alt Hacker News> The only other known naturally forming quasicrystal was found inside meteorite fragments
Does it really count as "naturally forming" if we had to artificially construct and detonate a nuke during a carefully conducted experiment to create this one?
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How do we know the quasicrystals in the meteorite fragments are naturally occurring, and weren't created by nuclear detonations on an alien planet, then blasted off into space when an asteroid hit the site? Or perhaps the nuclear explosion was tested on an asteroid rather than a planet.
If a beaver constructed and detonated the nuke, it'd still just be natural though.
We’re a product of nature, it’s mistaken to believe we are above nature or that nuclear weapons aren’t also part of nature.
We’re also very much dependent on nature and natural forces.
So everything we do is, even if many steps removed, still an act of nature.
Well, it's more natural than something like a lab diamond. This one forms naturally given unnaturally created, but not completely implausible, conditions. There is a big difference between "we blew up rocks and they formed this mineral" and "we treated rocks with X acid and Y acid and then carefully annealed them under extreme pressure and they formed this mineral"