Oleg V. Yazyev

A calcium tungstate (CaWO₄) crystal is like a musical instrument: its atoms vibrate like strings, and these vibrations can 'drown out' fragile quantum information. To understand exactly how this happens, scientists bombarded the crystal with neutrons and recorded the response — producing a map of all possible vibrations, from low notes to very high ones.

A crystal is like a row of soldiers on a parade ground: every atom is in its place, and electrons march through it in neat waves. An amorphous material is like a crowd at a train station, where there is no order, just a jostling throng. In such a crowd, an electron usually gets stuck quickly, like a person trying to push through a dense mass of people.