Edwin L. Aguirre A recent discovery by a research team that includes Kennedy College of Sciences Prof. Nelson Eby is shedding light on the debris created by an atomic blast, and it could set the stage for advances in materials research, including potential applications in energy, health care and nuclear forensics. The team, which also included researchers from the University of Florence in Italy, the California Institute of Technology, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Princeton University and the University of Maryland, discovered a new quasicrystal in a trinitite sample it investigated. âTrinitite, which is also known as atomic rock, is a glassy material that was first produced by the extreme heat and pressure of an atomic explosion during World War II,â says Eby, who is with the Department of Environmental, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences.