Materials

Spots and stripes serve many purposes in nature, but how they form has been more of a mystery. Now, researchers have advanced their breakthrough theory – and it could help us design materials that can respond to the environment and change color on demand.

We think of ice as just frozen water. It is simple, solid. But water is a master of disguise. With just two atoms, hydrogen and oxygen, it can freeze into more than 20 different types of ice. Now, scientists have discovered a new, stranger type of ice.

Scientists have been working on enhancing concrete to store energy. That includes researchers at MIT, who found a way to combine cement, water, and carbon black to create a 'supercapacitor' for this purpose back in 2023. It's now 10x better at this.

Back in 1954, archaeologists uncovered a hidden shrine deep beneath a Greek settlement. Inside, they found bronze jars holding a waxy, scented paste. Sealed with cork and marked with traces on their surfaces, the vessels held a sticky secret.

While we're used to seeing cigarette butts littering public roads, such butts may soon be making their way into those roads, strengthening them in the process. It's all part of a recycling effort, which should also reduce the need for road repairs.

If an object that's composed of two types of material is going to fail, the break will usually occur at the interface where the two meet. A new type of light-activated 3D printing resin addresses that problem, by gradually morphing from hard to soft states within a single object.

A platinum fiddle that's just 35 microns in length and 13 microns in width is believed to be the world's smallest violin, measuring just a fraction of a microscopic tardigrade. But before you get too excited, there's one little twist …

A Maryland-based startup is set to begin mass producing Superwood, which is made from regular timber using a densification process, and exhibits strength greater than that of steel.

Researchers have genetically modified spiders for the first time using the CRISPR gene-editing process. Adding a single gene to unfertilized eggs resulted in the creation of a spider that could produce red, fluorescent silk.

As much as wind turbines are great for producing clean energy, disposing of them when the time comes can be challenging. Researchers in China have hit upon a clever way to use discarded blades to build long-lasting roads.

A reusable formwork design for molding concrete into vaulted floors using sophisticated structural geometry uses 60% less concrete and 90% less steel compared to traditional methods. It's also inexpensive and doesn't require special skills.

Scientists have accidentally discovered a particle that has mass when traveling in one direction, but no mass while moving in a different direction. Known as semi-Dirac fermions, particles with this bizarre behavior were first predicted 16 years ago.