"The two minerals had only ever been observed after being synthesized in a lab, and never before spotted in nature." by Fantine Gardinier via sputniknews Meteors and other objects left over from the formation of the solar system are seen as extremely valuable by scientists because they are largely chemically unaltered since that time, whereas rocks on the Earth's surface have been molded by geological and even human processes. Researchers probing a meteorite found in Somalia in 2020 have discovered two minerals never before seen outside of a laboratory. The minerals, dubbed elaliite and elkinstantonite, were found in the El Ali iron meteorite by researchers at the University of Alberta in Canada. The two minerals had only ever been observed after being synthesized in a lab, and never before spotted in nature. "Whenever you find a new mineral, it means that the actual geological conditions, the chemistry of the rock, was different than what's been found before," Chris Herd, a