Scientifically speaking, the term “crystal” refers to any solid that has an ordered chemical structure. This means that its parts are arranged in a precisely ordered pattern, like bricks in a wall.

In exploring how crystals form, the researchers also came across an unusual, rod-shaped crystal that hadn’t been identified before, naming it “Zangenite” for the NYU graduate student who discovered it ...

Yale physicists have uncovered hints of a time crystal — a form of matter that “ticks” when exposed to an electromagnetic pulse — in the last place they expected: a crystal you might find in a child’s ...

Two novel techniques, atomic-resolution real-time video and conical carbon nanotube confinement, allow researchers to view never-before-seen details about crystal formation. The observations confirm ...

The latest short science news items from C&EN. Crystallization starts with tiny clusters of protein molecules that act as seeds, says Mike Sleutel of Vrije Universiteit Brussels, who led the work. The ...

Crystals—from sugar and table salt to snowflakes and diamonds—don’t always grow in a straightforward way. New York University researchers have captured this journey from amorphous blob to orderly ...

Researchers at ETH Zurich have created a crystal made entirely of electrons. The structures have been theorized for decades, but this marks the first time they’ve been experimentally confirmed in the ...

A team of researchers has reported the first laboratory synthesis and recovery of bulk hexagonal diamond, a crystal form long predicted to be harder than the conventional gems used in cutting tools ...

Physicists have uncovered hints of a time crystal -- a form of matter that 'ticks' when exposed to an electromagnetic pulse -- in the last place they expected: a crystal you might find in a child's ...