Traditionally, at school, we are taught that there are only four states of matter: solid, liquid, gas and plasma. Fortunately, that's not true because that would be boring. There are also at least 4 other less common states and Icontest a fifth. These are the Bose-Einstein condensate, photonic molecules, quark-gluon plasma, superconductors and superfluids. They all have unique properties that clearly distinguish the differences between them and the four traditional states. These advances could help us in the future and have practical uses now. My favorite state of matter is actually the Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). This state was first achieved in 1995 (predicted in 1924 by Albert Einstein) by firing photons directly at the material we wish to cool. Because the photons colliding with the partials have slowed their speed, which is essentially the same as heat for a molecule, you can bring matter down to a few billionths of a degree above absolute zero, which "is the minimum possible temperature” (absolute zero) at which all movement stops. When you shoot photons (partials of light) into this ultra-cold substance, the light can slow down to thirty-eight miles per hour. The telltale sign that a substance is in BEC is when the millions of atoms that are in this state act as if they were a single atom. Just like lasers actually, all the same color and all going in the same direction. The discovery that we can make photons act strongly together could make the development of quantum computers much easier. this discovery is the most recent of the five and only occurred last year. Normally, photons do not interact. "Getting photons to stick to each other is not easy because they normally pass each other without interacting" (Johnson), but...... middle of paper ...... top rotation. heat can pass through superfluids at lightning speed, in fact scientists have reason to believe that at the centers of neutron stars that remain after a super nova, one might find a superfluid carrying away heat and rapidly cooling the star. In conclusion, Bose-Einstein condensate, quark-gluon plasma, superconductors, and superfluids are all different states of matter, based on the different properties they exhibit when they reach certain temperatures. However, photonic molecules are probably not a new state of matter, because to be a state of matter they must be matter and photons are not matter. However, they represent a new way for light particles to react and could therefore shed light on new things. These discoveries should be taught in schools because they are cool and also because we should not ignore new discoveries in science..