DailyDirt: Materials Behaving Weirdly

Materials used to be so important that several stages of history are marked by them: the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, etc... Nowadays history seems a bit less intrigued by the materials we have access to. There's no Superconducting Cuprates Age, for instance. But there are still some really interesting discoveries that could not have been made without various material properties at our disposal. Here are just a few examples.

• Some superconducting materials may point to the existence of another phase of matter. This new phase of matter hasn't been completely defined, but it may be critical to understanding how superconductivity can be sustained at higher temperatures. [url]
• A new transition temperature for all liquids has been discovered and dubbed the "dynamic crossover temperature" -- which doesn't seem as catchy as the glass transition temperature. But it might become more important if some practical applications for it are also found... [url]
• Scientists have observed some molecules exhibiting superfluidity for the first time. Actually, the hydrogen molecules were only 85% superfluid... call me when they get 100% of them. [url]
• Metamaterials can reproduce a few aspects of spacetime, and now they've been used to recreate a mini-BigBang, demonstrating that time travel shouldn't be possible. Too bad for John Connor, and good news for the machines. [url]
• To discover more interesting chemistry-related articles, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]  

By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

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