Materials Science
- 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.
- Computing
This ‘smart’ self-cleaning keyboard is powered by you
A new electric keyboard locks out anybody but its owner. It’s not only self-cleaning but also powered by your fingertips.
- Materials Science
‘Smart’ windows could save energy
Tiny chemical droplets in a liquid sandwiched between panes of glass turn cloudy when they warm up. This will block some sunlight and potentially save on air conditioning bills.
- Materials Science
Scientists Say: Colloid
When water hovers in the air as fog and when bits of fat disperse in water as milk, they form a type of substance called a colloid.
- Tech
Rewritable paper: Prints with light, not ink
Rewritable paper could save money, preserve forests and cut down on waste — and all without using any ink.
- Physics
Nobel goes for making white LEDs possible
The 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to scientists who discovered how to make blue light-emitting diodes. People really wanted white LEDs. The missing ingredient in making them was a building block: the blue LED.
- Tech
Repelling germs with ‘sharkskin’
A biotechnology company has found a way to repel superbugs without toxic chemicals. It mimics the texture of a shark’s skin.
- Tech
Invisible plastic ‘ink’ foils counterfeiters
Hidden images make a new label virtually counterfeit-proof, thanks to a combination of chemistry and nanotechnology.
- Health & Medicine
Cool Jobs: Data detectives
Statisticians are experts in seeing the patterns hidden within the raw numbers called data. They especially excel at finding real trends, while eliminating what is actually due to chance. That’s why they offer a good reality check in any field that involves numbers.
- Materials Science
Looking unbelievably cool
Everything above absolute zero gives off some heat. Usually objects radiate more heat — or energy — as their temperature climbs. But engineers now have created a material that sometimes appears to cool even as it is warming.
- Chemistry
Cool Jobs: Repellent chemistry
Chemistry is just one way to repel water in nature. Structure, or the shape of things, is another. To excel at water repellency, the lotus leaf relies on both.
- Climate
Explainer: Why a tornado forms
Tornadoes start with a thunderstorm. But they also require other ingredients, such as instability.
