Our lives are surprisingly dependent upon this extremely light and unreactive gas, yet supplies of it are remarkably fragile.

While this is less than the pressure in the core (about 350 GPa), the reactions created molecular lattices of iron and helium. These structures remained ... also revealed a dynamically stable crystal ...

Earth’s core could contain helium from the early solar system. The noble gas tucks into gaps in iron crystals under high pressure and temperature.

Szalewicz, "Predicting structure of molecular crystals from first principles," Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 115503 (2008). , K. Szalewicz, "Interplay between theory and experiment in investigations of ...

Helium, known for its chemical inertness ... researchers have demonstrated that it can integrate into the crystalline structure of iron under extreme conditions of pressure and temperature.

Image: Argonne National Laboratory / Flickr / CC 2.0 Helium, known for its chemical inertness ... researchers have demonstrated that it can integrate into the crystalline structure of iron under ...