Water into Gold? Not exactly...
Electron transfer makes a water droplet metallic! Source: Philip E. Mason
A new study from Nature explains how scientists used sodium and potassium to make water metallic. By transferring electrons from the alkali metals to the water, a team was able to condense the water into a golden metallic material, if only for a few moments. It's not exactly what the alchemists had in mind, but it is a pretty amazing discovery especially considering they weren't certain it would work at all! You can check out the article in Nature here.
Cool Things!
Explore Great Britain’s “Dinosaur Highway!”
A Megalosaurus track. (source: Oxford University)
Post Author - Ellis Nolan
No, this isn’t a stor...
Learn How This 400-Year-Old Company Makes Cymbals!
A Zildjian cymbal
Post Author - Ellis Nolan
Even if you’re not a musician, you’ve probably heard...
See Meteors in the night sky tonight!
Above: Composite image of the Geminid shower at its peak in 2014. NASA/MSFC/Danielle Moser, NASA'...
Specimen Deep Dives
Returning to the Moon: The Apollo 14 Mission
In the wake of the disastrous Apollo 13, the revolutionary space program that had landed humans o...
The Secrets of the Space Shuttle: Learn about Mini Museum's Shuttle Tile Material!
Want to learn more about our mission-flown Space Shuttle Columbia HRSI tile? This specimen was re...
Gondwana: When the Earth Was One
Gondwana, also known as Gondwanaland, was an ancient supercontinent which first formed 800,000,00...
Long Form Articles
Amelia Earhart & The Women Who Soared
When Amelia Earhart touched down in Northern Ireland in 1932, she was instantly propelled to ...
How the Dinosaurs Got their Feathers
66 million years ago, the K/PG extinction event brought the Age of Dinosaurs to a violent end. Ho...
Paleoart: Bringing the Past to Life
What do you see when you imagine a dinosaur? Whatever image springs to mind owes itself to the wo...