Tiny magnets mimic steam, water and ice

Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) created a synthetic material out of 1 billion tiny magnets. Astonishingly, it now appears that the magnetic properties of this so-called metamaterial change with the temperature, ...

Strange warping geometry helps to push scientific boundaries

Atomic interactions in everyday solids and liquids are so complex that some of these materials' properties continue to elude physicists' understanding. Solving the problems mathematically is beyond the capabilities of modern ...

The science of knitting, unpicked

Dating back more than 3,000 years, knitting is an ancient form of manufacturing, but Elisabetta Matsumoto of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta believes that understanding how stitch types govern shape and stretchiness ...

Team creates crystals that generate electricity from heat

To convert heat into electricity, easily accessible materials from harmless raw materials open up new perspectives in the development of safe and inexpensive so-called "thermoelectric materials." A synthetic copper mineral ...

New protocol identifies fascinating quantum states

Topological materials attract great interest and may provide the basis for a new era in materials development. In Science Advances, physicists around Andreas Elben, Jinlong Yu, Peter Zoller and Benoit Vermersch now present ...

Historic Indian sword was masterfully crafted

The master craftsmanship behind Indian swords was highlighted when scientists and conservationists from Italy and the UK joined forces to study a curved single-edged sword called a shamsheer. The study, led by Eliza Barzagli ...

Making 3-D nanosuperconductors with DNA

Three-dimensional (3-D) nanostructured materials—those with complex shapes at a size scale of billionths of a meter—that can conduct electricity without resistance could be used in a range of quantum devices. For example, ...

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