As long as pearl jewelry have been known to people, they have been a highly sought commodity for their beauty. It's only in recent times however that the industry has taken the hunt for the perfect pearl to a whole different level. Today, the shiny orbs that we see on in display in jewelry stores have actually almost always been grown in farms. That's a far cry from the dangerous extraction and collection methods used before the invention of modern technology. In the past, not more than 100 years ago, the only way to retrieve pearls was by diving in lakes, floods and the ocean to pick them up, one at the time. The unfortunate divers who'se job it was to do this, were often poor and lured by the relative large sums they could get. The diver would sometimes have to dive as deep as 100 feet on one single breath of air. In order to preserve air and to stay submerged the longest, the divers would hold on to heavy stones on the way down. Naturally, this dangerous activity was reserved for the desperate or the powerless - in many cases slaves or extremely poor peasents. Today, this method is all but obsolete in most places of the world. The cheaper cultured pearls have become popular and are many times the only pearls available to the consumer. There are however still a few isolated areas that practice this old art of pearl diving. Some of the finest natural pearl speciments come from the gulf of Bahrain. Here, divers still risk their health to retrieve what are considered the top of the crop in the world. In fact, Bahrain wants no part of the sale of cultured pearls, banned from trade. Bahrain is one of the few places on earth that does an active job in trying to preserve the natural habitat and waters from pollution. It's an interesting story and one that continues to fascinate buyers around the world. Somehow, the beauty of the pearl grows when it's been retrieved from the depth of the ocean.

Buying pearl jewelry can be fun, exciting and confusing. Whether you're considering a gift of pearl jewelry for someone special or as a treat for yourself, take some time to learn the terms used in the industry. Here's some information to help you get the best quality pearl jewelry for your money, whether you're shopping in a traditional brick and mortar store or online. Pearls Natural or real pearls are made by oysters and other mollusks. Cultured pearls also are grown by mollusks, but with human intervention; that is, an irritant introduced into the shells causes a pearl to grow. Imitation pearls are man-made with glass, plastic, or organic materials. Because natural pearls are very rare, most pearls used in jewelry are either cultured or imitation pearls. Cultured pearls, because they are made by oysters or mollusks, usually are more expensive than imitation pears. A cultured pearl's value is largely based on its size, usually stated in millimeters, and the quality of its nacre coating, which give it luster. Jewelers should tell your if the pearls are cultured or imitation. Some black, bronze, gold, purple, blue and orange pearls, whether natural or cultured, occur that way in nature; some, however, are dyed through various processes. Jewelers should tell you whether the colored pearls are naturally colored, dyed or irradiated. Clams, oysters, mussels and many other mollusks with limy shells are known to produce pearls. But very few kinds yield gem pearls of jeweler's quality. The pearl is an abnormal growth of mother-of-pearl, or nacre, imbedded in the soft bodies of these shellfish. It is built up, layer upon layer, in the same way as nacre is added to the lining of the growing shell and always has the same color and luster. For example, over the country, hundreds of good-sized pearls are found each year in the oysters we eat. Unfortunately these have no commercial value regardless of whether they have been cooked or not because they are dull opaque white or purple like the shell of the parent oyster. In recent times almost all pearls of gem quality come from the oriental pearl oyster which has a bright shimmering translucent nacre. A pearl starts growing when some irritating foreign substance such as a sand grain, bit of mud, parasite or other object becomes lodged in the shell-producing gland called the mantle. Pearls formed in the soft flesh where nacre can be added on all sides are most likely to be spherical and the most highly prized. By far the great majority are flattened or variously distorted and have little value. Size, color, luster and freedom from flaws are other essential qualities. Unlike other gems, such as diamonds, pearls have an average life of only about 50 years. In time the small amount of water in a pearl's make-up is lost and its surface cracks. Because they are mostly lime, necklaces which are worn often are injured by the acid secretions of the human skin.

The 2007 world champion will be replaced at Maranello next season by two-times champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso, now of Renault.

¡°The race in Abu Dhabi will be my last Grand Prix with Ferrari and as usual I will give it everything to gain the best possible result,¡± said Raikkonen.

¡°We¡¯ll try to conclude this difficult year with pearl jewelry a good result, hoping that it will be enough to gain the third place in the Constructors¡¯ Championship.

¡°McLaren took over in Brazil so we know it will be difficult, because the competition is very strong. It¡¯s time for me to say goodbye to the guys at Ferrari after three years together.¡±

Asked about Sunday¡¯s sunlight to darkness race, he said: ¡°It looks like the organisers have done some great work ¡ª the circuit seems to me very interesting and wheat pearl challenging and it is going to be a special challenge to start in sunlight and finish racing in the dark under floodlights.¡±

Webber was also bullish about the track and his prospects. He knows he will finish fourth in the title race. ¡°It looks great and I am sure we are going to go well there,¡± he said. ¡°Bring it on.¡±

Hamilton was in much the same mood and  pearl earringsas a lover of street tracks said he relished the prospect of a battle in the dusk race.

¡°We have had a terrific second half of the season and it would be good to go out with a win,¡± he said.

But he may find he is still engulfed in the media frenzy that has swirled around his talks with Button for a new contract, starting next season.

Brawn has made it clear he wishes to christmas giftskeep the 29-year-old Englishman on board, but has to find a compromise between his salary demands and the team¡¯s ongoing budget.

¡°Jenson¡¯s obviously a great driver and for those teams without their full compliment of drivers he has got to be a target,¡± said Brawn.

¡°We want Jenson to stay in the team and I think we will find a solution. He has a contract with us, but of course that contract is not the salary of a world champion freshwater pearl jewelry and not the salary of a team that is now in a much stronger position than it was ten months ago.

¡°We are working with Jenson to find a balance between what we can afford and what he feels is fair for his status and what he can contribute in the future. You are never 100 per cent, but I would say we are 99 per cent.¡±

While Button seeks to secure his future  cultured pearl jewelryas a world champion with Brawn, Ferrari¡¯s former title-holder Raikkonen wants to bid farewell to the Italian team with a win.

Huge optimism and end of term fever will grip the Formula One paddock this weekend as the global circus races into the unknown on the futuristic Yas Marina circuit in Sunday¡¯s inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

After seeing the 2009 World Championship cultured pearl jewelrysettled in Brazil ten days ago, the leading teams and drivers all believe they can relax and take a more aggressive approach to winning the season-ending race on a Gulf island.

Traditional power-houses Ferrari and McLaren Mercedes are both confident of performing well on the newly-built harbour-side track as are champions Brawn and their season-long rivals Red Bull.

That means a fierce scrap between outgoing pearl earrings champion Briton Lewis Hamilton and his compatriot newly-crowned champion Jenson Button is in prospect.

Former champion Finn Kimi Raikkonen, Australian Mark Webber and his Red Bull team-mate German Sebastian Vettel and Button¡¯s Brawn partner Brazilian Rubens Barrichello are also likely to be at the forefront of the action.

Brawn team boss Ross Brawn, fresh from pearl jewelry a week of celebrations, budget worries and endless speculation over the future of his team after their fairytale success in winning both the drivers and constructors titles in their first season, said he is determined to do well in Abu Dhabi.

At that moment, Abraham, who works in the engineering services section at Dubai Airport, was about to enter the police station again. ¡°I had filed the complaint as we could not find him till 10pm.¡± The father had desperately searched for his son after the school conductor and driver, on pearl jewelry enquiry, told him that the child was dropped at the next stop. ¡°As they told the same to the police, I was advised to wait till midday today (Tuesday) to see if I get any news about my son. It was when I returned to the police station that I received the call from Liju,¡± said Abraham.

The parents, who reached home at 3.30am after the search for the son, wept through the night. ¡°Anything could have happened to my child. God saved him. The wheat pearl radio announcement really helped in tracing him.¡±

Aswin was not scolded for his unforgivable mischief which he promised never to repeat. He was playing computer games when he spoke to Khaleej Times. On the other hand, he has given some lessons to his parents and school. ¡°It¡¯s become difficult to read the minds of kids pearl earrings nowadays. I¡¯ll be taking more care about him here onwards. We will also accompany him when he boards the bus and gets dropped,¡± said his father.

The school head said all the bus drivers and conductors were already instructed never to drop any child in a stop other than the one near their house. ¡°Doing a favour to the parents has boomeranged on us. Parents should take the responsibility of sending their children to tuitions,¡± said Mini Chandran.

The fifth grader, who did not return home after school on Tuesday evening, joined his parents by midday on Wednesday after a radio announcement helped churchgoers to recognise him and alert his parents.

A student of Gulf Model School in Dubai, Aswin had boarded the school bus after the afternoon shift classes. Instead of getting down near his house, he alighted in the freshwater pearl jewelry next stop telling the driver and conductor that he had to go for tuition there.

Aswin¡¯s parents had allowed him to go to the tuition class directly from school. But they had no idea about the tuition class on Tuesday. ¡°He lied to the conductor and driver. He did not want to come home as he had got low marks in a class test,¡± said his father Thomas Abraham.

Aswin is not bad at studies. He even scored 100 per cent in the class test in science this week, according to the school¡¯s head for the afternoon sessions, Mini Chandran. But, he was weak in Mathematics. Also, he had recently angered his parents by tearing off pages from pearl earrings notebooks to avoid doing homework. A single child, Aswin did not want to be scolded for fairing badly in his 
test paper.

He said he decided not to go home and got down in his schoolmate¡¯s bus stop, about 10 minutes walk from his house. He roamed around for a while. As darkness thickened, fear 
gripped him. ¡°I was scared... I did not know where I was... Nobody was noticing me,¡± said Aswin. He then decided to hide on the rooftop of a nearby building. ¡°It was a two-storey building. One aunty saw me there. But she did not ask anything. I went to the terrace and sat over there. Later, I slept.¡±

When he woke up late in the morning, Aswin found there was no more water in his water bottle. ¡°I was hungry and I wanted to drink water. When I went down and pearl jewelry walked around, I found the church we go to.¡±

As he meandered into the premises of the Sharjah Worship Centre, church-goers noticed the boy in school uniform. Some of them had heard the radio announcement about the missing boy. One of them, identified as Lijo Mathew, questioned Aswin, collected his father¡¯s number and informed the latter.