Matter and Its Interactions
- Materials Science
Made from fungi, this vegan leather can self-heal holes or rips
If made under gentle conditions, leather formed from the “roots” of mushrooms can retain the ability to regrow and repair minor damage.
- Tech
Gravity ‘batteries’ might help a weighty renewable-energy problem
To store the energy generated by wind and solar power, researchers are looking at mammoth systems that raise and lower weights.
- Tech
New device can harvest clean energy from humid air anywhere
Unlike solar power, this new source of electricity is available day or night.
- Health & Medicine
Stem cells can help build lab-grown organs that mimic real life
Making such organoids with 3-D printing and other tech can help researchers learn more about many troubling and potentially deadly disorders.
- Tech
High-tech solar ‘leaves’ create green fuels from the sun
Chemists make a liquid alternative to fossil fuels from carbon dioxide, water and the sun. Their trick? They use a new type of artificial leaf.
- Tech
New thermal ‘cloak’ keeps spaces from getting too hot or too cold
A prototype fabric could help keep cars, buildings and other spaces cooler during heat waves while also reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.
- Chemistry
Scientists Say: Valence electrons
These far-out electrons do the hard work when it comes to chemical reactions.
- Materials Science
This house is partly made of recycled diapers
After being washed, dried, sanitized and shredded, used diapers were mixed with other materials to make a strong concrete.
- Chemistry
Experiment: Test the effect of temperature on reaction time
Alka-Seltzer tablets fizzle furiously when dropped into water. Can you make Alka-Seltzer fizz faster or more loudly by changing the water’s temperature?
- Materials Science
Analyze This: A new fabric mimics polar bears’ pelts for warmth
With layers that work like polar bears’ skin and fur, a material absorbs light and keeps it from escaping.
- Physics
Scientists Say: Explosion
Explosions happen when chemical or nuclear reactions blow out a lot of heat, noise and expanding gas.
- Tech
Nanocrystal ‘painted’ films may someday help relieve summer heat
The rainbow palette and cooling powers of new plant-based films comes from their microscopic surface patterns of tiny crystals.
