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i don’t remember if i mentioned it here but my lovely lilac plant has been through a LOT—too much heat (my mistake), crazy mold from my old apartment (i literally got mold poisoning there), a 3 hour move, and recently an aphid infestation lasting for about 8 months. well, big news: i finally cured the aphid infestation! it seems to have a blight which i haven’t managed to find a cure for but without the aphids i’m hoping it will have enough new growth i can start plucking blighted leaves and branches without damaging its ability to photosynthesize. i should probably also check on the roots soon to see what’s going on down there, but i’m super glad at least one problem is solved. those aphids killed off about half my houseplants so i’m really happy they’re finally gone. also the soil health is fantastic; i’m seeing some fungus growth that indicates good pH balance rather than an intense mold infestation in the ventilation system!! thank GOD i moved apartments

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alison sent me the wikipedia article for hot-dip galvanization (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot-dip_galvanization), or the process of coating iron or steel in zinc to form ZnCO3 (zinc carbonate) to prevent rusting. it forms an easily recognizable spangled pattern which immediately caught my attention as it looks crystalline! after talking to my dad (a geochemistry professor) i discovered that the formation of the spangled pattern is a matter of grain boundary energies (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grain_boundary), where each crystal attempts to minimize boundary energy as it grows, resulting in the shape characteristic of the crystal (when other crystals don’t prevent that shape from forming). this made it clear that a specific mineral is resulting from the galvanization process: smithsonite! (https://www.mindat.org/min-3688.html) essentially, this mineral doesn’t have time to grow thick, so it creates a thin, rust-resistant coat; but as it grows, it leaves behind the pattern typical of hot-dip galvanization.