More about ‘Flexoelectricity’ here:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-025-02995-6
One more surprise in the ‘ice’ category … which is now up to 19 forms. (Know of any other solids which float on their liquid form?)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phases_of_ice#Known_phases
“The details of the chemical nature of liquid water are not well understood; some theories suggest that its unusual behavior is due to the existence of two liquid states.” - WP
You were a lucky man to be able to tune into an inspiration like that. (My home town had zero scientists.) As a kid, when I started talking about earth impactors, they’d usually get funny looks on their faces. Then I’d point at the surface of the Moon, and ask if they thought that only it got hit that many times. Silence (heh!)
Damn I never thought about that, I really was lucky.
I was not very much into the atmospheric sciences, but I learned enough from my nerd father over many years. My brother was more fascinated with atmospheric sciences.
Myself, I was more into chemistry and geology, so I gravitated towards my uncle’s field. He gave me very interesting crystal formations from his years as a student, I myself have kept them for over 40 years!