(August 4, 2015) Crystals
play an important role in the formation of substances from skeletons and shells
to soils and semiconductor materials. But many aspects of their formation are
shrouded in mystery. Scientists have long worked to understand how crystals
grow into complex shapes. Now, an international group of researchers has shown
how nature uses a variety of pathways to grow crystals beyond the classical,
one-piece-at-a-time route.
“Because crystallization is a ubiquitous phenomenon across a
wide range of scientific disciplines, a shift in the picture of how this
process occurs has far-reaching consequences,” said James De Yoreo, a materials
scientist and physicist at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest
National Laboratory and affiliate UW professor of chemistry and materials
science and engineering.
These conclusions, published July 31 in Science with De
Yoreo as lead author, have implications for decades-old questions in crystal
formation, such as how animals and plants form minerals into shapes that have
no relation to their original crystal symmetry or why some contaminants are so
difficult to remove from stream sediments and groundwater.
Their findings crystalized during discussions among 15
scientists from diverse fields such as geochemistry, physics, biology and the
earth and materials sciences. At their home institutions, these researchers
conduct experiments, investigate animal skeletons, study soils and streams or
use computer simulations to visualize how particles can form and attach. They
met for a three-day workshop in Berkeley, California, that was sponsored by the
Council on Geosciences from the Department of Energy’s Office of Basic Energy
Sciences.