He placed the shard on her table. It was a fragment of a prehistoric crucible, possibly three thousand years old. She scanned it with her portable X-ray diffractometer. The pattern was astonishing: mullite ((3\textAl_2\textO_3 \cdot 2\textSiO_2)), corundum, and a glass containing iron and copper nanoparticles. The ancient potters had accidentally produced a functionally graded material — a hard, refractory interior for melting metal, and a tough, shock-resistant exterior.

Let’s be honest: the physical hardcover is heavy enough to stop a bullet. Furthermore, the 1976 edition (the third) is notoriously expensive to buy new, and used copies often smell like a 1970s university library.

  1. Bienvenid@ a marioluna.com Mario Luna 3:35