and how we use it. To understand why silicon acts like it does, you do have to dip into chemistry, if only for a moment. Silicon (Si) is a metalloid, element number 14 on the periodic table.

Besides computer chips, silicon has many uses; weirder spots where this element appears include menstrual cups, breast implants and oven mitts — in the form of silicone. What makes silicon so ...

In place of traditional silicon transistors, quantum computers would use “artificial atoms” of silicon-metal elements to form a nanoscale resonating circuit. This circuit could be etched into ...

Silicon has many industrial uses: As silica, silicon is a key ingredient in bricks, concrete and glass. In its silicate form, the element is used to make enamels, pottery and ceramics. Elemental ...

There are plenty of species here that use silicon to one extent or another, but none that use it as the structural element of DNA. Silicon-based life is certainly possible, but if it does exist ...

You probably wouldn't be reading this if it weren't for silicon. It's the second most-abundant element in the Earth's crust as well as the key to modern technology – used in the integrated ...

some animals even use it in their shells. Silicon is everywhere. So, where did all this stuff come from in the first place?