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.

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 ...

This experiment demonstrates how crystals form through a process called crystallization. You'll create a supersaturated solution and watch as beautiful crystal structures grow over several days, ...

In exploring how crystals form, the researchers also came across an unusual, rod-shaped crystal that hadn’t been identified before, naming it “Zangenite” for the NYU graduate student who discovered it ...

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 ...

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, ...

Photographer Justin Zoll shoots stunning landscapes—without setting foot outside. Instead he peers through a secondhand Olympus BH2 microscope into a hidden world of psychedelic crystal vistas. Zoll ...

Space Crystals charges $150,000 to grow two crystals infused with a person's DNA in microgravity. One crystal is then returned to the customer and the other is sent to the moon in a Lunar Time Capsule ...