The Mystery of a Natural Rock

Princeton geologist Lincoln Hollister was sent an email from a colleague he'd never met. Paul Steinhardt, a theoretical physicist and the director of Princeton Center for Theoretical Science, wrote that he had an extraordinary rock on his hands. After five years, approximately 5,000 Steinhardt Hollister emails and a treacherous journey to the barren Arctic tundra of northeastern Russia, the mystery has only deepened. Finding the missing minerals probably won't add to our understanding of how life emerged. But Hazen hopes to hunt some down.