COSMOS MAGAZINE

6 things we learned about crystals in 2024

the real science

1: The pink crystals use magnets to super-cool hydrogen Researchers have made a material capable of cooling substances to -253°C using magnets – enough to liquefy hydrogen.

Credit: University of Groningen / Blake lab

2: Lithium batteries made more durable with hotter crystals Researchers have found a way to grow crystals they say could be capable of powering a lithium battery-powered electric vehicle for 1 million kilometres.

3: Flurry or spiral? Snowflake falls influence forecasts The motion of falling snowflakes can be used to help predict precipitation, according to a new study. The research, which modelled 3D-printed ice crystals falling in glycerine, could be used to improve weather and cloud predictions.

4: Deep ocean crystals reveal clues about origins of life Nanometre-sized crystals more than 5km beneath the sea in the Mariana Trench hold hints about the origins of life, according to researchers.  The self-organised nanostructures, which were found around hydrothermal vents, can act in ways that produce electricity.

Credit: RIKEN

5: Transistor smaller than a nanometre made with crystal growth   Researchers have built a transistor smaller than a nanometre. They’ve figured out how to grow metallic materials 0.4 nanometres wide, and a few tens of micrometres long, which they have then incorporated into tiny transistors.

6: Mystery of the Crystal Palace’s 190-day construction solved This is not a crystal science story in the same sense as the others on the list – the Crystal Palace was made of glass, not crystals – but it’s such a bizarre story that we couldn’t help but share it again.

Credit: Read & Co. Engravers & Printers, 1851, via Wikimedia Commons

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