Audrey Tempelsman explored the growing market for meteorites:

• Starting in the 90s the market price of meteorites began to soar.
• Some attribute this to the rise of the internet and its ability to create online markets that are easily accessible by all.
• Others suggest that value started to rise because there were a string of high-profile auctions and news stories that discussed the stunning amounts that meteorites could sell for.
• Meteorites from Mars can be worth $1,000 a gram. Only 61 out of 41,000 meteorite specimens are from Mars.
• Different countries have different laws about meteorites. In the United States it belongs to the owner of the land where it crashed. In Japan it’s finders-keepers. In India meteorites must be handed over to museums.

To read more about the market for meteorites, the legality of purchasing them, why the Natural History Museum is being left behind, the laws that make Antarctica a good place to hunt for meteorites, the role that NASA plays, and why the “good guys” out in the world are so important, click here.

Source: The Naked Scientists

Via: Marginal Revolution