How fractures propagate and stop

Harvard scientists, in collaboration with an international and interdisciplinary team of researchers, are exploring how cracks start, propagate, and end. Their findings, detailed in papers published in Nature Physics and AGU Advances, provide a deeper understanding of the lifecycle of fractures and could improve our understanding of material science, earthquakes, and production of geothermal energy, oil, and gas.

Glass materials have an internal clock

Researchers at the Technical University of Darmstadt are investigating the ageing processes in materials. For the first time, they have measured the ticking of an internal clock in glass. When evaluating the data, they discovered a surprising phenomenon.