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Solid but fluid: New materials reconfigure their entire crystal structure in response to humidity

  • March 11, 2026 at 3:00 PM
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Solid but fluid: New materials reconfigure their entire crystal structure in response to humidity
Most solid materials we rely on, from steel, to plastics and ceramics, are designed to have specific properties. Whether a material is soft and flexible, or stiff and tough depends on how molecules within the material are organized. That stability is useful, but it comes at a cost: once made, these materials' properties are fixed, and they rarely adapt to their environment.

Originally published at Phys.org

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