Scientists have created a new phase of ice that can form at room temperature.

As detailed in a new paper published in the journal Nature Materials, the new phase, dubbed XXI, requires extreme levels of pressure to form. As its name suggests, it’s the twenty-first form of ice to have been identified, joining a fascinating array of other structures ranging from hexagonal and cubic to superionic, which can be found on the surface of gas and ice giants like Neptune or Uranus.

The finding shows just how many phases of water’s solid state there really are — and how much there’s still to learn about the extremely abundant stuff. The research could even help explain how extraterrestrial forms of ice found on distant moons came to be.

The research is a collaboration between Korea Research Instit

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