Category: materials

Goodbye AC: This new roofing material keeps houses cool

Air conditioning is something you barely notice — until the power goes out, and it no longer works. But what if keeping cool didn’t require electricity at all? A scientist has invented a material that reflects the sun’s rays off rooftops, and even absorbs heat from homes and buildings and radiates it away. And —… Continue reading Goodbye AC: This new roofing material keeps houses cool

Scientists develop “smart plastic” that changes its form from soft to hard in sunlight

Researchers say they were inspired by living things from trees to shellfish. They were inspired by living things, from trees to shellfish. Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin set their collective advanced minds on creating a plastic that would mimic real life. It would be like many life forms that are soft and… Continue reading Scientists develop “smart plastic” that changes its form from soft to hard in sunlight

Radioactive implant wipes tumors in unprecedented pre-clinical success

Engineers at Duke University have developed a novel delivery system for cancer treatment and demonstrated its potential against one of the disease’s most troublesome forms. In newly published research in mice with pancreatic cancer, the scientists showed how a radioactive implant could completely eliminate tumors in the majority of the rodents, demonstrating what they say… Continue reading Radioactive implant wipes tumors in unprecedented pre-clinical success

Scientists are one step closer to producing synthetic cells that can interact with living matter

The study describes the integration of cell division machinery in synthetic cells, a breakthrough in the field. For decades, researchers have been fascinated by the process of cell division, a highly intricate process driven by a precise cocktail of components. To better understand this phenomenon, researchers have been trying to create synthetic cells that mimic… Continue reading Scientists are one step closer to producing synthetic cells that can interact with living matter

Reprogrammable materials selectively self-assemble

While automated manufacturing is ubiquitous today, it was once a nascent field birthed by inventors such as Oliver Evans, who is credited with creating the first fully automated industrial process, in flour mill he built and gradually automated in the late 1700s. The processes for creating automated structures or machines are still very top-down, requiring… Continue reading Reprogrammable materials selectively self-assemble

The successful integration of a sub-0.5nm dielectric with 2D semiconductors

Field-effect transistors (FETs) are transistors in which the resistance of most of the electrical current can be controlled by a transverse electric field. Over the past decade or so, these devices have proved to be very valuable solutions for controlling the flow of current in semiconductors. To further develop FETs, electronics engineers worldwide have recently… Continue reading The successful integration of a sub-0.5nm dielectric with 2D semiconductors

Thinnest ferroelectric material helps to produce new energy-efficient devices, researchers claim

“Approximately 200,000 times thinner than human hair.” New energy-efficient devices are made possible by the thinnest ferroelectric material ever created, thanks to the University of California Berkeley and Argonne National Laboratory. As a result of this development, intriguing material behavior at small scales could reduce energy demands for computing, revealed ANL.