Scientists have created something that sounds unreal, ice that forms at room temperature.

And in just a bit, we'll talk about how researchers pulled it off and what it could mean for planetary exploration.

Then, Stormchaser Dr. Reed Timmer joins us from the front lines of tornadoes to talk about the power and science of extreme weather.

And finally, a groundbreaking study suggesting COVID-19 vaccines might actually help the body fight

cancer. We'll explore what this means in how the scientific breakthroughs during the pandemic

could extend far beyond infectious disease. Welcome to Curiosity Weekly. I'm Dr. Samantha Amin.

Forget what you thought you knew about the three phases of water.

Scientists in Germany have discovered something new, ice that can freeze at room temperature.

And it's upending one of the most familiar lessons of elementary school science class.

This new ice is called ice 21, and it's not something you're going to find in a glass of lemonade.

That type of ice, you know the kind that clinks in your glass, is technically called ice one.

Who knew?

Water, as we know, contains molecules made of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom, H2O.

When water is a liquid, those molecules move around and bounce off each other, but once the

liquid cools down, they don't have as much energy, and as the water starts to freeze,

the molecules form light bonds between one another in a hexagon shape.

When you experiment with the pressure and temperature levels of water, the molecules

arrange themselves in different ways, creating different types of ice depending on their molecular geometry.

Sometimes we get glassy ice, sometimes we get beautiful snowflakes.

This new discovery, ice 21, was created using two pieces of highly specialized

equipment. The first is called a dynamic diamond anvil cell. It's a tool that allows

researchers to exert insanely high levels of pressure very quickly. Think of two diamonds,

...