Scientists finally solved a 150-year-old gallium mystery

According to ScienceDaily, scientists say they've cracked a mystery about gallium that had puzzled researchers for a century and a half. The metal is famous for melting at unusually low temperatures — it can turn liquid in the warmth of your hand — and for behaving unlike almost any other metal. The new work found that gallium's unusual atomic bonds actually re-form at high temperatures, a result that contradicts decades of accepted theory about why the metal melts so easily. ScienceDaily notes the discovery could open doors in semiconductors, nanotechnology, and liquid-metal engineering.

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