Did Asteroid Crash Cause Earth’s Rarest Structure?

Did Asteroid Crash Cause Earth’s Rarest Structure?
Photo by NASA/JPL-Caltec via Getty Images
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Scientists have only found two quasicrystals on Earth. These super rare crystal-like solids have supposedly impossible symmetries.

New experiments could explain why they’re so rare: Collisions between asteroids may have caused them.

The electron backscatter diffraction pattern of the quasicrystal reveals its unusual structure. (Credit: Asimow Laboratory/Caltech)
The electron backscatter diffraction pattern of the quasicrystal reveals its unusual structure. Credit: Asimow Laboratory/Caltech
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