Mucic acid crystals grown from a water-based solution achieved a record-breaking stiffness for an organic crystal.

Researchers and industries have been using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to study semiconductors' stacking and dislocation faults. This article considers the analysis of crystal structures.

More than a billion years ago, in a shallow basin across what is now northern Ontario, a subtropical lake much like ...

Researchers describe a method to fabricate single-crystal vases several microns in size. The molecules spontaneously grow into the structures after drop-casting. This work may allow new experiments in ...

Mesmerizing videos offer a new look at the ways crystals form. The real-time clips, described March 30 in Nature Nanotechnology, show closeup views of microscopic gold particles tumbling, sliding and ...

New research offers clearer insight into how phase transitions unfold at the atomic scale in real materials. When ice turns into water, the change happens almost instantly. Once the melting ...

Every cell of the deadly Plasmodium falciparum parasite, the organism that causes malaria, contains a tiny compartment full of microscopic iron crystals. As long as the parasite is alive, the crystals ...

Although caffeine is the most widely used drug in the world, many people may not know what the substance actually looks like. In April 2024, a post on Reddit (archive) claimed to show "Caffeine ...

Robots and cameras of the future could be made of liquid crystals, thanks to a new discovery that significantly expands the potential of the chemicals already common in computer displays and digital ...

Photographer Justin Zoll shoots stunning landscapes—without setting foot outside. Instead he peers through a secondhand Olympus BH2 microscope into a hidden world of psychedelic crystal vistas. Zoll ...