New ‘Self-Cleaning’ Concrete Is Also Strong, Heat-Insulating and Soundproof
Building materials that clean themselves could save immense time and labor in homes and businesses, as well as reduce disease risk in settings such as…
Polymers
US Army Synthetic Biology Research Advances Toward New Class of High-Performance Materials
Synthetic biologists working on a U.S. Army project have developed a process that could lead to a new class of synthetic polymers that may create…
Tubulane Inspired Ultrahard Polymers Are Full of Holes, but Stop Bullets Better Than Solid Materials
Theoretical tubulanes inspire ultrahard polymers: Rice University-printed sample is full of holes, but stops bullets better than solid materials. A lightweight material full of holes…
Nutrient Encapsulating Microparticles Could Help Fight Malnutrition
New strategy for encapsulating nutrients makes it easier to fortify foods with iron and vitamin A. About 2 billion people around the world suffer from…
Degradable Polymers Synthesized by MIT Chemists – Can Break Down in the Body
Materials could be useful for delivering drugs or imaging agents in the body; may offer alternative to some industrial plastics. MIT chemists have devised a…
Large Scale Integrated Circuits Produced in Printing Press Based on Organic Electrochemical Transistors
Researchers at Linköping University and RISE, Campus Norrköping, have shown for the first time that it is possible to print complete integrated circuits with more…
New Bio-Inspired Hydrogel Acts Like Superglue in Seawater
Getting glued in the sea: New bio-inspired hydrogels can act like superglue in highly ionic environments such as seawater, overcoming issues in currently available marine…
Method Developed to Manipulate Fundamental Architecture of Polymers
A Florida State University research team has developed methods to manipulate polymers in a way that changes their fundamental structure, paving the way for potential…
Bioprinting Living Cells Extremely Fast and at Very High Resolution in a 3D Printer
With a new process developed at TU Wien (Vienna), living cells can be integrated into fine structures created in a 3D printer — extremely fast…
Turning Plastic Trash Into Treasure: Upcycling Plastic Into High-Quality Liquid Products
Catalytic method upcycles single-use plastic into high-quality liquid products. Single-use plastics might have more inherent value than you think. Researchers have developed a new method…
Unique Particles – With Stickiness of Gecko Feet – Formed by Harnessing Chaos
New research from North Carolina State University shows that unique materials with distinct properties akin to those of gecko feet – the ability to stick…
New Material Captures Carbon Dioxide and Efficiently Converts It to Useful Organic Materials
A new material that can selectively capture carbon dioxide (CO2) molecules and efficiently convert them into useful organic materials has been developed by researchers at…
Insights From 16th Century Navigational Tools Help Physicists Create Complex Polymer Structures
From the intricate patterns of pollen grains to the logarithmic spirals of nautilus shells, biology is full of complex patterns, shapes, and geometries. Many of…
Silk’s Nano-Scale Fibrils Give It Cryogenic Toughness to Thrive in Outer Space Temperatures
Their initial discovery had seemed like a contradiction because most other polymer fibers embrittle in the cold. But after many years of working on the…
Super Durable, Flexible, Water-Repelling Material Inspired by Porcupinefish
Nature has evolved a dazzling array of materials that help organisms thrive in diverse habitats. Sometimes, scientists can exploit these designs to develop useful materials…
Scientists to Communicate Polymers More Easily With New Notation System
BigSMILES language allows computers and researchers to convey stochastic configurations more clearly. Having a compact, yet robust, structurally-based identifier or representation system for molecular structures…
Storing Secret Messages in Light-Sensitive Polymers
Scientists from the CNRS and Aix-Marseille Université have recently shown how valuable light-sensitive macromolecules are: when exposed to the right wavelength of light, they can…
Chemists Edge Closer to Using Ribosome to Create Designer Polymers
A team of Yale chemists is one step closer to using the ribosome — the cell’s protein-making factory — to create designer polymers, including stronger…