Solving mysteries of metallic glass at the nanoscale

The matter of how metals deform or respond to external stresses has been extensively studied among metallurgists for centuries. When it comes to conventional metals—the crystalline kind with atoms that line up in neat patterns—the process is fairly well understood. But for the deformation of metallic glasses and other amorphous metals, easy answers have been elusive, particularly when it comes to how things work at the nanoscale.