Materials Science

  1. Health & Medicine

    Flexible electronics track sweat

    A flexible, wireless health monitor that can wrap around the wrist tracks temperature and analyzes sweat to detect signs of too much water loss.

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  2. Chemistry

    New bendy device could power wearable electronics

    A new device with lithium and silicon electrodes uses chemistry to generate electricity as it bends back and forth.

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  3. Materials Science

    Wet suits with hair?

    The dense hair that keeps sea otters warm in frigid waters may inspire development of “furry” wet suits for scuba divers.

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  4. Animals

    Some fish wear an invisibility cloak

    Some fish can hide in open water. How? Tiny crystals in their scales and skin help them reflect and blend in with polarized light.

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  5. Materials Science

    Explainer: Temperature and electrical resistance

    Higher temperatures mean more energy and more motion. In contrast, cold means slow moving molecules.

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  6. Materials Science

    Scientists Say: Kevlar

    Many people hear Kevlar and think of body armor. But this polymer is in so much more.

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  7. Materials Science

    Long-sought subatomic particle ‘seen’ at last

    Physicists have finally caught a brief glimpse of massless subatomic particles that were first predicted to exist 85 years ago. It’s the elusive Weyl fermion.

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  8. Materials Science

    Keeping roofs cooler to cut energy costs

    Cool it! A cheap paint-on coating for roofing shingles could help reduce a home’s heating bills and might even trim urban ozone levels, a teen shows.

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  9. Tech

    Cool Jobs: Big future for super small science

    Scientists using nanotechnology grow super-small but very useful tubes with walls no more than a few carbon atoms thick. Find out why as we meet three scientists behind this huge new movement in nanoscience.

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  10. Physics

    New mirror picky in what it reflects

    A new type of mirror is selective in the light it reflects. It allows some wavelengths of radiation to pass through, while others bounce off.

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  11. Animals

    Why you’ll never see a dirty gecko

    By knowing how a gecko’s skin works, could self-cleaning, water-repelling, antibacterial clothes be far behind?

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  12. Tech

    Sunglasses on demand

    Plastics that conduct electricity let new color-changing sunglasses go from dark to light and back again at the tap of a switch. The shades could come in a range of colors too.

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