To the ever-growing list of uniquely human tweaks to the planet, we can add the creation of 208 minerals. A list compiled by researchers from the Carnegie Institution for Science, the University of Maine and the University of Arizona provides the first assessment of how many unique compounds human activities have created. The collection is another piece of evidence in favor of the Anthropocene, the authors say, and is illustrative of the effects human activities have had on the surface of the planet.
To be defined as a mineral, compounds must meet a fairly narrow band of criteria: they're inorganic, chemically distinct, often arranged as crystals, and, most importantly, naturally occurring.
This means that rocks, comprised of various minerals and compounds, don't qualify, and things made by humans, such as smartphone screens, are also excluded.
The International Mineralogical Association currently recognizes 5,224 minerals, although that's far from the number that ...
