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Producing metallic hydrogen in the laboratory has been a dream of high-pressure researchers ever since 1935, when theorists first predicted its existence3. When squeezed with enough pressure inside an anvil, hydrogen should be able to conduct electricity, the hallmark of a metallic state. And theorists say that the material could have other exotic properties, such as being a superconductor...even at room temperature. ... Dias and Silvera say that they were able to squeeze their hydrogen gas at greater pressures than anyone else has managed. To do so, they used an anvil that can fit inside a cryostat, enabling them to...

The Metallic Snow-Capped Mountains of Venus Jun 10, 2013 03:13 PM ET // by Markus Hammonds Some of Earth’s most majestic features are its towering snowcapped mountains, reaching high enough that they can sculpt our world’s weather systems. But the mountains on Earth are by no means unique, and neither is the snow. Mountains on Venus are also capped with snow. Except that Venusian snow is mostly made from heavy metals.As you might expect from a planet with such an alien atmosphere, the snow which caps the Venusian mountains is seemingly no less exotic. With the high temperatures on the...

Mars rover Spirit finds metallic meteorites 13:00 13 June 2006 NewScientist.com news service Maggie McKee Allan Hills, one of the iron meteorites discovered by the Mars rover Spirit (right foreground), appears lighter and smoother than surrounding rocks (Image: NASA/JPL/Cornell) Two iron meteorites have been spotted by the Mars rover Spirit, mission scientists have announced. The finds are the first meteorites identified by Spirit, although its twin, Opportunity, discovered a similar space rock on the other side of the planet in January 2005. Spirit photographed the rocks in April 2006, just after it parked at Low Ridge Haven, a northern-tilting slope...