Materials Science
- Materials Science
Sunlight + gold = steaming water (no boiling needed)
Nano-gold is the new black, at least when it comes to absorbing heat. When tiny gold particles get together, they become energy super-absorbers — turning them black.
- Environment
Eggshells help hatch a new idea for packaging
Why just crack an egg? Make the shell into itty bitty bits and use them to build a more biodegradable plastic. New research shows how.
- Materials Science
Goo-oozing deicer protects surfaces
New, slime-oozing coating might someday help reduce ice and snow buildups on road signs and aircraft wings. The inspiration? The goo produced by slugs.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Chemistry
Explainer: Temperature and electrical resistance
Higher temperatures mean more energy and more motion. In contrast, cold means slow moving molecules.
- Materials Science
Scientists Say: Kevlar
Many people hear Kevlar and think of body armor. But this polymer is in so much more.
- 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.
- Earth
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.
- Materials Science
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.
