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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."

4 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 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.
    2. 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!

  2. Re:Penrose tiling? by whyloginwhysubscribe · · Score: 5, Funny

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