Polymer

Missing medications or not taking them as required can have costly results. Bioengineers at Rice University may have the solution to missed medications, using advanced technology to create a system that delivers time-released drugs.

Most three-dimensional glass objects are produced via either a molding, blowing or 3D-printing process. Chinese scientists, however, have devised a technique of folding such items into shape – and it has some key advantages over other methods.

A versatile new material helps in the ongoing battle against corrosion. The polymer coating not only protects against corrosion, but highlights cracks as they form, automatically repairs damage to itself, and can be recycled at the end of its life.

A team of researchers has developed a new material that’s not only elastic, but is impervious to gases and liquids – something this kind of material is usually bad at. The material could be useful for making flexible batteries or wearable electronics.

3D printing technology is used not only to build things as large as houses, but also as small as snowflakes. A new material allows the latter to be much stronger than ever before, and to be printed considerably faster.

Chronic diabetic skin wounds are notoriously slow to heal, sometimes becoming so infected that amputations are required. A newly identified polymer could help keep that from happening, by radically boosting the healing process.

Along with their use in foods, soybeans have also been utilized as a source of graphene, a greener alternative to mulch, and an ingredient in longer-lasting tires. Now, they're additionally being used to extend the life of asphalt roads.

Plastics can be hard, plastics can be soft, but can plastics be both at the same time? Scientists have been exploring this question and produced a first-of-a-kind material that is pliable in some sections and stiff in others.

Although there are now a number of skin-worn sensors which identify metabolites in sweat, the technology is limited in what it can detect, plus the sensors often aren't reusable. A new one, however, utilizes a "molecularly imprinted polymer" to be much more useful.

In wastewater produced by the textile industry and others, dye is one of the primary pollutants. A newly developed synthetic polymer is capable of removing that dye from the water, plus it can be cleaned up and reused to treat more wastewater.

While medical electrodes are vital to the monitoring of electrical activity in the body, they're rigid and costly, plus they don't stay on well if the wearer is moving. A new sugar-cube-derived electrode, however, addresses those shortcomings.

Finding a scratch on your car is a special kind of heartbreak, but in the future they might be gone before you even notice. Scientists in Korea have developed a coating that self-heals scratches in as little as 30 minutes when exposed to sunlight.