Ordinary rice could power the next generation of soft robots
Rice is a staple food for billions of people, but scientists have now discovered it could also inspire a new generation of smart materials.
Researchers...
New “never-wet” coating could repel even near-boiling liquids
Superhydrophobic materials—often called “never-wet” surfaces—are famous for making water bead up and roll away.
They are used in products ranging from self-cleaning fabrics to industrial...
New flexible plastic could conduct electricity like human tissue
Scientists have discovered a new way to make a soft, stretchy plastic that can carry electricity efficiently—an advance that could help improve devices implanted...
Scientists create a “cloud in a box” to unlock weather’s biggest mysteries
In a laboratory at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory, scientists recently witnessed something remarkable: the birth of a cloud inside a...
Scientists create stretchable surface that repels almost any liquid
Scientists at North Carolina State University have developed a remarkable new material that can repel nearly all liquids—even when stretched to five times its...
This new material could make LEDs cheaper, greener, and more efficient
Scientists in Austria and Germany have developed a new type of material that could replace the green component used in most modern LED lights,...
Scientists achieve record efficiency in next-generation perovskite solar cells
Solar energy technology has taken another major step forward as researchers develop a new way to make perovskite solar cells more efficient and stable.
A...
James Webb Telescope detects rotten-egg gas on alien worlds for the first time
Astronomers have detected a smelly gas best known for the odor of rotten eggs—hydrogen sulfide—in the atmospheres of four giant planets far beyond our...
Scientists 3D print one of the world’s hardest industrial materials
A team of researchers has found a new way to manufacture one of the toughest materials used in industry, opening the door to cheaper,...
How a rare element could fuel the next generation of space missions
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) are taking a fresh look at neptunium, a rare radioactive metal that...