Newly Discovered ‘Hybrid’ Phase of Matter Blurs the Line Between Solid and Liquid

High school science misses a lot of the science researchers actually work with. For example, you learn that there are three states of matter—solid, liquid, and gas—but in advanced physics, things get a bit more complicated. From this complexity, physicists have derived a weird new state of matter: a hybrid between solid and liquid.

Introducing “corralled supercooled liquid.” Like a solid, it contains atoms that stay stationary under special conditions. Like a liquid, most of its…