You might call it good science or crazy thinking, but scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California achieved something special - turning diamond into metal. A diamond is non-conducting and nothing like a metal, but the researchers believed that if the diamond could be compressed enough it might take on metal-like properties.
They used the world's most powerful laser to focus several beams on a small diamond. The light's energy set up a shock wave that rippled through the diamond, compressing it with a pressure of millions of atmospheres. They found that the diamond's surface reflected light like a metal. They didn't say, but their next trick might be turning gold into lead.
