Diamonds may be the strongest known natural material, but researchers have just created some stiff competition. By firing a dime-sized graphite disk at a wall at 15,000 mph (24,100 km/h), scientists momentarily created a hexagonal diamond that is both stiffer and stronger than the natural, cubic kind. Hexagonal diamonds, also known as Lonsdaleite diamonds, are a special type of diamond with carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal pattern. Formed when graphite is exposed to extreme heat and stress, such as at meteor impact sites, the rare material has long been theorized to be stronger than...…Diamonds may be the strongest known natural material, but researchers have just created some stiff competition. By firing a dime-sized graphite disk at a wall at 15,000 mph (24,100 km/h), scientists momentarily created a hexagonal diamond that is both stiffer and stronger than the natural, cubic kind. Hexagonal diamonds, also known as Lonsdaleite diamonds, are a special type of diamond with carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal pattern. Formed when graphite is exposed to extreme heat and stress, such as at meteor impact sites, the rare material has long been theorized to be stronger than...WW…

TrendingLive Science is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.This map shows 11 billion years of the universe's history, with galaxies closest to Earth appearing in purple and blue, and distant galaxies in yellow and red.(Image: © EPFL)After five years of peering into the deepest reaches of space, researchers have released what they call the "largest three-dimensional map of the universe" ever. No, you cannot see your house.The mind-boggling map is the result of an ongoing project called the Sloan Digital Sky Survey...…TrendingLive Science is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.This map shows 11 billion years of the universe's history, with galaxies closest to Earth appearing in purple and blue, and distant galaxies in yellow and red.(Image: © EPFL)After five years of peering into the deepest reaches of space, researchers have released what they call the "largest three-dimensional map of the universe" ever. No, you cannot see your house.The mind-boggling map is the result of an ongoing project called the Sloan Digital Sky Survey...WW…

TrendingLive Science is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Researchers have only two skulls from this new species, but here is what the dinosaur may have looked like nearly 80 million years ago.(Image: © Julius Csotonyi)The fossils of a newly discovered cousin — a vicious, meat-eating dinosaur with serrated teeth and a monstrous face that scientists are calling the "reaper of death," has been discovered in Alberta, Canada. At 79.5 million years old, Thanatotheristes degrootorum is the oldest known named tyrannosaur on...…TrendingLive Science is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Researchers have only two skulls from this new species, but here is what the dinosaur may have looked like nearly 80 million years ago.(Image: © Julius Csotonyi)The fossils of a newly discovered cousin — a vicious, meat-eating dinosaur with serrated teeth and a monstrous face that scientists are calling the "reaper of death," has been discovered in Alberta, Canada. At 79.5 million years old, Thanatotheristes degrootorum is the oldest known named tyrannosaur on...WW…

Live Science is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Fish school, insects swarm and birds fly in murmurations. Now, new research finds that on the most basic level, this kind of group behavior forms a new kind of active matter, called a swirlonic state. Physical laws such as — which states that as a force applied to an object increases, its acceleration increases, and that as the object's mass increases, its acceleration decreases — apply to passive, nonliving matter, ranging from atoms to planets. But much of the matter...…Live Science is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Fish school, insects swarm and birds fly in murmurations. Now, new research finds that on the most basic level, this kind of group behavior forms a new kind of active matter, called a swirlonic state. Physical laws such as — which states that as a force applied to an object increases, its acceleration increases, and that as the object's mass increases, its acceleration decreases — apply to passive, nonliving matter, ranging from atoms to planets. But much of the matter...WW…

TrendingLive Science is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.(Image: © Shutterstock)For the past 15,000 years, a glacier on the northwestern Tibetan Plateau of China has hosted a party for some unusual guests: an ensemble of frozen , many of them unknown to modern science.Scientists recently broke up this party after taking a look at two ice cores from this Tibetan glacier, revealing the existence of 28 never-before-seen virus groups. Investigating these mysterious viruses could help scientists on two fronts: For one,...…TrendingLive Science is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.(Image: © Shutterstock)For the past 15,000 years, a glacier on the northwestern Tibetan Plateau of China has hosted a party for some unusual guests: an ensemble of frozen , many of them unknown to modern science.Scientists recently broke up this party after taking a look at two ice cores from this Tibetan glacier, revealing the existence of 28 never-before-seen virus groups. Investigating these mysterious viruses could help scientists on two fronts: For one,...WW…

TrendingLive Science is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.A U.K. man infected with the new coronavirus, 2019-nCov, likely spread the virus to 11 others while staying at the French Alpine ski resort of Le Contamines-Montjoie.(Image: © Shutterstock)A British man who contracted the new on a business trip spread the virus to 11 other people from three countries, according to news reports.The man, who is in his 50s, had visited Singapore for a sales conference from Jan. 20 to Jan. 22, according to . A little more than 100...…TrendingLive Science is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.A U.K. man infected with the new coronavirus, 2019-nCov, likely spread the virus to 11 others while staying at the French Alpine ski resort of Le Contamines-Montjoie.(Image: © Shutterstock)A British man who contracted the new on a business trip spread the virus to 11 other people from three countries, according to news reports.The man, who is in his 50s, had visited Singapore for a sales conference from Jan. 20 to Jan. 22, according to . A little more than 100...WW…

TrendingLive Science is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Sampled seawater from the Gulf of Maine(Image: © Ramunas Stepanauskas and coauthors)Teeny, single-cell creatures floating in the ocean may be the first organisms ever confirmed to eat viruses.Scientists scooped up the organisms, known as , from the surface waters of the Gulf of Maine and the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Catalonia, Spain. They found a slew of viral associated with two diverse groups of protists, called choanozoans and picozoans; the same...…TrendingLive Science is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Sampled seawater from the Gulf of Maine(Image: © Ramunas Stepanauskas and coauthors)Teeny, single-cell creatures floating in the ocean may be the first organisms ever confirmed to eat viruses.Scientists scooped up the organisms, known as , from the surface waters of the Gulf of Maine and the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Catalonia, Spain. They found a slew of viral associated with two diverse groups of protists, called choanozoans and picozoans; the same...WW…

As the coronavirus outbreak in China continues to spread, having infected over 24,000 people so far, scientists around the world are racing to find a treatment. Most of the people infected with the new coronavirus, dubbed 2019-nCov, have not received a treatment specific to that virus — because there isn't one. In fact, none of the handful of coronaviruses known to infect humans has an approved treatment, and people who are infected typically receive care mainly to help relieve symptoms, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). However, a handful of...…As the coronavirus outbreak in China continues to spread, having infected over 24,000 people so far, scientists around the world are racing to find a treatment. Most of the people infected with the new coronavirus, dubbed 2019-nCov, have not received a treatment specific to that virus — because there isn't one. In fact, none of the handful of coronaviruses known to infect humans has an approved treatment, and people who are infected typically receive care mainly to help relieve symptoms, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). However, a handful of...WW…

TrendingLive Science is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.(Image: © Shutterstock)Huge bacteria-killing viruses lurk in ecosystems around the world from hot springs to freshwater lakes and rivers. Now, a group of researchers has discovered some of these so-called bacteriophages that are so large and so complex that they blur the line between living and nonliving, according to new findings.Bacteriophages, or "phages" for short, are that specifically infect . Phages and other viruses are not considered living organisms...…TrendingLive Science is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.(Image: © Shutterstock)Huge bacteria-killing viruses lurk in ecosystems around the world from hot springs to freshwater lakes and rivers. Now, a group of researchers has discovered some of these so-called bacteriophages that are so large and so complex that they blur the line between living and nonliving, according to new findings.Bacteriophages, or "phages" for short, are that specifically infect . Phages and other viruses are not considered living organisms...WW…

TrendingLive Science is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.(Image: © Shutterstock)Physicists set a new record by linking together a hot soup of 15 trillion atoms in a bizarre phenomenon called quantum entanglement. The finding could be a major breakthrough for creating more accurate sensors to detect ripples in space-time called gravitational waves or even the elusive dark matter thought to pervade the universe.Entanglement, a quantum phenomena famously described as "spooky action at a distance," is a process in which...…TrendingLive Science is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.(Image: © Shutterstock)Physicists set a new record by linking together a hot soup of 15 trillion atoms in a bizarre phenomenon called quantum entanglement. The finding could be a major breakthrough for creating more accurate sensors to detect ripples in space-time called gravitational waves or even the elusive dark matter thought to pervade the universe.Entanglement, a quantum phenomena famously described as "spooky action at a distance," is a process in which...WW…