Intrinsic Toughening in h-BN (IMAGE) Rice University Caption Computational simulations at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore helped explain the unexpected fracture toughness of 2D hexagonal boron nitride. The material's intrinsic toughness arises from slight asymmetries in its atomic structure (left), which produce a permanent tendency for moving cracks to follow branched paths (right). Credit Image courtesy of H. Gao/NTU Usage Restrictions Must credit: "H. Gao/NTU" License Licensed content Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.