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Iconic American movie star Marilyn Monroe [once / only] famously sang, "Diamonds are a girl's best friend". Scientists from the University of Liege in Belgium believe they have [earthed / unearthed] a gargantuan amount of these precious [stones / stone] . There could be an 18-km [wide / width] layer of the gems beneath the crust of the planet Mercury. Our nearest planetary neighbour could quite [laterally / literally] be a celestial jewel. Researchers tested how Mercury formed, [appropriately / approximately] 4.5 billion years ago. The planet evolved [for / from] a gyrating cloud of cosmic dust and gas. Over millions of years, the dust was compressed into graphite, which is chemically identical [to / of] diamond. Both are solid forms of the element carbon. It is unlikely Mercury's diamonds could ever be mined [has / as] they are about 500 km below [a / the] surface.

Researchers used a machine called an anvil press [for / to] simulate the conditions under which Mercury was formed. The press is [using / used] to make synthetic diamonds. Researchers mixed elements inside [the / a] graphite capsule. These included silicon, magnesium and aluminium. The capsule was subjected [of / to] pressure 70,000 times greater than that on Earth. It was heated [to / for] temperatures of 2,000 degrees Celsius. The lead researcher [speculated / specialized] about the diamonds on Mercury. He said: "Diamonds are made of carbon only, so they should be [similar / similarity] to what we know on Earth…They would resemble [pure / purity] diamonds." Scientists believe there are a quadrillion [dons / tons] of diamonds beneath the Earth's surface. Experts say the value of these hidden gems is pretty much [calculable / incalculable] .