Diamonds Get a Little Squishy at the Nanoscale. Here’s Why
Familiar materials will act differently at the smallest scales. Notably, diamonds—typically hard and brittle—grow strangely soft at the…
After 100 Years, Engineers Finally Discover Why Rubber Is So Tough
Plenty of familiar phenomena and materials are actually scientific mysteries. Reinforced rubber has long been on that list:…
Liquids Crack With an Audible Snap, Study Finds
At the most fundamental levels, science often challenges common sense. And a new finding might be the most…
High-temperature superconducting dome mapped in nickelate thin films
Physicists hunting for new superconductors often look for a very specific shape hidden in their data—a dome. In…
Scientists Claim They’ve Finally Made the Elusive ‘Hexagonal’ Diamond
In 1962, researchers hypothesized that diamond’s known form—a mostly cubic crystal—wasn’t the coveted mineral at its greatest hardness.…
The Most Elusive Color in Chemistry Might Surprise You
Seeing a color in nature is one thing. Recreating colors artificially is an entirely different challenge—one with some…
Metal tubes stay afloat even after severe damage — opening the door to unsinkable ships
More than a century after the RMS Titanic slipped beneath the Atlantic, engineers still chase the dream of…
Scientists Discover Time Crystals You Can Hold—and They Levitate
Last year, physicists created a time crystal—atomic arrangements repeating motion patterns—visible to the naked eye. But the latest…
Scientists create Bose-Einstein condensate leading to a new fifth state of matter
In a Columbia University laboratory in New York, physicist Sebastian Will and his team have reached one of…
Scientists Make Material That Can Morph Into Anything With the Pull of a String
There’s a very thin line between math and art. As it turns out, the same can be said…