Materials Science

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Physics

Take a look at this weird, bendy type of ice

These specially grown threads of ice bend into curves, then spring back when released.

Environment

Let’s learn about plastic pollution

The world is cluttered with plastic waste. All that junk kills animals far and wide.