Smaller but more ductile: Poor ductility is one limiting factor in widespread use of strong but lightweight magnesium alloys in cars, trains, and planes. The usual way to try to circumvent this poor ductility is by adding other elements, which can be costly. Liu et al. show that very small samples of pure magnesium are much more ductile than previously believed (see the Perspective by Proust). The small samples suppress the deformation twinning that causes fractures in larger samples. Avoiding this mechanism should allow development of high-ductility magnesium and other metal alloys. Science , this issue p. 73 ; see also p. 30

Collagen-bound nucleation inhibitor ameliorates mineralization via caching of prenucleation clusters.