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.

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Crystals might look simple, but their growth tells a far more complex and fascinating story. From grains of salt to diamonds, crystals form when particles lock into repeating patterns. For many years, ...

Learn how to make ice crystals in the wintertime with this fun science craft video! Ever wanted to know how ice crystals form? Well, now you can make some of your own! Make your own ice crystals and ...

New studies of the “platypus of materials” help explain how their atoms arrange themselves into orderly, but nonrepeating, ...

Researchers in Vienna have discovered something remarkable: crystals that don’t form in space, like diamonds or salt, but in time itself. Instead of atoms arranging neatly into repeating patterns, ...