University of Cambridge researchers have discovered that a material already known for its peculiar electrical properties appears to behave as both a conductor and an insulator at the same time. This ...

You’ve heard all about the wonder properties of graphene, so come meet its one dimensional cousin, carbyne. A chain of single carbon atoms to graphene’s two-dimensional layer of atoms, carbyne has ...

In a carefully controlled environment, physicists have managed to stabilize a rare and previously short-lived phase of matter by using a simple method of rapid heating and cooling. This breakthrough ...

We’re surrounded by electrically powered devices these days. From our lights, to our kettles, and of course our phones! Electricity flows through copper or aluminium wire to power or charge all of ...

Cambridge researchers have identified a material that behaves as both a conductor and an insulator. The material, samarium hexaboride (SmB6), acts like an insulator in certain measurements, but ...

The electronic energy states allowed by quantum mechanics determine whether a solid is an insulator or whether it conducts electric current as a metal. Researchers have now theoretically predicted a ...

Normally metals and insulators sit at opposite ends of a spectrum of conductivity, but researchers have discovered a material that can switch between those states freely, even at room temperature. The ...

Some materials that are inherently disordered display unusual conductivity, sometimes behaving like insulators and sometimes like conductors. Physicists have now analyzed the conductivity in a special ...

Fran: You might be thinking that a conductor stands at the front of an orchestra waving their arms around, and they do. But we're talking about a different kind of conductor. A conductor of ...