Insulators

When blasted by a gas hand-torch the new material turned from a squishy hydrogel to a solid aerogel.

Materials

Wildfire survival: Morphing aerogel could be key to saving structures

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.

An illustration depicting a topological insulator in action

Electronics

Strange material demonstrates exotic quantum state at room temperature

Many quantum effects can only be produced at extremely cold temperatures, which limits how useful they would be in real-world tech. Now, Princeton researchers have demonstrated a strange quantum state taking place in a material at room temperature.

A material known as vanadium dioxide has been found to have a form of "memory" of its past encounters with stimuli

Materials

First material found to "remember" its own history

Researchers at EPFL have discovered a material that seems to be able to “remember” all of its past encounters with stimuli, such as electrical currents. The compound could come in handy for better data storage and processing.

An illustration depicting how the new material works – normally, the manganese atomic ions (purple circles) and the disulfur molecular ions (figure-8s) are separated (left of frame). But under pressure, they move closer together (right of frame) changing the conductivity of the material

Materials

Weird compound jumps from conductor to insulator and back under pressure

Researchers have discovered a material that can switch between an insulator and a conductor freely, even at room temperature. The material, a compound of manganese and sulfide (MnS2), starts off as an insulator but becomes conductive under pressure.

Researchers have created graphene electronic devices that are both insulators and superconductors at the same time, in different parts of the material

Electronics

Magic angle makes graphene simultaneously superconducting and insulating

Graphene just keeps getting weirder. Engineers at ETH Zurich have now managed to tweak the overachieving material so that some parts of a flake can be an electrical insulator while other areas act as a superconductor, just nanometers apart.

A new type of quantum particle called a neutral fermion may have been discovered in an insulating material

Physics

New quantum particle may have been accidentally discovered

Princeton physicists have accidentally discovered an unexpected quantum behavior in an insulator that was thought to be unique to metals. The find suggests a brand new type of quantum particle, which the team calls a neutral fermion.

A gelatin astronaut stays unmelted when exposed to a flame, protected by the new nanofiber material

Materials

Nanofiber material tough as Kevlar but 20 times more heat-resistant

Kevlar and Twaron are tough materials, but there’s a bit of a trade-off to be made between strength, heat resistance and weight. Now, researchers have created a new nanofiber material that’s just as strong, but much more insulating against heat.

A diagram showing how multiple layers of graphene can be twisted so they aren't lying flush with each other – which creates some unusual electrical properties in the material

Materials

Twisted graphene gets weirder at a "magic angle"

Graphene is ultrathin, ultra-strong and has some weird electrical properties. MIT researchers previously found a strange pattern emerged in “twisted” graphene structures. Now they’ve studied it more closely and found it works better with more layers.

Researcher Qingkun Liu holds up samples of the new transparent aerogel, which could make windows better insulators

Materials

Transparent insulating aerogel brewed up from beer by-product

Aerogels are among the best thermal insulators, but their cloudy appearance doesn't work for windows, one of the worst offenders for letting heat escape a building. Now, researchers at Colorado University Boulder have found a way to make them transparent, recycling a beer by-product in the process.

"The results of this research will have a huge impact on the way we conceive light"

Physics

New form of light promises boost for photonic computing

Researchers at Imperial College London have surprised everyone with research suggesting that binding light to a single electron could result in a new type of light that boasts the properties of both light and electricity.

Scientists at the University of Cambridge have found that a peculiar compound seems to act as a conductor and an insulator at the same time, in what could be the first in a completely new class of metallic materials

Materials

Puzzling material acts as conductor and insulator at the same time

Scientists at the University of Cambridge have found that a peculiar compound seems to act as a conductor and an insulator at the same time. It could be the first in a completely new class of metallic materials.

Around The Home

The NotHot Wine and champagne glass cooler

Neoprene can and bottle holders have now been around for decades, but when we saw the designer NotHot wine and champagne glass insulators we couldn't help but see all manner of new and more upmarket promotional possibilities.