OP must follow Rox News.

A lot of heat and a lot of pressure would be a start, but then there’s a time factor as well. The heat and pressure mess around with the rocks mineral constituents, but the real “magic” begins as those minerals start recrystallizing. In time (geologic time) that recrystallization makes a much harder rock.

I honestly don’t know if the process can be sped up. I’m thinking of something like firing bricks, but bricks are made with specific ingredients and certain impurities are specifically excluded because they hurt the manufacturing. When you start with shale, lord knows what mother nature threw into that specific specimen and how she arranged it.

I guess the easiest way to get shale harder might be to crush it finely, mix it with water and bake it. If you’re lucky the clay minerals will find each other and form a strong matrix. It wouldn’t be slate, or even a rock anymore, but bricks are handy sometimes.

Shale is not a good building material, it’s too friable (crumbly). Slate starts off as the same rock ans shale except it undergoes a bunch of heat and pressure which makes it much less friable and an excellent material for things like roofing tiles and mantles.

The Marriotts. Not huge fans of alcohol.

iNaturalist is definitely a good suggestion, but it is NOT an assassin bug, wrong markings and body form. It looks to be in the genus Alysus. Here’s what iNaturalist gave me as a likely hit. Also, I’d recommend the Seek app (it’s associated with iNaturalist) over iNaturalist app for casual users as it gives quick likely identifications through real-time image matching and does not require engaging the broader iNaturalist community.

*Acid-filled Erlenmeyer flasks

It’s a fish bone, but not sure what species or part of the skeleton. I’ve seen many on beaches around the Gulf of Mexico.

It was based on good old fate and transport processes and plenty of scientific data (as opposed to made up hearsay?). It served us well for that sucky situation we were in. .

https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/pha-guidance/conducting_scientific_evaluations/exposure_pathways/environmental_fate_and_transport.html

Australian coffee shops are the best.