Adamantine: The Mystery of Damascus Steel

With all the technology in the world and everything humans know about alloys, polymers, composites and nanomaterials, is it possible to create impenetrable armor? What about a sword that can slice right through other swords, the adamantine metal of Wolverine’s claws or the Valyrian steel from Game of Thrones?

It turns out there was something like this in actual history, something called Damascus steel.

Modern metallurgists are still trying to fully nail down the recipe for Damascus steel and there is still some argument about whether science really understands how this material works. Further research seems to be just intensifying the mystery.

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All music by Christopher Rankin