For more than a century, schoolbook physics has divided matter into neat categories like solid, liquid, gas, and plasma. A ...

This corralled supercooled liquid relies on the surprising property that some atoms in a liquid remain stationary regardless ...

Scientists have discovered that Earth’s inner core may not be fully solid. A rare “superionic” state of matter could explain ...

Imagine you're eating dinner. You try to pour some ranch dressing onto your plate to dip your veggies into. You tip the container upside down, but nothing comes out. Seems like a solid. So you shake ...

Researchers have recently identified 'dark electrons'—electrons undetectable using traditional spectroscopy—within solid materials. By examining palladium diselenide, the team discovered states ...

In everyday life, all matter exists as either a gas, liquid, or solid. In quantum mechanics, however, it is possible for two distinct states to exist simultaneously. An ultracold quantum system, for ...

Plasma happens when gas gets heated to a very high temperature and the atoms lose their electrons. Find out more about this state of matter. Science Trek is available to stream on pbs.org and the free ...