🚨 ULTRAFAST ELECTRONS FLIP METAL STRUCTURES IN A TRILLIONTH OF A SECOND. Scientists at The University of Manchester have shown that metals can change their crystal structure in just a few picoseconds when hit with powerful laser pulses. The electrons heat up almost instantly, long before the atoms do. During this brief window, the metal can switch from one solid structure to another without relying on traditional heat. The team studied 17 elemental metals and found that most could undergo these rapid transitions. The key driver is electronic entropy — how electrons spread across energy states at high temperatures. This effect reshapes the free‑energy landscape and makes new phases of matter briefly stable. These findings open the door to controlling materials with ultrafast lasers. Researchers could push metals into temporary states that never appear under normal conditions. This could influence advanced manufacturing, ultrafast electronics, and high‑energy physics. The work appears in Physical Review Materials and marks a major step in understanding how materials behave under extreme, nonequilibrium conditions.