http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. (Phys.org) —The new material's artificial "atoms" are designed to work with a broad range of light frequencies. With adjustments, the researchers believe it could lead to perfect microscope lenses or invisibility cloaks. http://phys.org/news287134822.html Physics Tue, 07 May 2013 08:42:05 EST news287134822 (Phys.org) —The tail of a seahorse can be compressed to about half its size before permanent damage occurs, engineers at the University of California, San Diego, have found. The tail's exceptional flexibility is due to its structure, made up of bony, armored plates, which slide past each other. Researchers are hoping to use a similar structure to create a flexible robotic arm equipped with muscles made out of polymer, which could be used in medical devices, underwater exploration and unmanned bomb detection and detonation. UC San Diego engineers, led by materials science professors Joanna McKittrick and Marc Meyers, detailed their findings in the March 2013 issue of the journal Acta Biomaterialia. http://phys.org/news286616705.html Chemistry Wed, 01 May 2013 08:45:29 EST news286616705 Researchers at the University of Southampton's Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC) have created an artificial material, a metamaterial, with optical properties that can be controlled by electric signals. http://phys.org/news282900647.html Nanotechnology Tue, 19 Mar 2013 08:40:01 EST news282900647 Fungi, with the exception of shitake and certain other mushrooms, tend to be something we associate with moldy bread or dank-smelling mildew. But they really deserve more respect. Fungi have fantastic capabilities and can be grown, under certain circumstances, in almost any shape and be totally biodegradable. And, if this weren't enough, they might have the potential to replace plastics one day. The secret is in the mycelia. http://phys.org/news282330148.html Chemistry Tue, 12 Mar 2013 18:02:36 EST news282330148 Scientists have taken inspiration from one of the oldest natural materials to exploit the extraordinary qualities of graphene, a material set to revolutionise fields from computers and batteries to composite materials. http://phys.org/news273838372.html Nanotechnology Tue, 04 Dec 2012 11:00:02 EST news273838372 In many respects, metamaterials are supernatural. These manmade materials, with their intricately designed structures, bend electromagnetic waves in ways that are impossible for materials found in nature. Scientists are investigating metamaterials for their potential to engineer invisibility cloaks—materials that refract light to hide an object in plain sight—and "super lenses," which focus light beyond the range of optical microscopes to image objects at nanoscale detail. http://phys.org/news272095624.html Physics Wed, 14 Nov 2012 06:07:12 EST news272095624 Researchers from Trinity College Dublin have shown that the wings of insects are not as fragile as they might look. A study just published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE now shows that the characteristic network of veins found in the wings of grasshoppers helps to capture cracks, similar to watertight compartments in a ship. http://phys.org/news264949966.html Biology Thu, 23 Aug 2012 14:12:59 EST news264949966 (Phys.org) -- Researchers from Trinity College Dublin have shown that insects are made from one of the toughest natural materials in the world. The study’s findings have been recently published in the leading international biomechanics publication, Journal of Experimental Biology. http://phys.org/news256548785.html Biology Fri, 18 May 2012 08:50:02 EST news256548785 (Phys.org) -- Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory have designed a method to evaluate different conductors for use in metamaterial structures, which are engineered to exhibit properties not possible in natural materials. The work was reported this month in Nature Photonics. http://phys.org/news254474472.html Physics Tue, 24 Apr 2012 09:10:01 EST news254474472 Duke University engineers believe that continued advances in creating ever-more exotic and sophisticated man-made materials will greatly improve their ability to control light at will. http://phys.org/news251297369.html Physics Sun, 18 Mar 2012 14:00:34 EST news251297369 Scientists calculate that a "perfect lens," a slab of artificial material engineered to focus electromagnetic fields in ways that natural materials can't, may increase the efficiency of some wireless power transfer systems. http://phys.org/news250850195.html Physics Tue, 13 Mar 2012 09:36:40 EST news250850195 (PhysOrg.com) -- University of California, San Diego electrical engineers are building a forest of tiny nanowire trees in order to cleanly capture solar energy without using fossil fuels and harvest it for hydrogen fuel generation. Reporting in the journal Nanoscale, the team said nanowires, which are made from abundant natural materials like silicon and zinc oxide, also offer a cheap way to deliver hydrogen fuel on a mass scale. http://phys.org/news250322866.html Nanotechnology Wed, 07 Mar 2012 06:07:57 EST news250322866 (PhysOrg.com) -- In an announcement many have been waiting for, a research team from the University of Illinois, has succeeded in figuring out how to produce metamaterials in a size big enough to be useful. The team, led by John Rogers, professor of materials engineering, describe in a paper published in Nature Nanotechnology, how they used a printing technique to stamp 3-D negative index metamaterials (NIMs) onto plastic or glass. The process could lead to the development of products such as extremely high resolution lenses; or as some hope, an invisibility cloak. http://phys.org/news227352321.html Nanotechnology Wed, 15 Jun 2011 11:00:01 EST news227352321 Medical researchers were shocked to discover that virtually all human embryonic stem cell lines being used in 2005 were contaminated. Animal byproducts used to line Petri dishes had left traces on the human cells. If those cells had been implanted in a human body they likely would have been rejected by the patient's immune system. http://phys.org/news184354959.html Chemistry Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:42:57 EST news184354959 A team of researchers from the University of Huelva has developed an environmentally-friendly lubricating grease based on ricin oil and cellulose derivatives, according to the journal Green Chemistry. The new formula does not include any of the contaminating components used to manufacture traditional industrial lubricants. http://phys.org/news166442010.html Chemistry Fri, 10 Jul 2009 11:30:02 EST news166442010