Rhodochrosite is a manganese carbonate mineral with chemical composition MnCO3. In its (rare) pure form, it is typically a rose-red color, but impure specimens can be shades of pink to pale brown. It streaks white, and its Mohs hardness varies between 3.5 and 4. Its specific gravity is between 3.5 and 3.7. It crystallizes in the trigonal system, and cleaves with rhombohedral carbonate cleavage in three directions.

“A Brazilian hotel was evacuated in the capital, Brasilia, on Monday after a man took hostage an employee who was held for hours before he was safely released to police. Firefighters and police cordoned off the area and about 300 guests and other employees left the hotel – some reportedly told to leave by the man who took the employee hostage”. – Associated Press. (Photo by Evaristo Sa/AFP Photo)

A five-week-old orphaned Southern Sea Otter pup rests on a rubber mat after arriving at the Shedd Aquarium's Abbott Oceanarium in Chicago, Illinois October 28, 2014 in this handout photo provided to Reuters on November 5, 2014. The stranded pup was found on September 30 on Coastways Beach in California and was rescued the next day to be brought back to health at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Southern sea otters were listed as “threatened” under the U.S. Endangered Species Act in 1977. (Photo by Brenna Hernandez/Reuters/Shedd Aquarium)

A creative mother has come up with a novel way of making sure her children eat their breakfasts – by using eggs to make works of art. Sculpted into a variety of extraordinary designs, culinary genius, Anne Widya, uses sunny side up eggs to make sure her children's plates are always cleared. Here: Annes egg art a smiling pig standing on a tower of toast with a sushi roll apron. (Photo by Anne Widya/Caters News)

Spectators cheer as the United Launch Alliance Delta 4-Heavy rocket, with NASA's Orion spacecraft mounted atop, lifts off from the Air Force Station, December 5, 2014, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (Photo by Smiley N. Pool/AP Photo/Houston Chronicle)

A Syrian rebel walks past Sham 2, a homemade armored vehicle, in Bishqatin, Syria, on December 8, 2012. From a distance it looks rather like a big rusty metal box but closer inspection reveals a homemade armored vehicle waiting to be deployed. Sham II, named after ancient Syria, is built from the chassis of a car and touted by rebels as “100 percent made in Syria”. (Photo by Herve Bar/AFP Photo)

A member of the mainly Christian “anti-balaka” (anti-machete) militia trains in the Boeing neighbourhood of Bangui, Central African Republic, on February 24, 2014. (Photo by Fred Dufour/AFP Photo)

Two men ride a motorcycle away from a fire in Athens on Friday, July 17, 2015. Greek firefighters battled large brush and forest fires on the outskirts of Athens and in the country's southern Peloponnese region Friday, where flames forced the evacuation of at least three villages and two summer camps. (Photo by Giorgos Bamboukos/InTime News via AP Photo)