Remarkable New Coating Helps Electronics Stay Cool by “Sweating”
Mammals sweat to regulate body temperature, and researchers from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China are exploring whether our phones could do the same. In…
Materials Science
Fundamental Property of Halide Perovskites May Open Up a Whole New World of Applications
Study shows all halide perovskites inherently unstable, requiring great attention to environment. University of California, Berkeley, scientists have created a blue light-emitting diode (LED) from…
Nano-Thin Flexible Touchscreens Could Be Printed at Home – 100x Thinner Than Current Technology
New touch-responsive technology is 100 times thinner than existing touchscreen materials and so pliable it can be rolled up like a tube. Researchers have developed…
New Kirigami (Folded Paper) Designs Support 14,000 Times Their Own Weight
A team of researchers found that using the origami-inspired art of paper cutting and folding, it is possible to create super strong models from lightweight…
Oil-Catching Sponge Could Be Solution for 100 Billion Barrels of Oil-Contaminated Wastewater Generated Every Year
Drilling and fracking for oil under the seabed produces 100 billion barrels of oil-contaminated wastewater every year by releasing tiny oil droplets into the surrounding…
Bioplastic Generation Using Urban Biowaste
In a circular economy, city waste being turned into resources is of great importance, especially considering more than 70% of the inhabitants in Europe live…
Surprisingly, Molecules Move Faster on Rough Terrain
Roughness, the presence of irregularities on a surface, is commonly associated to slower motion and stickiness. This is true at different length scales: at human…
Incredible Material Is Both Heat-Insulating and Heat-Conducting at the Same Time
Styrofoam or copper – both materials have very different properties with regard to their ability to conduct heat. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for…
New Membrane Technology Improves Water Purification and Battery Energy Storage
Imperial College London scientists have created a new type of membrane that could improve water purification and battery energy storage efforts. The new approach to…
By Chance, Scientists Develop Ideal Bandage That Promotes Healing and Doesn’t Stick to Wound
Researchers from ETH Zurich and the National University of Singapore have developed a new kind of bandage that helps blood to clot and doesn’t stick…
‘Chameleon Metals’ Engineered to Change Surface Structure in Response to Heat
Just like a chameleon changes its skin color in response to its environment, engineers have found a way for liquid metal – and potentially solid…
Carbon Nanotube Film Produces Aerospace-Grade Composites Without Huge Ovens or Autoclaves
A New Approach to Making Airplane Parts, Minus the Massive Infrastructure A modern airplane’s fuselage is made from multiple sheets of different composite materials, like…
Researchers Create New Lightweight 18-Carat Gold That Weighs 5 to 10 Times Less
ETH researchers have created an incredibly lightweight 18-carat gold, using a matrix of plastic in place of metallic alloy elements. Lovers of gold watches and…
Surface Damage to Vehicles Traveling at Hypersonic Speeds From Ice and Dust Particles
Vehicles moving at hypersonic speeds are bombarded with ice crystals and dust particles in the surrounding atmosphere, making the surface material vulnerable to damage such…
Long-Sought-After ‘Superdiamond’ With Tunable Properties Synthesized by Scientists
‘Superdiamond’ Carbon-Boron Cages Can Trap and Tap Into Different Properties A long-sought-after class of “superdiamond” carbon-based materials with tunable mechanical and electronic properties was predicted…
Harvesting Ocean Energy: Bio-Inspired Membrane Efficiently Produces Electricity From Saltwater
Inspired by membranes in the body tissues of living organisms, scientists have combined aramid nanofibers used in Kevlar with boron nitride to construct a membrane…
New Ultrathin Coating Uses Trickery to Hide Temperature Changes From Infrared Cameras
An ultrathin coating developed by University of Wisconsin–Madison engineers upends a ubiquitous physics phenomenon of materials related to thermal radiation: The hotter an object gets,…
Making Stronger 3D-Printed Alloys Using Ultrasound
Researchers have used sound vibrations to shake metal alloy grains into tighter formation during 3D printing. A study just published in Nature Communications on January…