Whether you know it or not, you encounter crystals in your everyday life quite regularly. Table salt, sugar and snowflakes are classified as types of crystals, as are many gemstones—including amethyst ...

Crystals—from sugar and table salt to snowflakes and diamonds—don’t always grow in a straightforward way. New York University researchers have captured this journey from amorphous blob to orderly ...

In exploring how crystals form, the researchers also came across an unusual, rod-shaped crystal that hadn’t been identified before, naming it “Zangenite” for the NYU graduate student who discovered it ...