Science can do almost anything, including creating a new type of ice. The plot of Kurt Vonnegut's 1971 novel Cat's Cradle is similar to this one.
The University of Nevada in Las Vegas created a new type of frozen H2O molecule by putting a special form of ice called Ice VII under extremely high pressure.
The change in the structure of Ice VII may have implications on our understanding of where life can survive in the universe.
The new form of ice, known as Ice-VIIt, isn't likely to occur naturally on the surface of our planet. It could be found in the Earth's mantle, as well as on water-rich exoplanets and far- flung moons outside our solar system, according to researchers.
Ice VIIt transitions into Ice X, the phase at which ice stiffens aggressively, at only a third of the pressure compared to what physicists previously thought to be necessary for Ice X to form, the researchers said in a statement.
This conclusion could force the astronomer to reexamine the habitability of previously discovered exoplanets.
If there are planets with a lot of water in their mantle, the planets would be bigger than we thought. The water supply in many of the large exoplanets that have been discovered in recent years will need to be reexamined.
You probably don't want this stuff cooling your whiskey on the rocks, but it's still cool that making a new form of ice could help us find aliens one day.
Physicists create ice.
Scientists created ice that can bend like a wire.
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