Molecules/Matter & Energy
How leeches are able to swell tenfold, plus not-so-super solids, new natural toxins and more in this week's news
By Science News
Not so super after all?
A team of researchers is challenging the claim that scientists have spotted a new state of matter. First reported in 2004, “supersolidity” would occur in solid helium at extremely low temperatures, allowing atoms to slide through one another (
SN: 9/11/10, p. 22
). In the May 13
Science
, Séamus Davis of Cornell and his colleagues report new work on frozen helium. They say they see a bizarre type of crystallization that could explain the helium’s behavior without invoking supersolidity. —