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Editorial Briefing
7-billion-year-old stardust is the oldest solid material on Earth

Jan 2020

7-billion-year-old stardust is the oldest solid material on Earth

Cosmochemists have discovered the oldest solid material known to exist on Earth. The material, stardust, consists of silicon carbide grains measuring around one micrometer in size. The grains date back approximately 7 billion years, or about 2.5 billion years before the Sun and solar system formed. Aged stars nearing the end of their life cycles originally forged the grains, which then were captured inside a meteorite that formed around 4.6 billion years ago, eventually crashing into Australia in 1969. Analyzing the dust will help scientists study previous stellar generations in our galaxy. See also: Milky Way Galaxy; Star; Sun

Editorial Briefing
Coldest chemical reaction reveals the moment new molecules form

Dec 2019

Coldest chemical reaction reveals the moment new molecules form

For the first time, scientists have observed two molecules meeting and reacting to form new molecules. A team of chemists used lasers to slow down interacting molecules to temperatures far colder than outer space, enabling the team to observe a chemical reaction colder than any on record or that could ever transpire in nature. The finding offers important insights into how chemical reactions transpire on a fundamental level, opening the door to a deeper understanding and potential control of reactions, which could subsequently be used to develop new materials and processes. See also: Chemistry; Laser; Molecule

Editorial Briefing
New form of carbon allows diamond to bend at nanoscale level

Feb 2020

New form of carbon allows diamond to bend at nanoscale level

Famously durable, diamond is the hardest natural substance that occurs in any significant abundance on Earth. Yet according to a new study, on the nanoscale—a scale size of just billionths of a meter—diamond can, in fact, be bent and deformed. This discovery could pave the way to developing new nanotechnologies for a host of applications ranging from energy storage to sensing to radiation shielding. See also: Diamond; Energy storage; Nanotechnology

Editorial Briefing
New state of matter found in Cooper pair metals

Dec 2019

New state of matter found in Cooper pair metals

Physicists have discovered a new state of matter described as a Cooper pair metal. Similar to an ordinary metal, this newfound state of matter conducts electricity with some resistance. However, the carriers of electric charge in this new state are not single electrons, as usual, but Cooper pairs—twosomes of electrons that normally occur in superconducting media in which electricity flows without resistance. The discovery points to new avenues for advancing quantum theory, which describes the behavior of matter on its smallest scales, as well as for potentially developing novel kinds of electronics. See also: Conduction (electricity); Electrical resistance; Electricity; Electron; Matter; Metal; Quantum mechanics; Quantum theory of matter; Superconductivity

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