News tagged with materials engineering

High-temperature superconductivity starts at nanoscale

(Phys.org) -- High-temperature superconductivity doesn't happen all it once. It starts in isolated nanoscale patches that gradually expand until they take over.

Physics / Superconductivity

created May 31, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (16) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Robotic jellyfish could one day patrol oceans, clean oil spills, and detect pollutants (w/ Video)

(Phys.org) -- Virginia Tech College of Engineering researchers are working on a multi-university, nationwide project for the U.S. Navy that one day will put life-like autonomous robot jellyfish in waters around ...

Technology / Engineering

created May 29, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Engineered materials: Custom-made magnets

A novel approach to designing artificial materials could enable magnetic devices with a wider range of properties than those now available. An international team of researchers have now extended the properties ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created May 24, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Wearable electronics - the next fashion fad?

(Phys.org) -- When most of us think of electronics, we think of the sturdy stability of silicon and plastic. Flexibility is a trait that belongs to the organic world, where materials come in all shapes and ...

Technology / Hi Tech & Innovation

created May 23, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

In metallic glasses, researchers find a few new atomic structures

Drawing on powerful computational tools and a state-of-the-art scanning transmission electron microscope, a team of University of Wisconsin-Madison and Iowa State University materials science and engineering researchers has ...

Physics / Condensed Matter

created May 11, 2012 | popularity 3.4 / 5 (7) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

NTU scientists invent superbug killers

The superbugs have met their match. Conceived at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), it comes in the form of a coating which has a magnetic-like feature that attracts bacteria and kills them without the need for antibiotics.

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created May 10, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Nanocrystal infrared LEDs can be made cheaply

(Phys.org) -- Light-emitting diodes at infrared wavelengths are the magic behind such things as night vision and optical communications, including the streaming data that comes through Netflix. Cornell researchers have advanced ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created May 10, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Robots learn to pick up oddly shaped objects

(Phys.org) -- When Cornell engineers developed a new type of robot hand that could pick up oddly shaped objects it presented a challenge: It was easy for a human operator to choose the best place to take h ...

Electronics / Robotics

created May 09, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Researchers develop technique to keep cool high-power semiconductor devices used in wireless applications, electric cars

A group of researchers at the University of California, Riverside Bourns College of Engineering have developed a technique to keep cool a semiconductor material used in everything from traffic lights to electric cars.

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created May 08, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (6) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Power generation technology based on piezoelectric nanocomposite materials

Professor Keon- Jae Lee's research team, KAIST (Korea), has developed a nanocomposite-based nanogenerator that successfully overcomes the critical restrictions existed in previous nanogenerators and builds ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created May 07, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 1

Emerging theoretical framework may guide researchers through the complex world of multiblock polymers

(Phys.org) -- Thanks to advances in polymer chemistry and a wide variety of monomer constituents to choose from, the world of multiblock polymers is wide open. These polymers can result in an astonishing array ...

Chemistry / Polymers

created Apr 26, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Inspired by insects: For treatment of vocal fold disorders, researchers look to insect protein

A one-inch long grasshopper can leap a distance of about 20 inches. Cicadas can produce sound at about the same frequency as radio waves. Fleas measuring only millimeters can jump an astonishing 100 times ...

Biology / Other

created Apr 25, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Controlling heat flow with atomic-level precision

Through a combination of atomic-scale materials design and ultrafast measurements, researchers at the University of Illinois have revealed new insights about how heat flows across an interface between two ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Apr 22, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (8) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Nanotube electrodes improve solar cells, could yield low-cost, efficient alternative

Forests of carbon nanotubes are an efficient alternative for platinum electrodes in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSC), according to new research by collaborators at Rice University and Tsinghua University.

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Apr 17, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (6) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Topological transitions in metamaterials

The ability to control the flow of electrons using engineered materials is fundamental to the information technology revolution, yet many properties of matter are still unclear. Now a University of Alberta researcher is closer ...

Physics / Optics & Photonics

created Apr 14, 2012 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (6) | comments 1