Is This Really Amorphous Ice?

2min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

The researchers behind this work made it because it seems like some sort of super high-tech physics going on but maybe that's not the case. What they ended up with was this white kind of granular powder on the metal balls and this is the medium-density amorphous ice. Now it remains to be seen all of the properties that this stuff is actually going to have but just finding it for the first time is exciting enough. And so we've gone then from this sort of rigid hexagonal structure which is the ice that I learned about at school then to this kind of structure that has no obvious pattern. Is it actually like liquid water but also ice at the same time?

0:46 The mysterious ring in the distant Solar System

Quaoar is a small, rocky object that lies beyond Neptune’s orbit. In an unexpected discovery, researchers have shown that this object has its own orbiting ring, similar to those seen encircling planets like Saturn. However, Quaoar’s ring shouldn’t exist, as it is at a distance far outside the theoretical limit at which rings are thought to be stable, and researchers are trying to figure out why.

Research article: Morgado et al.

News and Views: A planetary ring in a surprising place

07:01 Research Highlights

A repurposed skin-disease drug suppresses alcohol consumption in people with alcohol-use disorder, and how volcanic eruptions may have contributed to social unrest in ancient Egypt.

Research Highlight: Pill for a skin disease also curbs excessive drinking

Research Highlight: Volcanic quartet linked to bad times in ancient Egypt

09:26 Air pollution

Exposure to polluted air has been linked to millions of deaths each year. But while much is known about the sources and impacts of outdoor air pollution, significantly less is understood about the pollution that people are exposed to indoors, despite it causing a significant health burden. In a Comment article for Nature, a group of researchers argue for more research in order to inform future public health initiatives.

Comment: Hidden harms of indoor air pollution — five steps to expose them