Polymer behavior as a research area examines how polymeric materials respond to external and internal stimuli across multiple length and time scales, integrating polymer physics, chemistry, and materials science. It encompasses the study of chain conformation, segmental dynamics, entanglements, and relaxation processes, as well as phase behavior, crystallization, glass transition, and viscoelasticity in melts, solutions, gels, and solid states. Researchers investigate how molecular architecture (e.g., linear, branched, crosslinked, block copolymers), interactions, and processing conditions govern mechanical, rheological, thermal, and transport properties, using theoretical models, simulations, and experiments to predict and tailor macroscopic performance from molecular-level structure and dynamics.
Knots are everywhere—from tangled headphones to DNA strands packed inside viruses—but how an isolated filament can knot itself without collisions or external agitation has remained a longstanding puzzle in soft-matter physics.
General Physics
Dec 15, 2025
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64
Pictures of DNA often look very tidy—the strands of the double helix neatly wind around each other, making it seem like studying genetics should be relatively straightforward. In truth, these strands aren't often so perfectly ...
Biotechnology
Nov 11, 2025
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43
Researchers from Skoltech, the University of Potsdam, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have discovered a fundamental physical law that governs the seemingly chaotic motion of chromosomes inside a living cell. ...
Cell & Microbiology
Nov 10, 2025
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21
Lignins—the complex molecules that make plants sturdy and allow them to grow tall—are not as random as once thought. A new international study led by Prof. Edouard Pesquet at Stockholm University uncovers how lignins' chemistry ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 21, 2025
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23
What happens when you squeeze DNA? Can pressure reveal something about how our genetic material is packed, protected, and accessed?
Molecular & Computational biology
Oct 20, 2025
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66
Researchers from the Skoltech Engineering Center's Hierarchically Structured Materials Laboratory, in collaboration with colleagues from MISIS University and the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, have for the first time ...
Nanophysics
Oct 1, 2025
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31
Scientists have found a nanoparticle-inspired solution to the age-old strength issue of polymer glasses. Seasoning the polymer glass recipe with single-chain nanoparticles, which are tiny, folded-up polymer strands, can make ...
Tiny tweaks in DNA folding can have big effects. A study from Umeå University shows that even the most subtle changes in DNA's shape have an important influence on gene activity and energy production. This discovery challenges ...
Cell & Microbiology
Sep 17, 2025
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56
Turbulence, the chaotic, irregular motion that causes the bumpiness we sometimes experience on an airplane, has intrigued scientists for centuries. At the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST), researchers are ...
Soft Matter
Aug 22, 2025
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57
3D printing is going to be a critical technology in space exploration, both for its ability to create almost any object, but also because it can utilize in-situ resources, at least in part. However, the more of those space ...
Space Exploration
Aug 11, 2025
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