new material

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.

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%.

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.

For all its uses, plastic is unfortunately one of our least sustainable materials. Now, scientists at Berkeley Lab have developed a way to engineer bacteria to produce raw materials that can be made into plastics that are completely recyclable.

In a fight against Iron Man, you might be better off betting on Glass DNA Nanolattice Man instead. Engineers have developed a very strong and lightweight new material out of DNA that self-assembles into lattices, and is then coated in glass.

Despite its many advantages, glass has one major Achilles' heel – it’s brittle. Now, engineers at Penn State have developed LionGlass, a new form that's not only 10 times more damage resistant, but requires significantly less energy to manufacture.

Strength and flexibility are two opposites that usually need to be balanced in steel. But now engineers at Purdue University and Sandia Labs have developed a new treatment that can be applied to steel alloys to boost both strength and ductility.

It sounds like a superhero's origin story: scientists have discovered a new type of material created after lightning struck a tree. This particular form of crystalline phosphorus has never been seen on Earth, and could belong to a new mineral group.

Scientists at the University of Rochester claim to have created a material that acts as a superconductor at room temperature and lower pressures than ever before. If confirmed, this “reddmatter,” as they call it, could mark a major breakthrough.

Knots are known for boosting the strength of materials, and now Caltech engineers have developed a new material consisting of microscale knots, showing that it’s far tougher than a version of the material made of the same stuff without knots.

Bacteria often get a bad rap, but in many cases they’re helpful little critters. Engineers have now developed a protective coating for buildings that’s loaded with bacteria, which absorb CO2 to produce a barrier against erosion by the elements.

Georgia Tech scientists have discovered a new quantum state in a quirky material. In a phenomenon never before seen in anything else, the team found that applying a magnetic field increased the material’s electrical conductivity by a billion percent.