new material
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Gels and glasses are on opposite ends of the material spectrum, but engineers at North Carolina State University (NCSU) have developed a new class called “glassy gels” that are both strong and flexible, as well as sticky and self-healing.
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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.
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Forget radioactive spiders – a new breakthrough could make it easier to get Spider-Man’s wall-crawling powers. Scientists in Singapore have created a strong and reusable adhesive out of a shape-memory polymer, triggered by temperature changes.
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Graphene is the Novak Djokovic of materials – it’s so damn talented that it’s getting boring celebrating each new victory. But an exciting new upstart is challenging graphene’s title. Meet goldene, a 2D sheet of gold with its own strange properties.
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In many cases nature has better versions of our tech. The newest example comes from a common insect in your backyard, which makes nanoscale soccer balls that hide it from predators – inspiring new, better UV protection and maybe even cloaking tech.
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Scraping ice off your car window might get a lot easier in the future thanks to a new spray coating developed by scientists in Austria. That's because of the way the molecules line up – or don't – during its high-tech creation process.
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A plane wing that changes shape in flight to better handle the airflow crossing it could be on the horizon thanks to a materials science advance from researchers in Stockholm. The trick involves the melting and hole-punching power of lasers.
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Prepare for a radical acceleration in technological development. A Google Deepmind AI has achieved "an order-of-magnitude expansion in stable materials known to humanity," finding about 800 years' worth of new materials with revolutionary potential.
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Scientists have found that a “superatomic” material is the fastest and most efficient semiconductor ever. Taking advantage of a tortoise-and-hare mechanism, the new material can transport energy much faster than silicon.
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Scientists have developed what they call the most water-repellent surface ever. By giving it a liquid-like coating that defies usual designs, water will roll off the surface at angles 500 times shallower than other superhydrophobic materials.
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Ice build-up can pose a problem for roads, aircraft, wind turbines and power lines, among many other things. Now scientists have developed a new structure made of copper nanowires that can passively de-ice surfaces with an efficacy of close to 100%.
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An intriguing new glue can basically be switched on and off on demand. The adhesive sticks together when hit with one wavelength of light, and breaks apart with another, allowing it to be removed and reused easily – potentially, even underwater.
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