A slice of quartz ground to a prescribed thickness that vibrates at a steady frequency when stimulated by electricity. The tiny crystal, about 1/20th by 1/5th of an inch, creates the computer's ...

So far in this series, pretty much every material we’ve covered has had to undergo a significant industrial process to transform it from its natural state to a more useful product. Whether it ...

The coin-size crystal, developed by researchers at the University of Southampton in England, is made from a synthetic material that mimics the properties of fused quartz — a glass made of almost ...