Bismuth is an unusual element that we don't encounter much in everyday life. But this pretty, iridescent metal, found near the bottom of the periodic table, exhibits some extraordinary properties.

When a crystal structure of bismuth (right) is decompressed from 32,000 atmospheres (3.2 GPa) to 12,000 atmospheres (1.2 GPa) it melts into a liquid at about 23,000 atmospheres (2.3 GPa ...

Ram Mohan looks at how bismuth — a remarkably harmless element among the toxic heavy metals in the periodic table — has sparked interest in areas varying from medicinal to industrial chemistry.

[NightHawkInLight] has been playing around with the diamagnetic properties of bismuth. Diamagnetic materials get a lot of attention due to their strange ability to produce the opposite of the ...