Bizarre: Futuristic Mineral Found in Gold Mine

In 2008, scientists were able to produce for the first time in the laboratory a material considered topological insulator. This means that this “product” is flat and insulating throughout its area, but nevertheless it allows the conduction of electricity only at its edges.

You may think this is not very useful, but materials of this kind open the possibility for researchers to better control the spin of electrons. This feature can result in better utilization of electrical charges by battery cells, for example.

This way, many areas of technology can be updated somewhat, including quantum computing - if you want to know more about this type of technology, click here.

Nature surprises once again

Scientists and researchers who conceived the concept of a topological insulating material thought that this kind of thing could only be produced artificially - that is, in laboratories.

However, a team from the German Max Planck Institute, led by Pascal Planck, found a mineral called Kawazulita in a deactivated gold mine. The material crumbles into very thin sheets and is a topological insulator.

In addition to cheapening studies with materials of this genre, the novelty has a much finer quality than synthetic products. With this, new doors open for studies with topological insulators and it is believed that other minerals of this genus can be found in nature.