“Are you familiar with the Stone Tape Theory?”

(Post Malone’s response in a Joe Rogan interview when asked about McKenna’s Stoned Ape Theory)

Houston has a good collection too.

https://www.hmns.org/exhibits/cullen-hall-of-gems-and-minera...

First thought in my head was that these would make great demos for 3DGS: both geometry and light interactions are non-trivial. I imagine that makes them difficult to capture with traditional photogrammetry

If you have a large pile of spare cash and want your own gem museum, there's one closing down: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c937d7p0gzpo

Oh wow, wish this had been posted sooner! This Saturday 4/18 is the last day to see this exhibit if you're in/near LA.

If "dead" things look this much alive, imagine how hard it is to determine life on other planets. Real life could look much more dull than these things :-)

The first picture looks like aura quartz to me (crystal with an artificial metal coating). Is it natural?

Check out the yt talk on "king of kashmir" .. the world's largest aquamarine discovered in Karakoram mountains (pakistan) .. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujGJwq3PaU0

For a while I thought what could there be to see in the petrified national forest. It's mineralized trees (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrified_wood), and there were enough different minerals in the area to make different colors. Definitely worth a visit.

They're minerals, Marie!