To make the new iron compound, physicist Kei Hirose of the University of Tokyo and his colleagues squeezed iron and helium together in a diamond anvil cell, a high-pressure device that subjected ...

Earth appears to be a chill blue planet, but deep down, it’s really a metalhead. Its outer core is mostly molten iron (and ...

The diamond anvil crushed iron and helium together under conditions mimicking those inside the Earth, to create a new compound. These compounds remained stable when pressures were reduced.

Millot and colleagues squeezed a mixture of hydrogen and helium between two diamonds and hit the concoction with a powerful laser to compress it even further. As the pressure and temperature ...