Wallace G. Smith

What is the most complex object in the cosmos? This is a big question—galaxies comprise hundreds of billions of stars and planets, and could be considered complex, as could many other natural structures. Among mankind’s creations are some remarkable works of vast intricacy. Europe’s powerful particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider, is an engineering feat of great complexity, and in its day the United States’ Space Shuttle was called the most complicated machine ever invented.

One of the marvels of our beautiful creation is all around us—taken for granted and often unnoticed. In fact, sometimes we are looking right through it! Though incredibly common on our planet, it represents one of the most remarkable substances in the universe. What is it?