In dim light a cat sees much better than you do, as do dogs and nocturnal animals. That's because the structure of a cat's eye has a tapetum lucidum, a mirror-like layer immediately behind the retina. Light entering the eye ...
Imagine stretching a piece of film to reveal a hidden message. Or checking an arm band's color to gauge muscle mass. Or sporting a swimsuit that changes hue as you do laps. Such chameleon-like, color-shifting materials could ...
Materials Science
Aug 1, 2022
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Researchers at MIT have developed a new method for determining the structure and behavior of a class of widely used soft materials known as weak colloidal gels, which are found in everything from cosmetics to building materials. ...
Analytical Chemistry
Apr 27, 2021
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(Phys.org)—Researcher and team are the first to measure all of the elastic properties of an intact spider's web, drawing a remarkable picture of the behavior of one of nature's most intriguing structures. The work could ...
Materials Science
Feb 6, 2013
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(Phys.org)—A team of materials scientists at Harvard University and the University of Exeter, UK, have invented a new fiber that changes color when stretched. Inspired by nature, the researchers identified and replicated ...
Materials Science
Jan 28, 2013
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(Phys.org)—Scientists at Arizona State University are celebrating their recent success on the path to understanding what makes the fiber that spiders spin – weight for weight - at least five times as strong as piano wire. ...
Materials Science
Jan 27, 2013
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The quest to harness a broader spectrum of sunlight's energy to produce electricity has taken a radically new turn, with the proposal of a "solar energy funnel" that takes advantage of materials under elastic strain.
Optics & Photonics
Nov 26, 2012
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A research team led by physicists at the University of California, Riverside has identified a property of "bilayer graphene" (BLG) that the researchers say is analogous to finding the Higgs boson in particle physics.
Nanomaterials
Jan 24, 2012
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An accidental discovery in a physicist's laboratory at the University of California, Riverside provides a unique route for tuning the electrical properties of graphene, nature's thinnest elastic material. This route holds ...
Nanophysics
Sep 26, 2011
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Graphene is nature's thinnest elastic material and displays exceptional mechanical and electronic properties. Its one-atom thickness, planar geometry, high current-carrying capacity and thermal conductivity ...
Nanomaterials
Jul 26, 2009
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