From the land of fake titties, cocaine nose jobs, bleached blonds, paparazzi and mutant celebrities comes a groundbreaking scientific development. Researches at UCLA have discovered how to manufacture magic crystal. Not that type of crystal! This isn’t a Steve Aoki dance party, and the scientists don’t look like they’re into raves. Rather, what has been developed is a nanoscale crystal that is capable of absorbing up to 80 times its volume in carbon dioxide.

Those interested in carbon-capture technology (CCS) - a technique used to reduce global warming by capturing carbon dioxide from large contributors like fossil fuel power plants and storing it instead of releasing it into the atmosphere - are particularly excited by the compounds ability to absorb CO2 and nothing else. According to Wikipedia, “CCS applied to a modern conventional power plant could reduce CO2 emissions into the atmosphere by approximately 80-90% compared to a plant without CCS.”

As mentioned by Wired, of greater importance is the “process that head researcher Omar Yaghi and his lab used to develop the compound”. Utilizing automation techniques common to the pharmaceutical/ biotech industry, Yaghi and his students can quickly test crystal samples, in turn, speeding up the process at which useful compounds are discovered. Crystals of this nature could be used for a wide variety of purposes ranging from cleaning up oil spills to reducing car emissions.