Is it true that no two snowflakes are alike?

As Joe Hanson of It's Okay To Be Smart explains in a new video, each snowflake really is unique -- only not for the reason you might expect. read more

The short answer to the question is yes -- it is indeed extremely unlikely that two complex snowflakes will look exactly alike. It's so extremely unlikely, in fact, that even if you looked at every one ever made you would not find any exact duplicates. read more

It's not entirely true that no two snowflakes are alike -- only the larger, complex flakes are unique. Some snow crystals form into simple six-sided prisms that can appear indistinguishable under a microscope, Caltech physicist Kenneth Libbrecht has observed. read more