A new compound of curium (a radioactive, rare, and costly element) photographed at LLNL during crystallography experiments. The team from LLNL and OSU used the so-called “polyoxometalate ligands” (POMs) to capture rare isotopes and form crystals big-enough to be characterized, even when only 1-10 micrograms of the rare isotope are available. Crystals of this curium compound are uncolored under ambient light but glow intensely pink-red when exposed to ultraviolet light.