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European Synchrotron Radiation Facility


Preserving a 460 year old wreck

A team of international researchers analyzed the sulphur and iron composition in the wooden timbers of the Mary Rose, an English warship wrecked in 1545. They found high concentrations of organo-sulphur compounds in the lignin-rich areas between the cells, which may have helped preserve the ship while it was submerged in seawater.

SourceEuropean Synchrotron Radiation Facility·JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences·DateSep 27, 2005

Living metals

A research team from the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research and ESRF observes temporal structural fluctuations on an atomic scale in a crystalline material. The discovery sheds light on how materials respond to external perturbations like changes in temperature, pressure, magnetic or electric fields.