All eyes were focused on a sparkling 'diamond' the size of an apple at the start of the Pembrokeshire Darwin Science Festival's Christmas lecture which took senior students from Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire on a journey to the centre of the earth. Almost 200 students from Ysgol Gyfun Emlyn, Milford Haven, Greenhill and Pembroke Schools and Pembrokeshire College attended the presentation at Narberth's Queen's Hall given by Professor Paul McMillan, Professor of Chemistry at University College, London and the prestigious Royal Institution. At the event which was sponsored by TOTAL, Professor McMillan explained his research which involves exploring and developing concepts of high-pressure high-temperature conditions, such as those that are achieved deep inside the planets. A key to understanding what happens at the centre of the earth is the mineral diamond that comes up intact from the interior and that also provides a 'window' for looking at materials and doing experiments under extreme high-pressure and high-temperature experiments. Using a diamond anvil cell, Professor McMillan and his research colleagues, Denis Machon and Dominik Daisenberger, demonstrated how they create high pressure conditions similar to those at the centre of the earth.