Naturally Occurring Quasicrystals | Hacker News

A Hacker News post highlights naturally occurring quasicrystals, rare aperiodic materials that can form in extreme events.

Quasicrystals are hard to synthesize because they require brief bursts of extreme heat.

The post notes they can form in nature when meteor impacts or lightning strike and fuse sand.

The finding is relevant to geology and materials science because it points to a rare class of naturally formed materials.