Glass

When you think of glass, you probably picture something fragile and brittle, not a material built for high-stress electromechanical components. Yet researchers are significantly improving the efficiency of electric motors by using “glass” parts!

There's a whole giant structure with remarkable details behind the glass, but we're all really here for this building's striking facade. This is the Glasshouse Theatre, a new performance venue unveiled last week in Brisbane.

Microsoft has been perfecting a high-density storage technology that uses glass and ensures it stays intact for millennia. A breakthrough in how it writes data allows for the use of cheaply available borosilicate glass.

Researchers at the University of Portsmouth in the UK have developed a way to use powdered discarded glass in building blocks for construction, which could make this versatile material a lot more sustainable.

Using ultrasonic waves and a salt bath, a research team has altered the surface of glass. The brand-new method may lead to glass made without the use of harsh chemicals for self-cleaning windshields, germ-busting surfaces, or maybe even better beer.

Most homes have far fewer electrical outlets on the outside than on the inside, which can pose a challenge when powering outdoor devices. The Power Mole V2 is here to help, by transmitting even more power right through window panes.

Vibration-absorbing, sound-damping materials such as sheets of rubber and expanded foam tend to be thick, bulky and soft. A new material is a big exception to that tendency, however, as it absorbs vibrations while staying stiff and thin.

Using a 3D printer that works with molten glass, researchers forged LEGO-like glass bricks with a strength comparable to concrete. The bricks could have a role in circular construction in which materials are used over and over again.

Lots of glass surfaces can brighten up a room, but it also lets in too much heat as well as neighbors’ prying eyes. A new metamaterial is not only more transparent to light, but adds privacy, cools the room inside, and automatically cleans itself.

Glass might soon have some competition from an unlikely rival – bamboo. Scientists in China have turned regular old bamboo into a transparent material that’s also resistant to fire and water, and suppresses smoke.

Bricks made of discarded glass and recycling-waste ash have been shown to insulate better than regular bricks, while also requiring less energy to produce. And of course, they additionally use materials which would otherwise end up in landfills.

Scientists are using UV-emitting glass to keep problematic undersea biofilms at bay. The technology may find use in applications such as underwater viewing ports and camera lenses, and perhaps even one day the hulls of ships.