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A Quasi-Quasicrystal

Posted by kdawson on from the fractional-quasiness dept.

An anonymous reader sends along a link to a mindbending article in Science News on quasicrystals — odd materials with a structure partway between order and disorder. Now researchers have found something even odder: a material that's partway between a quasicrystal and a regular crystal. The order in the new structure is provided by the Fibonacci sequence. It was constructed with plastic beads and laser beams, so no new materials science inventions are on the horizon. "'We are absolutely sure that this structure should have properties that are not usual,' Mikhael says, because materials with odd structures almost always do. Now they just have to figure out what those properties are."

7 of 121 comments (clear)

  1. Anyone else find that quote hilarious? by haltenfrauden27 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "'We are absolutely sure that this structure should have properties that are not usual,' Mikhael says, because materials with odd structures almost always do."

    Sounds like something out of a Monty Python sketch.

    Seriously, though, I'd rather hear about what interesting/new discoveries come out of this strange material than just hear about the possibility of its existence.

    --
    Catch telemarketers
    1. Re:Anyone else find that quote hilarious? by Paradigm_Complex · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Seriously, though, I'd rather hear about what interesting/new discoveries come out of this strange material than just hear about the possibility of its existence.

      When that's announced people will complain that the information is pretty useless and would rather hear about practical applications found for it.
      When that's announced people will complain about why they haven't heard about this before. Others will complain about how it was on digg years ago and how slashdot is slow.

      So shut up and discuss the interesting stuff we have know now :D
      Or get high and stare at the trippy pictures :D
      Or make an off topic meme-based joke :(

      --
      "A witty saying proves nothing." - Voltaire
    2. Re:Anyone else find that quote hilarious? by dwater · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "We are absolutely sure that this structure should have properties that are not usual,' Mikhael says, because materials with odd structures almost always do."

      Right. What kind of logic does this guy use?

      "We are absolutely sure it should have 'something'... because ... others almost always do..."

      "We're...100%....80%....60%..." Add a few more even 'less certain' words, like "surely", "perhaps", "maybe" and the confidence in his assertion would have dropped from 100% certainty all the way to 0% certainty in a single sentence.

      I mean, hedging your bets or what? This guy should be a politician.

      --
      Max.
    3. Re:Anyone else find that quote hilarious? by Artuir · · Score: 5, Funny

      I for one welcome our shark-toting Fibonacci based Hitler laser fiends, you insensitive clod!

    4. Re:Anyone else find that quote hilarious? by Firehed · · Score: 4, Funny

      In Soviet Russia, insensitive sharks tote Fibonacci, you Hitler-based laser crystal!

      --
      How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
  2. Re:Penrose tiling? by whyloginwhysubscribe · · Score: 5, Funny

    They don't exist anymore - they got bought out by Hawking's Bathrooms in 2004.

  3. Re:New meme by nospam007 · · Score: 4, Funny

    It can be used to build a machine making something almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea.