Scientists led by physical chemist Rodney Ruoff of the Institute for Basic Science in South Korea published their results in the journal Nature on April 24, revealing that they can grow diamonds from scratch in 15 minutes.

Researchers have developed a novel method for creating diamonds at room temperature and without the need for an initial gem, which may greatly simplify the process of growing priceless stones in a laboratory.

The Earth's mantle, the molten zone hundreds of miles below the planet's surface, is where natural diamonds are formed. Under extreme pressure of many gigapascals and extreme heat reaching 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit (1,500 degrees Celsius), the process occurs.

The process now applied to generate 99 percent of all synthetic diamonds uses similar circumstances. The process known as high-pressure and high-temperature (HPHT) growth makes use of these harsh conditions to induce the conversion of carbon dissolved in liquid metals, such as iron, into a diam...