New evidence that comets could have seeded life on Earth

(Phys.org) —It's among the most ancient of questions: What are the origins of life on Earth? A new experiment simulating conditions in deep space reveals that the complex building blocks of life could have been created ...

Researchers unravel mysteries of spider silk

(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. ...

Unlocking nature's quantum engineering for efficient solar energy

(Phys.org)—Quantum scale photosynthesis in biological systems which inhabit extreme environments could hold key to new designs for solar energy and nanoscale devices. Certain biological systems living in low light environments ...

Study reveals ordinary glass's extraordinary properties

Researchers at the universities of Chicago and Wisconsin-Madison raise the possibility of designing ultrastable glasses at the molecular level via a vapor-deposition process. Ultrastable glasses could find potential applications ...

Smallest, fastest-known RNA switches provide new drug targets

(Phys.org)—A University of Michigan biophysical chemist and his colleagues have discovered the smallest and fastest-known molecular switches made of RNA, the chemical cousin of DNA. The researchers say these rare, fleeting ...

Glass has potential to be stronger, researchers say

(Phys.org)—Glass is strong enough for so much: windshields, buildings and many other things that need to handle high stress without breaking. But scientists who look at the structure of glass strictly by the numbers believe ...

Ancient effect harnessed to produce electricity from waste heat

A phenomenon first observed by an ancient Greek philosopher 2,300 years ago has become the basis for a new device designed to harvest the enormous amounts of energy wasted as heat each year to produce electricity. The first-of-its-kind ...

Researchers ink nanostructures with tiny 'soldering iron'

Researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have shed light on the role of temperature in controlling a fabrication technique for drawing chemical patterns as small as 20 nanometers. This technique ...

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