Number 280 (Story #2), July 22, 1996 by Phillip F. Schewe and Ben Stein ICE CHANGES FROM A MOLECULAR SOLID TO AN IONIC SOLID when squeezed hard enough. Scientists at the Carnegie Institution of Washington used a diamond anvil cell to crush ice until the asymmetric hydrogen bonds, which usually keep water molecules in their proper places in the ice crystal, become symmetrical. In other words, instead of owing primary allegiance to one particular oxygen, the hydrogens became egalitarian in their alignment with the surrounding oxygens. It took 60 gigapascals of pressure (about 6 x 10**5 atm) to produce the transformation in H2O and 70 gigapascals in D2O. (A.F. Goncharov et al., Science, 12 July 1996.)