"Revolutionizing Science with Hydration Solids"

Researchers from Columbia University have identified a new class of matter called "hydration solids," which includes wood, fungi, and bacteria. The team found that the properties of these materials are defined by the water that permeates them, rather than the atoms and molecules they consist of. The new understanding of biological matter can help answer questions that have dogged scientists for years. The team's findings emerged from research into the strange behavior of spores, dormant bacterial cells.