How to boggle the mind more than it can be boggled

 

Physicists recently turned light into a solid.

That's right on the edge of "Oh my god, how is that even possible?"

Laser light made into a supersolid for the first time

"Supersolids are entities that exist only in the quantum world, and, up until now, they have all been made using atoms. Prior research has shown that they have zero viscosity and are formed in crystal-like structures similar to the way atoms are arranged in salt crystals.

To create their supersolid, the researchers fired a laser at a piece of gallium arsenide that had been shaped with special ridges. As the light struck the ridges, interactions between it and the material resulted in the formation of polaritons—a kind of hybrid particle—which were constrained by the ridges in a predesigned way. Doing so forced the polaritons into forming themselves into a supersolid.

The research team then set themselves the task of testing it to make sure it truly was a supersolid—a task made more difficult by the fact that a supersolid made from light had never been created before. Despite the difficulties, they were able to show that their supersolid was both a solid and a fluid and that it had no viscosity."

It's been said before, but the quantum world frequently defies common sense. This is yet another demonstration.