Report: Liquid Diamond Flows on Neptune and Uranus

It could be like the 1848 Gold Rush--except for diamond, and on another planet.
Discovery News reports that oceans of liquid diamond, complete with solid diamond icebergs, could be flowing on both Neptune and Uranus. The research, first reported in the journal Nature Physics, found that diamond behaves just like water when freezing or melting, with solid forms floating on top of liquid forms, the report said.

What's interesting about this is that diamond is very difficult to melt. It's very hard, and tends to turn into graphite at very high temperatures. That graphite is what melts in the end, the report said. When researchers liquefied the diamond at super-high pressures similar to those found on Uranus and Neptune, and then reduced the temperature later, solid pieces of diamond began to appear that didn't sink.

Diamond oceans--already theorized numerous times in the past, but even more likely in light of this latest research--could also explain the orientation of Uranus and Neptune's magnetic fields, the report said. We won't know the composition for sure without either sending spacecraft there, or simulating the conditions here on Earth; both of which require oodles of money.

And for the record, I was joking about a new Gold Rush. Because that's all we need: Richard Branson in his SpaceShipTwo flying to Neptune and sticking a flag in its (gaseous) surface.