Scientists customize a magnet's performance by strategically replacing key atoms

Scientists customize a magnet's performance by strategically replacing key atoms
Scientists have given us a plethora of new materials -- all created by combining individual elements under varying temperatures and other conditions. But to tweak an intermetallic compound even more, in order to give it the attributes you desire, you have to go deeper and re-arrange individual atoms.

It's a process similar to what bioengineers employ when they add and delete genes to create synthetic organisms, and it was the focus of a group of researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory, when they replaced key atoms in a gadolinium-germanium magnetic compound with lutetium and lanthanum atoms.