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Phoenix666 [soylentnews.org] writes:

A breakthrough discovery made by a Chinese-led international research team has raised hope for the development of a super-light, incredibly strong metal [scmp.com] that could dramatically change the space race.
...
Led by Wang Weihua of the academy's Institute of Physics in Beijing, the researchers dipped a piece of the glass in liquid nitrogen for several minutes, then lifted it up and left to warm to room temperature.

After repeating this cycle a dozen times, like a blacksmith in reverse, they finally obtained what they dubbed the "ultimate solid", a long-life metallic glass capable of withstanding the elements.

According to the researchers, the quick ageing of the glasses was caused by the "intrinsic non-uniformity of the glass structure". In other words, the randomness of atom arrangement was not random enough, with orderly structures occurring sparsely here or there.

Repeated cryonic "baths" allowed the atoms to be randomised even further, eliminating defects that would lead to the material's internal instability.

You know the rest: Bird of Prey, Whales.

Original Submission