Scientists have discovered a new form of ice that more closely resembles liquid water than any other and may hold the key to understanding this most famous of liquids.

Plastic ice is “something intermediate between a liquid and a crystal, you can imagine that it is softer when you squeeze it,” says physicist Livia Bove of CNRS in Paris.

Amorphous ice on Earth may be confined to the atmosphere's frigid upper reaches. "Almost all ice in the universe is amorphous and in a form called low-density amorphous ice," Salzmann said. "This ...

But the new ice is different: It has a density of 1.06 grams per cubic centimeter, which is very similar to water’s 1 gram per cubic centimeter, according to Live Science’s Stephanie Pappas.

image: A new form of ice very similar in molecular structure to liquid water (left), compared to ordinary crystalline ice (right) view more Credit: University of Cambridge ...