Stories by Robert M. Hazen

Musings on a symphony in C

Looking at the mineral kingdom through the lens of deep time leads to a startling conclusion: most mineral species owe their existence to life

Air, water and rock were the only raw materials available on the early earth. The first living entities must have been fabricated from these primitive resources. New experiments suggest that minerals the basic components of the rocks could have played starring roles in that dramatic feat.

Many of the new high-temperature superconductors belong to a family of ceramics called perovskites. The adaptable perovskite structure gives rise to materials that have a wide array of electrical properties

X-ray studies of crystals compressed between a pair of gem-quality diamonds reveal a range of responses to increased pressure. Changes in atomic structure are best viewed in terms of polyhedral geometry