

Are any non-human animals brave enough to hunt full-grown basking sharks? Maybe. Killer whale pods and great white sharks have been seen feasting on dead specimens. But it’s possible these predators were merely scavenging the remains of basking sharks. No confirmed instance of either species attacking or killing the filter-feeders has been documented.

6. BASKING SHARKS WERE ONCE THOUGHT TO HIBERNATE ON THE OCEAN FLOOR.

In 1953, a pair of biologists suggested that the reason basking sharks seemed to disappear from northern European and American waters every winter was that they were swimming down to the ocean floor and hibernating. The idea spread like wildfire. “At this moment,” reads a 1962 New Scientist article, “there are probably great schools of these enormous fish quietly resting at the bottom of the sea.”

Engaging as such imagery is, we can now confidently dismiss the hypothesis. A 2009 paper published in Current Biology finally answered the riddle of where these sharks go during the chillier months. Near the Massachusetts coastline, the authors fitted 25 basking sharks with satellite tags. The tags started transmitting data from some unexpected locations. “When a tag popped up in the Caribbean Sea, I was really blown away,” co-author Gregory Skomal told National Geographic. A few of his sharks headed even further south—one specimen migrated all the way to Brazil.

Skomal and his co-researchers also learned that the fish frequented some very deep waters as they traveled. For weeks or months at a time, many of the sharks remained somewhere between 650 and 3300 feet below the surface.

7. THEY REEK.

Basking sharks produce a mucus-based slime that covers their skin. Presumably, it’s an anti-parasite defense mechanism that keeps lampreys and other freeloaders at bay. This might explain one of the sludge’s more unusual properties: extraordinary corrosiveness. Nets that come into contact with a basking shark’s hide tend to rot away as the slime burns through their natural fibers. And, as many ichthyologists have noted, the ammonia-rich cocktail also makes basking sharks stink to high heaven. In fact, the smell is so powerful that some fishermen claim they can even smell a fully submerged basking shark from a considerable distance.

8. JUVENILES HAVE HOOK-SHAPED SNOUTS.

The reproductive habits of basking sharks aren’t well understood, and nobody has yet figured out how long they usually live. But at least one thing about their life cycle is clear: juveniles look markedly different from older specimens. Youngsters have fairly long snouts that curve downward. When the animals mature, however, their snouts become straighter and, proportionately, a lot smaller. Such conspicuous differences between the age groups once led scientists to believe that adolescent and adult basking sharks represented two different species.

9. DESPITE THEIR MANY SIMILARITIES, BASKING AND WHALE SHARKS ARE NOT CLOSE RELATIVES.

Our oceans are home to more than 400 shark species. Scientists have divided these up into eight major groups. Basking sharks are classified as lamniformes, along with great whites, shortfin makos, and sandtiger sharks. On the other hand, anatomical and genetic data reveals that whale sharks belong to the orectolobiformes order, as do nurse sharks. Therefore, the filtration systems of Earth’s two biggest fish must have evolved independently—a phenomenon known as convergent evolution.

10. BASKING SHARK CORPSES HAVE OFTEN BEEN MISTAKEN FOR DEAD SEA MONSTERS.

An alleged sea serpent carcass that washed onto a beach near Scituate, Massachusetts in 1970 was positively identified by several experts as the rotting corpse of a basking shark. Seven years later, the Zuiyō Maru, a Japanese fishing trawler, hauled up and photographed a strange-looking cadaver. At first glance, it looked like the creature had a long neck, a small head, and four flippers. This led some to believe that the newly dead animal was really a prehistoric plesiosaur reptile. However, according to tissue samples, it was almost certainly a shark—and most likely one of the “basking” variety.

Over the past 200 years, many other so-called “sea monster” bodies have turned out to be probable basking sharks. Why does the same story keep repeating itself? Well, when the filter-feeders die, their lower jaws tend to break away from the rest of the body at an early stage in the decomposition process. The tail and dorsal fins are also among the first things to fall off. Consequently, a dead basking shark might look an awful lot like a long-necked, small-headed plesiosaur—or maybe some kind of sea serpent—to the untrained eye.