Materials Science

  1. Tech

    This crumb-sized camera uses artificial intelligence to get big results

    Researchers have developed a camera the size of a coarse grain of salt that takes amazingly clear photos.

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  2. Chemistry

    Explainer: What is a metal?

    Metals can bend and pull without snapping, and conduct electricity. The reason: Their atoms tend to lose electrons to neighboring atoms.

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  3. Materials Science

    Analyze This: This material for 3-D printing is made by microbes

    Bacteria with tweaked genes pump out proteins that can be used in a 3-D printer. With microbes in the mix, the living ink can make drugs or suck up chemicals.

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  4. Chemistry

    Could reusable ‘jelly ice’ cubes replace regular ice?

    These hydrogel “jelly ice cubes” are made mostly of gelatin and water. They won’t melt, even when thawed, and may provide new food cooling options.

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  5. Materials Science

    This glitter gets its color from plants, not a synthetic plastic

    In the new material, tiny arrangements of cellulose reflect light in specific ways to create vibrant hues in an environmentally friendly glitter.

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  6. Materials Science

    Analyze This: Hardened wood can make sharp steak knives

    Researchers treated wood to make it hard and dense. Out of it, they carved sharp knives and nails that could substitute for ones made of steel.

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  7. Materials Science

    These colorful butterflies were printed with transparent ink

    Clear ink creates a whole rainbow of colors when printed in precise, microscopic patterns. This phenomenon is known as structural color.

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  8. Materials Science

    Bacteria make ‘spider silk’ that’s stronger than steel

    Part spider silk, the material is better than what some spiders make. Researchers think it might make the basis for surgical threads or unusually strong fabrics.

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  9. Tech

    A sense of touch could upgrade virtual reality, prosthetics and more

    Scientists and engineers are trying to add touch to online shopping, virtual doctor appointments and artificial limbs.

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  10. Physics

    Research on climate and more brings trio the 2021 physics Nobel Prize

    Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann pioneered work on simulations of Earth’s climate. Giorgio Parisi probed complex materials.

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  11. Tech

    Tiny swimming robots may help clean up a microplastics mess

    Big problem, tiny solution. Researchers in the Czech Republic have designed swimming robots that can help collect and break down microplastics.

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  12. Materials Science

    Scientists Say: Aerosol

    Aerosols are tiny bits of solids or drops of liquids suspended in gas. Aerosols include mist, fog and soot, as well as pollution from fossil fuels.

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