Materials

Manufacturing could be dramatically changed thanks to two new techniques for joining materials created by scientists in Austria. The two methods create super strong bonds at the pore level, eliminating the need for caustic adhesives.

You know how EVs and practically anything else that runs on lithium batteries aren't really all that 'green' because producing lithium takes a huge toll on the planet?

A serendipitous discovery at Stanford revealed the properties of a material that changes form when exposed to flame. The finding holds promise for a spray coating that could protect homes from fire over four times as long as current solutions.

The second largest diamond in the world has been discovered in Botswana. Canadian mining company Lucara Diamond used an advanced X-ray scanner to find a 2,492-carat diamond from its Karowe Diamond Mine. That's a whopping 17.58 oz (498.4 g).

When it comes to keeping cool on hot days, it's not so much a matter of wearing less clothing as it is a matter of wearing the right clothing. A new fabric coating could help in that regard, and it's essentially made of chalk.

Metalworking usually requires very high heat and pressure, but scientists in Singapore have now demonstrated a way to make very pure metal structures at room temperature. It’s inspired by the exoskeletons of crabs and insects.

Back in 2021, researchers came up with a recipe for greener concrete that had building waste and CO2 among its ingredients. Now the same team has used rubble from a demolished school and the greenhouse gas to produce bricks to build new structures.

Nissan has demonstrated a new automotive paint that can drastically cool a vehicle parked in direct sunshine. Tests have shown that treated cars stay up to 21.6 °F (12 °C) cooler than untreated cars parked side by side.

Using a proprietary chemical process pioneered by Canadian firm Excir, England's The Royal Mint has begun mining old circuit boards from electronic devices for gold and converting what's harvested into attractive, if pricey, jewelry.

Graphene has been found on the Moon. The so-called “wonder material” was detected in a sample of lunar soil returned by a Chinese lander.

Vantablack, which is the world's darkest material, could be in for some competition. Canadian scientists have created a super-black substance that has the potential to be cheaper, hardier and easier to manufacture … and it's made out of wood.

A new materials technique that takes cues from Grandma's yarn bag and cutting-edge tech has the potential to automatically build whole furniture sets – and the fabric that covers them. Then, they can be unraveled to use again in a totally different way.

BC8 superdiamonds are harder than any known material, but they likely only exist in the cores of giant exoplanets. Now, the Frontier supercomputer has unraveled the secret of their formation, a finding that could lead to their production on Earth.

Soft materials and stiff materials both have their uses, but the two properties typically aren't seen in one substance. RoboFabric is an exception, then, in that it can be switched back and forth between soft and stiff states.

A new material tackles the carbon problem of concrete production and usage by employing a pretty unusual workforce: cyanobacteria. The bio-cement these micro-organisms help to produce harnesses a process that's existed in nature for 3.5 billion years.