Published : 30 Sep 2026, 12:29 AM
Updated : 30 Sep 2026, 12:29 AM
Scientists have created a bizarre form of ice that remains solid at temperatures hotter than lava, potentially offering clues to the unusual magnetic fields of Uranus and Neptune, CGTN reports.
The material, known as superionic ice, forms under extreme heat and pressure. In this state, oxygen atoms create a solid structure while hydrogen nuclei move through it like a liquid, making the material electrically conductive, cited per the report.
Researchers in France squeezed a tiny water sample to more than 2 million times Earth’s atmospheric pressure and heated it above 1,500 degrees Celsius. Despite the extreme temperature, the pressure kept the water in a solid state.
The team found that the oxygen atoms formed a previously unknown crystal structure, CGTN said, providing new insight into how superionic ice is arranged and behaves under extreme conditions.
The finding could help explain why Uranus and Neptune have magnetic fields that are sharply tilted and offset, unlike Earth’s comparatively centred magnetic field.
Scientists have long suspected that electrically conducting superionic ice deep inside the two planets could generate their unusual magnetic fields.
CGTN noted that the fields were observed by NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft during its encounters with the ice giants in the 1980s.
Superionic ice was predicted decades ago and experimentally confirmed in 2018. The latest research adds another piece to the puzzle of how water can behave under the extreme conditions found inside some of the solar system’s most distant worlds.
