Crystals: More than just shiny rocks

Summary

Podcast Summary: Brains On! — Crystals: More Than Just Shiny Rocks

Date: June 16, 2026
Host(s): Molly Bloom
Kid Co-host: Layla (Kalamazoo, MI)
Guests: Manika Wilhelm (producer), Marisa Acosta (geologist & crystal grower), Joya Cooley (chemist), Sandon Totten and Marc Sanchez (Hoax Hunters)
Main Theme:
A fun, kid-friendly exploration into the science of crystals — what makes something a crystal, how they form, why they shine and sparkle, and some myths and legends surrounding famous crystal artifacts. The episode includes hands-on analogies, expert interviews, a mystery sound, and a myth-busting segment.

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1. Introduction: A Crystal (Name) Confusion!

(00:16–02:13)

• The studio is humorously "invaded" by multiple guests (and an aunt!) all named Crystal, poking fun at the episode’s topic.
• Molly Bloom: “We’re just about to start taping.”
• Layla: “This Crystal’s episode isn’t about them.”
• Sets up the playful, curious tone and transitions to the real topic: crystals as minerals.

---

2. Why Are People Fascinated by Crystals?

(02:32–03:22)

• Layla shares her curiosity: she loves that crystals are shiny and pretty, especially pink and purple ones.
• Layla (03:16): “Maybe just because they’re shiny and a lot of people like shiny things.”
• Molly introduces the key question: how crystals form and where they come from.

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3. What Makes a Crystal a Crystal?

(03:34–06:16)

• Molly Bloom: Explains that crystals are defined by the organized, repeating pattern of their atoms (unlike regular rocks or glass).
• The group uses Layla’s “Crystal Clear” app to decide if objects are crystals:
  • Amethyst and salt: Yes.
  • Amber (fossilized tree resin): No.
  • Pearl: “Kind of”—made of stacks of tiny crystals.

Notable Quote

• App Voice (04:43): “That’s a crystal. So is sugar. So fun to put those little crystals in and on your food.”

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4. Zooming In: What’s Inside a Crystal?

(06:16–09:36)

• Manika Wilhelm and Chemist Joya Cooley: Guide listeners on a “zoom ray” journey down to the atomic level inside a diamond and pencil lead (graphite).
  • Diamond atoms: All carbon, arranged in a 3D honeycomb.
  • Graphite: Also carbon, but atoms are arranged in flat six-sided (hexagon) sheets.

Notable Quotes

• Crystal (07:43): “All a crystal is, is a regular repeating pattern of something.”
• Manika (08:48): “It’s crystal sheets sliding onto your paper every time you use a pencil.”

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5. How Do Crystals Form?

(09:36–12:15)

• Crystals form when atoms bond together in an organized way—often starting as atoms floating in a liquid (like melted rock/magma or dissolved in water).
  • Atoms fit into “comfortable” positions—“like butts in chairs.”
  • Two common ways crystals grow:
    1. As magma or water cools/evaporates, atoms bond and create the repeating pattern.
    2. When water with dissolved minerals dries up, the atoms bond as they get closer together.

Memorable Analogy

• Molly (10:57): “Okay, so crystals form as atoms bond together in a comfortable chair butt situation. Over and over and over.”
• Manika (11:18): “If rock juice is really hot, all the atoms inside are bouncing around a lot.”
• Crystal (11:59): “A salt crystal would stop growing if it couldn’t find another cube to stack on top.”

---

6. “Crystals” in Everyday Life

(12:15–15:15)

• Many familiar objects are crystals (sugar, salt, diamond, pencil lead).
• Not all shiny stones used in jewelry are true crystals; pearls and amber are exceptions (“kind of” or not crystals).
• Notable Moment: Manika increases her “happiness quotient” by eating sugar crystals in cookies with the hosts.

Quote

• Manika (15:28): “Sharing those cookies with you all added 8% more happiness to my day.”

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7. Why Are Some Crystals So Shiny and Colorful?

(15:44–20:11)

• Transition to why crystals shine and have different colors, with kid questions from Mason and Ren.
• Manika: Shiny surfaces in crystals come from flat reflective surfaces, often polished by jewelers.
• Guest: Marisa Acosta (geologist) (17:43):
  • “If you cool a crystal really slowly… it forms the most beautiful shape… But if you grow a crystal really, really quickly, then it doesn’t have time to form itself… So they don’t have those nice, flat surfaces that glint in the light.”
• Marisa (19:03):
  • Colors in crystals come from “impurities”/trace minerals: e.g., if iron is present in quartz, it turns purple (amethyst); hematite inclusions can tint quartz red.

Key Terms

• “Inclusions”—tiny crystals within a crystal change its color, like chocolate chips in a cookie.

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8. Studying Crystals Reveals Earth’s History

(20:11–21:16)

• Scientists examine shape, color, and inclusions to reconstruct how, when, and where a crystal formed—even “unraveling bigger picture space stories of plate tectonics and the formation of the Earth.”
• Marisa Acosta (20:32):
  • “From these teeny, tiny crystals, I can tell you about something that happened over a million years, 50 million years ago, at, you know, super deep down in the Earth, in the mantle maybe…”

---

9. Mystery Sound Challenge

(12:54, 21:56–23:32)

• The mystery sound is revealed:
  • Answer from Maya (22:29): “That sound was my finger turning on the rim of a crystal glass.”
• Molly explains that “crystal glass” isn’t a true crystal: atoms in glass are unorganized; glass isn’t technically a solid—it’s an “amorphous solid,” somewhere between a solid and liquid.

Quote

• Molly (23:31): “So crystals have atoms in that very orderly pattern. But glass, the atoms are totally unorganized… Glass isn’t even a solid, it’s what’s known as an amorphous solid.”

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10. Hoax Hunters: The Legend of Crystal Skulls

(23:55–28:54)

• Sandon & Marc debunk the legend of ancient Mesoamerican crystal skulls:
  • Many “ancient” crystal skulls sold in the 1800s were fakes.
  • Some ended up in major museums, but specialists later discovered modern tool marks under microscopes.
  • Lesson: Even “experts” can be deceived; skeptical investigation and scientific tools help uncover truth.

Notable Quotes

• Ancient Artifact Expert (26:12): “You can trust me. I have a mustache.”
• Sandon (28:39): “If something seems a little fishy, do your research like Dr. Jane Walsh. Cause you might just uncover the truth.”

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11. Revisiting Key Takeaways

(30:30–30:52)

• Layla: “Crystals often form as pretty rocks like quartz. But there are other, less flashy crystals too, like pencil lead and sugar.”
• Molly: “All crystals are made of atoms in highly ordered patterns.”
• Layla: “They bond in those patterns to be the most stable.”
• Molly: “And the way crystals bond changes their size, shape and color.”
• Layla: “Studying a crystal can tell you the story of how it formed.”

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Notable Quotes & Moments With Timestamps

• Crystal, on crystals’ regularity (07:43): “All a crystal is, is a regular repeating pattern of something.”
• Manika, on understanding crystals (08:48): “It’s crystal sheets sliding onto your paper every time you use a pencil.”
• Molly, chair analogy (10:57): “Crystals form as atoms bond together in a comfortable chair butt situation. Over and over and over.”
• Marisa Acosta, on color (19:03): “…if you have silicon dioxide and it grows in the presence of iron… you can get this nice purple color.”
• Sandon, on skepticism (28:39): “If something seems a little fishy, do your research like Dr. Jane Walsh. Cause you might just uncover the truth.”

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Crystal-name confusion: 00:16–02:13
• What draws us to crystals?: 02:32–03:22
• App tests (what is a crystal?): 04:13–05:23
• Zooming into a diamond and graphite: 06:16–09:36
• How crystals form (hot magma, saltwater): 09:36–12:15
• Why crystals are shiny/colorful: 15:44–20:11
• Crystals reveal Earth’s history: 20:11–21:16
• Mystery sound reveal: 21:56–23:32
• Crystal skull hoax: 23:55–28:54
• Final crystal facts recap: 30:30–30:52

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Tone & Language

• Friendly, playful, filled with analogies (“butts in chairs”, “crystal sheets”), and approachable for kids with spurts of giggles, apps, and cookies.
• Experts present information in a clear, visual way, always returning to kid co-host questions and experiences.

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Conclusion

This episode delivers a glittering look at the science behind crystals — their atomic regularity, stunning colors, the stories they reveal about Earth’s past, and how sometimes we can be fooled by objects (and names!) that seem “crystal clear.” Kids come away with a mix of fun facts, memorable explanations, and a healthy dose of curiosity and skepticism.

Transcript

[Manika Wilhelm]

Lemonade.

[Layla]

Brains on Universe. You're listening to Brains on where we're serious about being curious.

[Crystal]

Okay, I'm here. You can get started now.

[Molly Bloom]

Um, hi. I'm Molly and this is Layla.

[Layla]

Hello.

[Crystal]

So nice to meet you. I'm Crystal.

[Molly Bloom]

Nice to meet you, Crystal. Although I'm a little confused. While you're in the studio, we're just about to start taping.

[Crystal]

Then I'm right on time. I thought I was late.

[Molly Bloom]

Um, I. I was so thrilled when

[Crystal]

I heard that you were doing an episode all about crystals.

[Layla]

Oh, I see. Your name is Crystal.

[Molly Bloom]

You bet it is.

[Layla]

But this is our time to start taping.

[Manika Wilhelm]

Hi there. So sorry, I'm running a few minutes late. So nice to meet you. I'm Crystal.

[Crystal]

Likewise.

[Manika Wilhelm]

Oh, how fun.

[Molly Bloom]

Two Crystals.

[Crystal]

Hi. Is this where the Crystal taping is? Sure is.

[Manika Wilhelm]

Come on in.

[Layla]

Let me guess. Your name is Crystal.

[Crystal]

Oh, wow.

[Molly Bloom]

How did you know? Crystal. This is Crystal.

[Marisa Acosta]

Hi.

[Crystal]

And I'm Crystal.

[Layla]

Such a pleasure.

[Marisa Acosta]

Come on.

[Molly Bloom]

Come on in, Crystal.

[Layla]

Oh good.

[Molly Bloom]

You were expecting me. Sorry I'm late. Hi everybody.

[Crystal]

Hey, Crystal.

[Manika Wilhelm]

Hi, Crystal.

[Molly Bloom]

Crystal, this is Crystal. Crystal and Crystal.

[Crystal]

What a treat.

[Ancient Artifact Expert]

Hi.

[Manika Wilhelm]

Is this the studio?

[Layla]

It is indeed. Welcome, Crystal.

[Marisa Acosta]

Thanks. Wait, wait, wait.

[Manika Wilhelm]

Hold the door.

[Molly Bloom]

Hold the door.

[Crystal]

Here I come.

[Layla]

Oh, thanks.

[Molly Bloom]

Hi, I'm Crystal.

[Manika Wilhelm]

Crystal, good.

[Layla]

Hi, Crystal.

[Molly Bloom]

Hi Crystal. In case you've lost count, we're now at 6. Crystals, it's time.

[Layla]

Starting to feel really crowded.

[Manika Wilhelm]

Aunt Crystal.

[Molly Bloom]

Is my Aunt Crystal in here?

[Crystal]

Now?

[Molly Bloom]

We are really off the rails. You might as well come on in and look around. Oh, thanks. If your Aunt Crystal isn't in here, we have several possible substitutes.

[Layla]

Aunt Crystal? Auntie Crystal, Are you in here?

[Crystal]

Oh, hi.

[Molly Bloom]

How are you guys doing?

[Manika Wilhelm]

Oh yeah, you know this.

[Layla]

Should we tell them this Crystal's episode isn't about them.

[Molly Bloom]

Not sure they'll listen. But I do know one sure fire way to get the episode started. Play the theme music. You're listening to brainzone, part of the Brainzone universe. I'm Molly Bloom and my co host today is Layla from Kalamazoo, Michigan. Hi Layla.

[Layla]

Hi.

[Molly Bloom]

And today we're taking a look at

[Layla]

crystals but not humans named Crystal.

[Molly Bloom]

Right. More like the shiny see through rocks.

[Layla]

Sorry, Crystals.

[Crystal]

It's totally.

[Sandon Totten]

Get it.

[Marisa Acosta]

No worries, no problem.

[Sandon Totten]

Don't worry about it.

[Molly Bloom]

So Layla, what got you interested in crystals?

[Layla]

Well, I just really like how like shiny they are. And I haven't learned a lot about them in school yet, but I see books about them and I get them in library and stuff. And I just really think they're really cool and pretty.

[Crystal]

They are.

[Molly Bloom]

I agree. So is there a color of crystal that you like a lot?

[Layla]

Ooh, I like pink. Like pink and purples.

[Molly Bloom]

So why do you think humans are so fascinated by crystals?

[Layla]

Maybe just because they're shiny and a lot of people like shiny things.

[App Voice]

Mm.

[Molly Bloom]

I'm always distracted by shiny objects myself. You wrote in with a great question about crystals. Do you remember what it was?

[Layla]

I wondered how crystals form and where did they come from?

[Molly Bloom]

It's a really wonderful question. And actually, the way crystals are formed is what makes them special and different from ordinary rocks. Crystals are made of atoms. Those are the tiny chemical building blocks that make up everything around us. And in lots of materials, like plastic or concrete, the atoms are just jumbled up. But when something crystallizes, all of its atoms link up in special order that repeats over, over and over. Not a jumble at all. We asked Brainzon producer Maneka Wilhelm to look into what makes a crystal a crystal for us. So she'll be here in just a moment.

[Layla]

Oh, while we wait, I should show you this app I use. It's called Crystal clear. You tell it a material and it tells you if it's a crystal.

[Manika Wilhelm]

Check it out.

[Marisa Acosta]

Oh, wow.

[Molly Bloom]

The app has a soundtrack. Okay, how about. Okay, that purple see through gemstone? It's called amethyst.

[App Voice]

That's a crystal. Amethyst is actually a purple form of quartz.

[Layla]

And now how about salt?

[App Voice]

That's a crystal. So is sugar. So fun to put those little crystals in it on your food. Hmm.

[Molly Bloom]

Let's try something a little more out there. How about amber? You know that golden y clear stone?

[App Voice]

No, not a crystal. It is see through, but it's a fossil. Its atoms don't follow any order or rules.

[Layla]

What about a pearl?

[App Voice]

No. Well, kind of. It's stacked of little crystals. So it's not one crystal. It's bunches of crystals.

[Molly Bloom]

So not all of the stones we put in jewelry are crystals.

[Layla]

And there are crystals and ordinary things too.

[App Voice]

That's right.

[Manika Wilhelm]

Yoohoo, Molly. Layla. I'm here to charge up our crystal knowledge. Is someone else here?

[Layla]

Hi, Manica.

[Molly Bloom]

We're using this cool app Layla uses to see what's a crystal.

[App Voice]

I'm an app.

[Manika Wilhelm]

Oh, perfect. Because I brought along two of my favorite crystals. One you might expect.

[Molly Bloom]

Ooh, a diamond.

[App Voice]

That's a crystal.

[Manika Wilhelm]

And one you might not.

[Layla]

A pencil.

[App Voice]

It's lead is a crystal.

[Manika Wilhelm]

Wow, that app is spot on.

[Layla]

Yeah. But it's probably time to close it for now.

[App Voice]

Goodbye.

[Molly Bloom]

It's so interesting that all these different looking things can all be crystals.

[Manika Wilhelm]

Yeah. It turns out crystals are defined by their insides and not their outside shape or color. I asked Joya Cooley to tell us about crystal insides. She's a chemist at California State University, Fullerton.

[Crystal]

Yeah, I wish there were some way that we could, like, zoom in super far so we could see what was going on.

[Layla]

Oh, there is a way. The zoom ray.

[Molly Bloom]

That's right. Our patented handy dandy device that lets us shrink down to any size. We keep it in the studio for exactly this reason. It's ready.

[Manika Wilhelm]

Oh, how awesome. So let's check out this diamond first.

[Molly Bloom]

Sure.

[Manika Wilhelm]

We'll just zoom on down to the size of an atom.

[Crystal]

Zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom.

[Manika Wilhelm]

Okay, so at this scale, we're smaller than the tip of a needle, smaller than a tardigrade. We're smaller than any of the cells in the human body. We're smaller than bacteria and viruses, and way tinier than DNA. We are so tiny that if we walked up to a small sized grain of sand, it would feel like we were walking up to a really giant shopping mall. And that means we're small enough to see the structure of this diamond. It's atoms.

[Molly Bloom]

Whoa. It never stops being amazing to see the building blocks of the universe up close like this.

[Layla]

Yeah. So I see a bunch of circles all stacked together.

[Molly Bloom]

Yeah. The diamond has kind of like, kind of like a 3D honeycomb thing going on.

[Manika Wilhelm]

That's a great way to describe it.

[Crystal]

All a crystal is, is a regular repeating pattern of something.

[Manika Wilhelm]

And these atoms are made of a chemical called carbon. They're bonded together in a super organized way.

[Crystal]

So you get this really cool 3D structure where it goes up and down, left and right and front and back, basically.

[Molly Bloom]

She's right. It's the same pattern in all directions

[Layla]

and repeats over and over and over again, over again.

[Manika Wilhelm]

If we hop over to our pencil now and check out its lead at the same scale, This material, the pencil lead, is called graphite.

[Marisa Acosta]

Whoa.

[Layla]

It's made of all carbon atoms too, Just like the diamond.

[Manika Wilhelm]

Good eye. But the atoms in pencil lead are arranged in a really different shape than the diamond. Now the carbon atoms are forming six sided rings, hexagons.

[Layla]

Oh. They look like on a soccer ball, the shapes that are white and then

[Molly Bloom]

those six sided rings attach side by side to form a flat blanket of hexagons.

[Crystal]

Again, it's 6 still carbon, but there isn't really an up and down to it. So that's why graphite is great for pencil lead because it's just got this sort of sheet, like structure. It comes off in sheets when you're writing. So that's actually what happens when you're writing.

[Manika Wilhelm]

It's crystal sheets sliding onto your paper every time you use a pencil. But diamonds are also crystals, and they're made of the same atoms as pencil lead. And writing with a diamond would not work.

[Layla]

So just being arranged in a different crystal pattern makes these two really different materials.

[Manika Wilhelm]

Yeah. And some crystals also form from multiple kinds of atoms and groups of atoms too. There are lots of different kinds of crystals, and they're made of all kinds of stuff. But the one thing that they have in common is that they're built with this very organized repeating pattern.

[Crystal]

Cool.

[Manika Wilhelm]

Okay, I think we're ready to zoom back out and talk about how these crystal shapes form. So in a crystal, the atoms are all bonded together in their gneiss pattern. They're solid. But lots of crystals, like quartz, for example, start out as atoms floating in a liquid.

[Crystal]

Whoa.

[Layla]

Like atoms dissolved in water.

[Manika Wilhelm]

Yeah, in some cases. Other times, quartz forms from rock that's so hot, it's liquid. That's called magma. And when the atoms that make quartz are floating around in a liquid, they're not all bonded together. They're floating free. But if they bump into each other, some of those atoms will stick together, and then more atoms will stick to those atoms. Kind of like how when you're making a snowball, more and more snow will stick to the outside of your snowball. And when atoms that form crystals stick together, they bond in an ordered pattern.

[Crystal]

They're more stable that way. So they kind of. It's like they want to be that way.

[Manika Wilhelm]

It's kind of like sitting in a chair. Like, you could walk up to a chair and sit on the backrest or on one of the arms, but you

[Layla]

might fall over, and then you'd have to find a new place to sit.

[Manika Wilhelm]

Right. Your best bet is really just to sit in the butt part of the chair. Some atoms just fit together the way the butts fit in chairs. There are places they can sit together comfortably, and that ends up creating a pattern.

[Molly Bloom]

Okay, so crystals form as atoms bond together in a comfortable chair butt situation. Over and over and over.

[Manika Wilhelm]

Right. And the way atoms bond together often depends on temperature. For example, if rock juice is really hot, all the atoms inside of it are bouncing around a lot. They're moving too fast to find good ways to bond.

[Crystal]

So when they start to cool down, then that's when they can find their buddy and say, okay, I'm really stable if I just sit next to you in this particular arrangement.

[Manika Wilhelm]

But there are other ways that crystals form too. Like if you think about the way that salt crystals form from salt water, salt bits bump into each other and bond as water evaporates into the air. So that's almost like the atoms that make salt are splashing around at a pool party, but the pool is drying up and getting smaller, so the atoms are bumping into each other more. And when they bump into each other, they can bond and form these neat little cubes. And those cubes are salt crystals. And they'll keep bonding into that same structure as long as there are atoms available to bond.

[Crystal]

So like, a salt crystal would stop growing if it couldn't find another cube to stack on top, basically.

[Manika Wilhelm]

So the atoms that make crystals often find each other in a mix of other chemicals, but they bond together in these really specific ways, so they form pattern structures.

[Layla]

So organized.

[Manika Wilhelm]

I know. Oh, speaking of organized, that's my personal happiness monitor letting me know I have a happiness inducing activity scheduled right now.

[Molly Bloom]

A happiness inducing activity?

[Layla]

Yep.

[Manika Wilhelm]

I organize my day around little tasks to make me happier. And wow. My current activity is to eat some great crystals, sugar, and chocolate in the form of freshly baked cookies. I'll be right back.

[Layla]

Bring some back, won't ya? Rain Sa.

[Molly Bloom]

While Manaka munches on cookies, let's have our ears munch on the

[Manika Wilhelm]

mystery sale.

[Molly Bloom]

Ready for the mystery sound, Layla?

[Layla]

Yes.

[Molly Bloom]

All right, here it is. Okay, Layla, what are you thinking?

[Layla]

Maybe in like some kind of factory or like kind of a car slowing down on its brakes really slowly?

[Molly Bloom]

I like both of those thoughts, but we will hear it again, give you another chance to guess and hear the answer in just a bit.

[Layla]

Keep listening.

[Molly Bloom]

Today's episode is sponsored by Shopify. When we went independent here at Brainzon, there was a lot to figure out and it was pretty overwhelming. And when you're starting something new, it just feels like the to do list keeps growing and growing and growing. But that's why finding the right tool that not only helps you out, but simplifies everything can be a game changer for us. One of those tools is Shopify. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world and 10% of all e commerce in the US Shopify is your commerce expert with world class expertise in everything from managing inventory to international shipping, to processing returns and beyond. And if you get stuck, Shopify is always around to share advice with their award winning 24. 7 customer support. Start your business today with the industry's best business partner, Shopify, and start hearing. Sign up for your $1 per month [e-mail] brainson go to shopify.com brainson that's shopify.com brainzhong.

[Layla]

Brains on.

[Molly Bloom]

You're listening to Brains On. I'm Molly.

[Layla]

And I'm Layla.

[Manika Wilhelm]

And I'm Mainika with a plate full of warm cookies.

[Layla]

Mmm.

[Manika Wilhelm]

So good.

[Ancient Artifact Expert]

Mmm.

[Molly Bloom]

Delicious sugar crystals.

[App Voice]

Mm.

[Molly Bloom]

You know what these crystals need, though?

[Manika Wilhelm]

Milk.

[Molly Bloom]

You read my mind.

[Manika Wilhelm]

Oh, look, it's calculating my new happiness quotient. Wow. Sharing those cookies with you all added 8% more happiness to my day.

[Layla]

Self.

[Manika Wilhelm]

High five. Now, where were we?

[Layla]

We were talking about the atoms that make crystals all crystally, right?

[Manika Wilhelm]

But when we typically think of crystals, it's not atoms or even salt or sugar or graphite that we think of.

[Layla]

It's shiny rocks.

[Manika Wilhelm]

Shiny rocks, exactly. Crystals, like diamonds, for example, are famous for their glistening, shimmery surfaces.

[Molly Bloom]

In fact, we've gotten some questions about that.

[Layla]

My name is Mason from Westerville, New York, and my question is, where do crystals get their shine? Hi, my name is Ren from Santa Barbara, California. My question is, why are crystals shiny and how do they form?

[Manika Wilhelm]

Well, it's a little different for every crystal. Not all of them are that shiny unless you polish or cut them. So, like, for that diamond I brought, which, by the way, I'll need that back, Molly. That's shiny in part because jewelers have cut it to have flat, reflective surfaces. And those nice flat reflective surfaces are great at bouncing light back into our eyes, making shine. But also, some of the light goes into the diamond and bounces around inside of it and then comes back out and hits our eyes and. And that makes sparkly brilliance. Let's take a moment to stare at that shine and brilliance, shall we? Ooh, that made me 2% happier. I'm on a roll. Now, to understand how crystals in nature get their slick shine and cool colors, you probably need to ask a geologist, which I did.

[Marisa Acosta]

Yeah. My name is Marisa Acosta, and I am a PhD in earth sciences, and I grow crystals in the lab to try and understand how they grow in nature.

[Manika Wilhelm]

Marisa is a researcher at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. She says that crystals in nature also grow long, flat surfaces that reflect light. And remember how I said that some crystals first start as atoms in a liquid?

[Molly Bloom]

Oh, yeah. That was right before you went to get your cookies.

[Manika Wilhelm]

Right. Well, Marisa says the slower these bits form into crystals, the bigger the flat surfaces they grow, and the more shiny and impressive they become.

[Marisa Acosta]

So if you cool a crystal really, really, really slowly, then you have a lot of time for that crystal to push out impurities and to sort of form the most beautiful shape that it can form. But if you grow a crystal really, really quickly, then it doesn't have time to form itself into the, you know, sort of most beautiful version of itself that it would if it had all the time in the world. And you end up with a lot of poorly formed crystal faces. So they don't have those nice, flat surfaces that glint in the light.

[Manika Wilhelm]

Oh.

[Molly Bloom]

So that's why I am also very slow in the mornings. I am forming into the most beautiful version of myself for that day.

[Manika Wilhelm]

Sure.

[Layla]

But what about all the cool colors? Diamonds are usually white, but they're also red crystals, purple crystals, blue ones.

[Manika Wilhelm]

Right. Crystals are truly the skittles of rocks. The cool colors come from minerals in the crystals. And sometimes even small amounts of a mineral in a crystal can change its color. For instance, you know how we talked about quartz before?

[Layla]

Yeah.

[Manika Wilhelm]

Quartz is a classic crystal, and it's just made of two silicon and oxygen. Its structure is one silicon atom for every two oxygen atoms. So we call it silicon dioxide. And normally it's clear, But Marisa says if a third thing sneaks in, the color changes dramatically.

[Marisa Acosta]

If you have silicon dioxide and it grows in the presence of iron, then you can incorporate those iron impurities into the crystal lattice in teeny, tiny amounts, like 50 iron atoms per a million quartz atoms. And you can get this nice purple color, and it changes the way that the crystal reflects and scatters light. And that's responsible for the color change.

[Layla]

Oh, right. Purple quartz is called amethyst. I learned that from my app.

[App Voice]

You're welcome.

[Manika Wilhelm]

And sometimes you have tiny crystals that grow inside of a crystal and that can change its color, too.

[Molly Bloom]

Crystals in crystals?

[Manika Wilhelm]

Yeah. These are called inclusions. Think of it like those cookies we ate. The cookie part was like the main crystal, and the chocolate chips were the inclusions. So if you have a crystal like quartz, it's clear normally. But if it grows with little chocolate chips of a crystal called hematite inside of it, which is basically rust, then the quartz goes from clear to red. Cool color achieved.

[Layla]

Sweet.

[Manika Wilhelm]

Yeah. And one of the coolest things about

[Molly Bloom]

crystals, besides being super pretty.

[Manika Wilhelm]

Oh, of course. But also, everything about a crystal helps tell a story about how it formed. That means its shape, its size, those traces of other elements, and the crystals inside of the crystals, they all Give us clues. With enough detective work, scientists like Marisa can use a crystal to piece together the very history of our planet itself.

[Marisa Acosta]

From these teeny, tiny crystals, I can tell you about something that happened over a million years, 50 million years ago, at, you know, super deep down in the Earth, in the mantle, maybe, and, you know, sort of start to unravel these bigger picture space stories of plate tectonics and supercontinent cycles and the formation of the Earth. Those types of things are the things that I'm really interested in using the crystals to figure out.

[Crystal]

Wow.

[Molly Bloom]

I guess they are more than just their good looks. Who knew?

[App Voice]

I knew. I love crystals.

[Manika Wilhelm]

That is a very chatty app you have there.

[Layla]

I know. I'm actually not sure how to turn it off.

[Manika Wilhelm]

Oh, totally fine. Anyway, I just love thinking about all the stories hiding in crystals. Ancient history packed inside of a shiny rock. Whoa. Contemplating the vast history of the Earth raised my happiness by a whole 12%.

[Molly Bloom]

Well, thank you for sharing all that with us.

[Layla]

Yeah, thanks.

[Manika Wilhelm]

No problem. Now I gotta go. I promised all those human crystals I would show them around. Brains on hq. It's the least I could do since they came all the way over here. Luckily, giving tours also makes me happy. Bye, Brains.

[Mark Sanchez]

Brains.

[Sandon Totten]

Brains.

[Molly Bloom]

Layla, let's revisit the mystery sound, shall we?

[Marisa Acosta]

Yes.

[Molly Bloom]

Here it is one more time. Okay, last time you were like, maybe squeaky breaks or a factory. Do you have new thoughts about what it might be?

[Layla]

Actually, no, because that's all I can think of right now.

[Molly Bloom]

Just squeaky breaks on the brain. I do know that sound. It does sound a lot like that. Well, let's hear the answer.

[Layla]

Hi, I'm Maya from Louisa Viejo, California. That sound was my finger turning on the rim of a crystal glass.

[Molly Bloom]

Oh, yeah, that's cool. Can you picture that? Like, you know, the rim of the glass and you move your finger on it, you know, you get it a little bit wet and it makes that kind of noise.

[Layla]

Yeah, I can picture that.

[Molly Bloom]

Have you done that before?

[Layla]

Actually, I don't think so.

[Molly Bloom]

You should try it. It's pretty funny. You gotta go at kinda the right speed and have the right amount of liquid on your finger. And, you know, depending on how much water's in the glass, it'll make like a higher or lower pitch. But. But I have something to tell you. It's gonna maybe blow your mind. Crystal glasses aren't real crystals. They're just called crystal. So you know crystals. Yeah, isn't that weird? So crystals have atoms, you know, that line up in that very orderly pattern. But glass, the atoms are totally unorganized. They're all over the place. Not like a crystal at all. And you know, glass isn't even a solid.

[Layla]

Weird.

[Molly Bloom]

Yeah. It's what's known as an amorphous solid, which means it's somewhere between a solid and a liquid.

[Layla]

That is so cool.

[Molly Bloom]

Glass, you look crystal clear, but you're actually hiding lots of cool, sciencey secrets. And speaking of secrets, let's see what the hoax hunters have unearthed today.

[Sandon Totten]

I'm Sandon.

[Mark Sanchez]

And I'm Mark.

[Sandon Totten]

And we're back with another edition of Hoax Hunters.

[Mark Sanchez]

We like myths, but we hate getting tricks. Yeah, we like myths, but we hate getting tricks. You're right. We like myths, but we hate getting tricked. We hate getting tricked. No, we don't like it. A hoax is when somebody tricks you into believing something that isn't true.

[Sandon Totten]

And today's hoax is all about Mesoamerican crystal skulls.

[Mark Sanchez]

Say that again.

[Sandon Totten]

Mezzo. American crystal skulls.

[Mark Sanchez]

So awesome. Picture the head of a skeleton made out of utterly awe inducing crystal.

[Marisa Acosta]

Whoa.

[Sandon Totten]

These mysterious crystal skulls range from milky

[Mark Sanchez]

white to crystal clear and range from the size of a bead to the size of an actual human head.

[App Voice]

Head.

[Mark Sanchez]

Some believe these crystal skulls can give you psychic powers.

[Sandon Totten]

Others think they came from the lost city of Atlantis.

[Mark Sanchez]

It's even been said they're proof that aliens landed on Earth thousands of years ago.

[Sandon Totten]

Those are some bold claims. Should we be skeptical, Mark?

[Mark Sanchez]

Only if we don't want to get hoaxed. Sandin.

[Molly Bloom]

Don't get hoaxed.

[Mark Sanchez]

These mysterious crystal skulls first appeared for sale in the 1860s. People claimed they were made by ancient Mayan or Aztec peoples. At the time, everybody wanted to buy cool artifacts because ancient cultures were hot.

[Sandon Totten]

Yeah, but so was hoaxing. And totally fake artifacts were popping up everywhere. Private collectors and museums didn't want to get tricked into buying fakes. So they relied on the help of experts to determine which relics were real and which were not.

[Mark Sanchez]

Enter Eugene Boban, a French antiquarian and Mexico obsessive.

[Ancient Artifact Expert]

Bonjour. I am an ancient artifact expert. I'll tell you what's legit and what's a lie. You can trust me. I have a mustache.

[Sandon Totten]

Boban sold a huge number of relics, including a few crystal skulls. One of his skulls ended up at the famous jewelry store Tiffany Co. In New York. And it was bought by the British Museum in 1897, where it still lives to this day.

[Mark Sanchez]

Yet in 1900, just three years after the skull was acquired by the British Museum, Boban told a newspaper journalist numbers

[Ancient Artifact Expert]

of so called rock crystal pre Columbian skulls have been so adroitly made as almost to defy detection and have been palmed off as genuine upon the experts of some of the principal museums of Europe. Which basically means a bunch of those skulls are fakey fakie eggs and bakey.

[Mark Sanchez]

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait.

[Sandon Totten]

He admitted there were fake crystal skulls

[Crystal]

out in the world?

[Mark Sanchez]

Yep.

[Sandon Totten]

And wasn't he the one who was famous for selling these crystal skulls?

[Mark Sanchez]

Yep.

[Sandon Totten]

Hey, British Museum, it looks like you got hoaxed.

[App Voice]

Hmm.

[Sandon Totten]

Bobin doesn't seem as trustworthy as he claimed to be.

[Mark Sanchez]

Yeah, but a lot of the stuff he sold was real. So some museums continued to show off supposedly ancient crystal skulls. Collectors kept buying them and the stories kept growing.

[Sandon Totten]

But folks like Dr. Jane Walsh weren't buying it.

[Mark Sanchez]

She's a specialist in Mesoamerican archaeology and ethno history at the Smithsonian.

[Sandon Totten]

And in 1992, the Smithsonian received a package from an anonymous donor containing a 31 pound crystal skull. The donor claimed it was a relic from the Aztec empire. But Dr. Walsh wasn't so sure.

[Mark Sanchez]

So she took the skull to Margaret Sacks at the British Museum and they both examined it with an electron microscope. Turns out the marks and cuts in the crystal were clearly made by modern rotary tools, which were not around in ancient times, but were pretty common in 19th century Europe.

[Sandon Totten]

Psych. Another skull bites the dust.

[Mark Sanchez]

I doff my hoax hat to you, Walsh and Sax. You're first rate.

[Molly Bloom]

Hoax, hoax, hoax.

[Sandon Totten]

Okay, so what did we learn today?

[Mark Sanchez]

Mark, just because someone claims to be an expert doesn't mean they are.

[Sandon Totten]

And if something seems a little fishy, do your research like Dr. Jane Walsh. Cause you might just uncover the truth.

[Mark Sanchez]

That's all for today's episode of

[Manika Wilhelm]

Folks Hottest.

[Ancient Artifact Expert]

Yeah.

[Manika Wilhelm]

And here's the studio. Oh, right. This is where we came first.

[Marisa Acosta]

Good old studio.

[Manika Wilhelm]

Glad to be back.

[Layla]

Manika and the crystals.

[Marisa Acosta]

You're back.

[Manika Wilhelm]

What is that music?

[Molly Bloom]

Oh, it's Layla's crystal identifying app. A crystal identifying app?

[App Voice]

Yeah. You're a crystal.

[Layla]

I am?

[Manika Wilhelm]

You get me. How about me?

[App Voice]

You're a crystal.

[Manika Wilhelm]

Oh, wait.

[Crystal]

Pick me. Pick me.

[Manika Wilhelm]

I'm a crystal. Pick me.

[App Voice]

She's a crystal. Another crystal. That's a crystal. All crystals except Layla and Molly and Manika. They're not crystals.

[Manika Wilhelm]

A crystal spotting app. Spotting a cluster of chipper crystals. This is amazing. Oh my gosh. That's a new record on my happiness meter.

[App Voice]

Not a crystal.

[Manika Wilhelm]

But I'm a crystal.

[App Voice]

Yes, you are. You're a crystal.

[Manika Wilhelm]

I'M a crystal. I'm a crystal. Crystal.

[App Voice]

That's accurate.

[Manika Wilhelm]

She should be crystal. She's a crystal. They're crystals, but we're all crystal.

[App Voice]

Still accurate. And I'm not

[Manika Wilhelm]

this crystal. Chaos is such a delight.

[Layla]

Crystals often form as pretty rocks like quartz. But there are other, less flashy crystals too, like pencil lead and sugar.

[Molly Bloom]

All crystals are made of atoms in highly ordered patterns.

[Layla]

They bond in those patterns to be the most stable.

[Molly Bloom]

And the way crystals bond changes their size, shape and color.

[Layla]

Studying a crystal can tell you the story of how it formed.

[Molly Bloom]

That's it for this episode of Brain Zone.

[Layla]

This episode was produced by Manica Wilhelm, Sanon Totten, Marc Sanchez and Molly Blue.

[Molly Bloom]

We had engineering help from Alex Simpson. Special thanks to Billy Eagan, Rachel Margolis, Lexi Pratt, Naomi Bloom, Kathy Marescu, Nancy Yang, Vicki Kreckler and Peter Hawkis. Now it's time for the Brains honor roll. These are the incredible kids who keep the show going with their questions, ideas, mystery, sounds, drawings and H fives. Olympia from Portland, Oregon Bryson from Mooresville, North Carolina Tristan from DeLand, Florida Julia from Houston, Texas Isaac, Ben and Simon from Grafton, Ohio. CJ from Medway, Massachusetts Ryusuke from Vancouver, British Columbia Sloan from El Cerrito, California Fallon from Alameda, California Raya from Ottawa Frederick from Midland, Michigan Vera from Bexley, Ohio Isabel from Long Island, New York Elizabeth from Clarksville, Maryland Enzo from Havertown, Pennsylvania Calvin in Brooklyn from San Jose, California Nev from Los Angeles Umar from Shah, Alam, Malaysia Nora from Tucson, Arizona Adam from Rockford, Illinois Rumi from Denver Lewis from Seattle Cora and Noah from Arlington, Virginia William from Rosslyn, New York Cohen from Sherwood Park, Alberta Leo from San Diego Henry from Tustin, California. Isla and Adeline from Melbourne, Australia. Tom from Canmore, Alberta Sam from Ballston Spa, New York Helen and Joseph from Potomac, Maryland David from Magalia, California Hazel from Tinley Park, Illinois Ava and JJ from Southampton, Bermuda. Johan from Portland, Oregon Papa from San Francisco William from Lakewood, Ohio Isla and Hunter from Sydney, British Columbia Ellie from Calgary, Alberta, Berkeley from Osoyos, British Columbia. Smith from Atlanta Simon from Naperville, Illinois Ellis from Cragmont, Idaho Lachlan from Perth, Australia Emerson from Los Angeles Madeline from Carthage, Missouri Tobin from Hamilton, Ontario Austin and Miles from Durham, North Carolina Dylan from Little, Texas Helena from Mayfield Heights, Ohio Hannah From South Orange, NJ Mika from Ottawa Ilay from Aberdeen, Scotland Arielle from Manhattan, New York Elliot from Durham, North Carolina Anita from Mountain View, California Zanna from Dartmouth, Massachusetts Carbon, Cadence and Callan from Weston, Massachusetts, Judah from McDonough, Georgia, and Massimo from Roslindale, Massachusetts. We'll be back next week with an episode all about light bulbs.

[App Voice]

That's accurate.

[Layla]

Thanks for listening.