Overview
- Researchers report experimental evidence that supercooled water hits a point where two liquid forms merge at about −63°C and roughly 1,000 atmospheres.
- They reached this hard-to-probe region by rapidly heating two types of amorphous ice with nanosecond infrared pulses while an X‑ray laser captured the molecular structure.
- The team observed a fast rise in heat capacity and stronger density fluctuations, hallmarks of critical behavior in a fluid.
- The reported location aligns with thermodynamic models and earlier hints, and it could clarify water’s odd traits such as its density peak at 4°C and its unusual compressibility.
- The findings, published in Science by researchers in South Korea and Sweden, will need independent tests to confirm the effect and chart its broader impact on science and technology.