Liquid crystals in the mantles of neutron stars
  Recent calculations indicate that in the outer parts of neutron stars nuclei are rod-like or slab-like, rather than roughly spherical. We consider the elastic properties of these phases, and argue that they behave as liquid crystals, rather than rigid solids. We estimate elastic constants and discuss implications of our results for neutron star behavior. 
C. J. Pethick (1,2), A. Y. Potekhin (1,3) ((1) Nordita, Copenhagen,   (2) U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, (3) Ioffe Phys...