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.

Crystals might look simple, but their growth tells a far more complex and fascinating story. From grains of salt to diamonds, ...

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 ...

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 ...

Glass cells filled with liquid crystals respond to light to make the first time crystals visible to the naked eye, even if ...

For the first time ever, researchers have watched the mesmerizing process of nanoparticles self-assembling into solid materials. In the stunning new videos, particles rain down, tumble along ...

A team at CU Boulder has made a curious state of matter in which particles move constantly—like a clock with hands and gears that spin forever, even without ...

Researchers at Diamond Light Source have used advanced imaging to look at microscopic crystals, called nanolites, to see what ...

A new study reveals Earth's essential features formed within its first 100 million years, challenging long-held theories.

More than 4 billion years ago, when the Solar System was still young and the Earth was still growing, a giant object the size of Mars crashed into the Earth. The biggest piece that broke off of the ...