{"id":237680,"date":"2025-10-24T20:10:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T20:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/237680\/"},"modified":"2025-10-24T20:10:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T20:10:08","slug":"300-year-old-meteor-has-otherworldly-properties-that-may-hold-the-key-to-a-more-sustainable-future-twistedsifter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/237680\/","title":{"rendered":"300-Year-Old Meteor Has Otherworldly Properties That May Hold The Key To A More Sustainable Future \u00bb TwistedSifter"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-605583\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-605583\" src=\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/lazy-load-0.7\/images\/1x1.trans.gif\" alt=\"A meteor shower above a field\" width=\"800\" height=\"158\" title=\"300 Year Old Meteor Has Otherworldly Properties That May Hold The Key To A More Sustainable Future\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/AITA-Meteor-Shower.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-605583\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pexels<\/p>\n<p>Over three hundred years ago, a meteorite landed in the German town of Steinbach.<\/p>\n<p>Back in 1724 the meteor was quite something.<\/p>\n<p>But now in 2025, this particular meteor is\u00a0still causing scientists to marvel at its peculiarities, with researchers from Columbia Engineering, the Swiss Federal Technology Institute of Lausanne, and Sapienza University of Rome recently evidencing some unprecedented facts about the meteorite\u2019s properties.<\/p>\n<p>And their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pnas.org\/doi\/10.1073\/pnas.2422763122\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">study<\/a>, which has been recently published in the\u00a0Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is challenging much of what we know about thermodynamics.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-533103\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-533103\" src=\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/lazy-load-0.7\/images\/1x1.trans.gif\" alt=\"An image of Mars\" width=\"800\" height=\"158\" title=\"300 Year Old Meteor Has Otherworldly Properties That May Hold The Key To A More Sustainable Future\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Mars-Sky.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-533103\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">NASA<\/p>\n<p>After extracting a sample from the space rock, the researchers discovered the rare mineral silica tridymite.<\/p>\n<p>This mineral has previously been found on Mars, and though rare on Earth is known to occur in volcanoes with high silica content, as it is only formed at an extremely high temperature and pressure.<\/p>\n<p>And there\u2019s something truly weird about this mineral.<\/p>\n<p>In many senses of the word, silica tridymite is essentially heat proof, in that it doesn\u2019t conduct heat in the same way as most materials that we know on our planet.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-605577\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-605577\" src=\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/lazy-load-0.7\/images\/1x1.trans.gif\" alt=\"The atomic structure of the silica tridymite.\" width=\"800\" height=\"134\" title=\"300 Year Old Meteor Has Otherworldly Properties That May Hold The Key To A More Sustainable Future\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Atomic-Structure.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-605577\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Columbia Engineering\/Michele Simoncelli<\/p>\n<p>Even at high temperatures, silica tridymite\u2019s thermal conductivity is constant, thanks to its unique atomic structures.<\/p>\n<p>Far from just being fascinating to behold, all this has given scientists plenty of ideas when it comes to planning for the future of our species and our planet.<\/p>\n<p>In particular, they hold that silica tridymite could be used in manufacturing, to make processes more efficient and reduce their impact on the environment.<\/p>\n<p>Because it\u2019s really important that we are able to reduce our species\u2019 effects on the environment, even if it takes materials from elsewhere in our solar system to do so.<\/p>\n<p>If you think that\u2019s impressive, check out this story about <a href=\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/2023\/11\/20-40-million-goldmine-of-lithium-found-in-the-u-s-and-could-completely-change-the-ev-battery-game\/?utm_source=IN-ARTICLE&amp;utm_medium=IN-ARTICLE&amp;utm_campaign=IN-ARTICLE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">a \u201cgoldmine\u201d of lithium that was found in the U.S. that could completely change the EV battery game.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\tCategories: <a href=\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/category\/scitech\/\" rel=\"category tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">SCI\/TECH<\/a>\t\t<br \/>Tags:  \u00b7 <a href=\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/tag\/atomic-structure\/\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">atomic structure<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/tag\/climate-crisis\/\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">climate crisis<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/tag\/mars\/\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">mars<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/tag\/meteor\/\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">meteor<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/tag\/meteorite\/\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">meteorite<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/tag\/science\/\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">science<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/tag\/silica-tridymite\/\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">silica tridymite<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/tag\/single-topic\/\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">single topic<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/tag\/space\/\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">space<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/tag\/space-research\/\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">space research<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/tag\/sustainability\/\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">sustainability<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/tag\/thermal-conductivity\/\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">thermal conductivity<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/tag\/thermodynamics\/\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">thermodynamics<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twistedsifter.com\/tag\/top\/\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">top<\/a>\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pexels Over three hundred years ago, a meteorite landed in the German town of Steinbach. Back in 1724&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":237681,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[112197,49,48,5660,1845,19722,38720,66,112198,14091,306,58767,4935,112199,22113,1060],"class_list":["post-237680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-atomic-structure","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-climate-crisis","tag-mars","tag-meteor","tag-meteorite","tag-science","tag-silica-tridymite","tag-single-topic","tag-space","tag-space-research","tag-sustainability","tag-thermal-conductivity","tag-thermodynamics","tag-top"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}