Mechanical and acoustical properties as a research area focuses on characterizing and modeling how materials and structures respond to mechanical loads and acoustic waves, including stress–strain behavior, elasticity, viscoelasticity, damping, wave propagation, impedance, and sound absorption or transmission. It integrates solid mechanics, continuum mechanics, and acoustics to understand couplings between structural dynamics and sound fields, often using experimental techniques such as dynamic mechanical analysis, ultrasonic testing, and impedance tube measurements, alongside analytical and numerical methods (e.g., finite element and boundary element modeling). This research underpins the design and optimization of materials and systems for vibration control, noise reduction, ultrasonic devices, and acoustic metamaterials.
From chewing to chomping to grinding, teeth suffer from a lifetime of repeated mechanical stress. It makes sense, then, that enamel is one of the hardest natural materials.
Bio & Medicine
Jun 3, 2026
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New research from the University of St Andrews has discovered that insects who conceal themselves as leaves also use their leafy camouflage to amplify mating calls, making themselves more attractive to the opposite sex. The ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 2, 2026
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When a singer belts out a tune while a guitar player strums along, sound waves travel through the air, driving collective oscillations of the molecules within. Meanwhile, at the quantum level, something similar is going on. ...
Optics & Photonics
May 25, 2026
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A research team in China has reported a significant piezoelectric effect in ultrathin and ultra-flexible polycrystalline diamond membranes. This pioneering discovery challenges a century-long scientific dogma that diamonds ...
Condensed Matter
May 21, 2026
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Some birds sing to attract a mate. Others dance or display colorful feathers. But in the moonlit forests and shrublands of northern Argentina, one bird courts romance by snapping its wrists together, producing a sharp clapping ...
Plants & Animals
May 19, 2026
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If you have ever warped a cheap plastic cup by pouring coffee into it, then you have witnessed thermoplasticity in action. Thermoplasticity is the ability of a material to become pliable under heating. In industry, thermoplasticity ...
Nanophysics
May 15, 2026
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In Olympic weightlifting, a single kilogram plate can be the difference between gold and silver. As much as possible, elite athletes must use everything they can to their advantage.
General Physics
May 13, 2026
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Researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have demonstrated, for the first time, a single quantum of vibrational energy interacting with a single atomic spin, seeding a pathway ...
Quantum Physics
May 10, 2026
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Researchers have developed tiny flexible lasers that can be used to measure forces inside living cells. The new lasers could help illuminate various biological processes, including those involved in early development and ...
Optics & Photonics
Apr 29, 2026
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Scientists have discovered how cells decide when to respond to physical forces, potentially opening new avenues for tackling diseases such as cancer and fibrosis.
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 29, 2026
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