Applications of soft matter as a research area investigates how the unique mechanical, rheological, and self-assembly properties of soft condensed phases—such as polymers, gels, colloids, liquid crystals, foams, emulsions, and biological tissues—can be exploited in technological and biomedical contexts. This includes designing responsive and stimuli-adaptive materials for sensors, actuators, flexible electronics, and energy storage; engineering complex fluids and structured interfaces for coatings, drug delivery, and formulation science; and developing bioinspired and biomimetic systems for tissue engineering, soft robotics, and microfluidics. The field emphasizes structure–property–function relationships, often integrating continuum mechanics, statistical physics, and materials characterization to optimize performance in application-specific environments.
Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a spray-on polymer coating that could help plants resist harmful bacterial infections and survive drought. The advance, published in ACS Materials Letters, ...
Biotechnology
Dec 18, 2025
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A dissertation study at the University of Jyväskylä (Finland) developed two-dimensional fishnet-like structures from DNA origami for silicon surfaces and investigated how different conditions affect their formation. The results ...
Bio & Medicine
Dec 12, 2025
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60
Researchers have developed a new class of ultra-thin, flexible bioelectronic material that can seamlessly interface with living tissues. They introduced a novel device called THIN (transformable and imperceptible hydrogel-elastomer ...
Bio & Medicine
Dec 10, 2025
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152
Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have rapidly emerged as one of the most promising frontiers in modern biology. These nano-sized messengers mediate communication between cells, tissues, and organs, influencing processes from ...
Bio & Medicine
Dec 4, 2025
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20
Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) hydrogel undergoes significant but precise changes in size between 20°C and 40°C, making it an excellent candidate for use in variable-size deterministic lateral displacement (DLD) array ...
Cell & Microbiology
Dec 3, 2025
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12
Researchers at the Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI), Kanazawa University, report the successful creation of artificial synaptic vesicles that can be remotely controlled by near-infrared (NIR) light. By embedding ...
Bio & Medicine
Dec 2, 2025
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42
The shelf life of a sunscreen, the stability of mayonnaise, the effectiveness of a drug; these all depend on what is happening within the materials that make up gels or glasses, disordered structures that change slowly over ...
Space Exploration
Dec 2, 2025
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39
Modern devices, from fitness trackers and smart garments to Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, require compact and sustainable power sources. In new research published in Scientific Reports, scientists present an energy harvester ...
Nanophysics
Nov 24, 2025
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Researchers from McMaster University and the University of Pittsburgh have created the first functionally complete logic gate—a NAND gate (short for "NOT AND")—in a soft material using only beams of visible light. The discovery, ...
Optics & Photonics
Nov 20, 2025
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66
A team of researchers from the National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology (QST) and Tokyo Metropolitan University has developed a biomaterial that could change how we treat muscle degeneration and metabolic disorders.
Cell & Microbiology
Nov 3, 2025
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