Unraveling the Mystery of the 'Rule of Four' Pattern in Materials

Scientists have discovered a puzzling "Rule of Four" pattern in the basic structure of the majority of inorganic materials, with the total number of atoms in the unit cell being a multiple of four. Despite ruling out several possible explanations, the reason behind this phenomenon remains unsolved. However, a promising finding suggests that artificial intelligence can predict if a compound will follow the Rule of Four with an 87 percent success rate, hinting at the existence of small chemical groups that may explain the pattern.