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IgNobel Peace Prize: Ammo is a girl s best friend?

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American


This year’s Ignobel Peace Prize goes to the SKN Company of Russia. They use old ammunition to help create new diamonds!

Not diamonds like these:


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NANO-diamonds. These are diamond structures formed by the discharge of massive explosives...like old Russian ammunition. The resulting nano-diamonds are used in synthesis of various things, like specialty oils and lubricants, catalyzers, polishers, etc. So no jewelery.

(Source)

But they're glad to joke about it. The company owners were thrilled to receive their prize, and very proud to convert things used for war into beautiful things used for the public good, like engineering and biomedical research. They also offered diamonds to any of the ladies at the ceremony…provided they bring their own ammo. You can check out the company here.

Scicurious has a PhD in Physiology from a Southern institution. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and a Bachelor of Science in Biology from another respected Southern institution. She is currently a post-doctoral researcher at a celebrated institution that is very fancy and somewhere else. Her professional interests are in neurophysiology and psychiatric disorders. She recently obtained her PhD and is pursuing her love of science and writing at the same time. She often blogs in the third person. For more information about Scicurious and to view her recent award and activities, please see her CV ( http://scientopia.org/blogs/scicurious/a-scicurious-cv/)

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