Room-Temperature Superconductivity Might Have Been Attained
Material scientists in Germany have claimed that they have discovered a material that can act as a superconductor at room temperature. If this is accurate,…
Materials Science News
Superhydrophobic Coating Allows Boiling Water without the Creation of Bubbles
Water can be made to boil without any bubbling if a boiling surface is specifically treated so that the vapor cushion does not break down….
Robotic Tentacles Have a Soft Enough Touch to Pick Up Flowers
Typically, robotic hands have had trouble being dexterous enough and delicate enough to perform certain tasks, but robotics experts from Harvard University have been developing…
Air Pockets in Bristled Feet Allow Beetles to Walk Underwater
Beetles are often observed being able to tenaciously cling to smooth surfaces, like leaves, hanging on even when those surfaces are bordering on the vertical….
The First All-optical Nanowire Switch
Building on their earlier research, scientists at the University of Pennsylvania have made the first all-optical photonic switch out of cadmium sulfide nanowires, an important…
New Hydrogel Offers Many Possibilities
By combining two common polymers, polyacrylamide, and alginate, scientists at Harvard have created a new hydrogel that is capable of maintaining its elasticity and toughness…
The Counterintuitive Behavior of the Cucumber Tendril
A new study from scientists at Harvard University describes the mechanism by which coiling occurs in the cucumber plant and suggests designs for biomimetic twistless…
Light Activated Muscle Cells May Advance Biorobotics
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and MIT have genetically engineered muscle cells to flex in response to light, which may one day enable highly…
“Patterned Regrowth” May Lead to Graphene-Based Circuits
Using a technique called “patterned regrowth,” scientists at Cornell have invented a way to pattern single atom films of graphene and boron nitride without the…
Probing the Effects of Light at the Atomic Scale
By mixing a pulse of x-rays with a pulse of lower-frequency optical light waves, a team of scientists at the Berkley Lab was able to…
Nanocrystalline Alloys That Meet Operational Requirements
In a newly published research paper, MIT scientists describe the method they used to identify and fabricate nanocrystalline alloys that meet operational requirements, even at…
2D Molybdenum Disulfide Shows Potential as Platform for Electronic Devices
A newly published study from researchers at MIT details the use of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) as a 2D platform for electronic devices, possibly opening the…
Computer Model Helps Remove Greenhouse Gases From Power Plants
A team of scientists has developed a computer model that can identify the best molecular candidates for removing greenhouse gases from power plants, providing accurate…
New Insights Into How Superconducting Materials Interact With Magnetic Ones
An international team of physicists has gained new insights into how superconducting materials interact with magnetic ones, discovering charge density waves in ceramic yttrium and…
Electrically Conductive and Crack-Free Semiconductor Nanocrystal Films
Using a technique based on electron-beam lithography and a lift-off process, MIT scientists demonstrated the first semiconductor nanocrystal films of nanoscale dimensions that are electrically…
Scientists Examine Platinum-Based Catalyst Design
Working as a team, scientists from SIMES and the SUNCAT Center for Interface Science and Catalysis studied two platinum-rhodium nanostructures, identifying the most active sites…
Hybrid Crystalline/Amorphous Material Capable of Indenting Diamonds
An international team of scientists created the world’s first hybrid crystalline/amorphous material that is hard enough to indent diamonds. Using a diamond anvil cell, the…
Microstructures of Plants May Lead to New Bio-Inspired Materials
MIT researchers believe engineers may be able design new bio-inspired materials by compiling and analyzing data on the microstructures of a number of different plants….
