Structural properties as a research area focuses on the characterization, quantification, and modeling of how the arrangement and connectivity of components within a system determine its behavior and performance. This includes investigating geometric, topological, and symmetry-related attributes in materials, molecules, biological assemblies, or engineered structures, and relating these features to mechanical, electronic, optical, or functional responses. Research typically integrates experimental probing (e.g., diffraction, microscopy, spectroscopy) with theoretical and computational methods (e.g., continuum mechanics, graph theory, atomistic simulations) to establish structure–property relationships that enable prediction, optimization, and rational design of systems with targeted structural performance.
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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Like so much else in nature, the human visual system has both a complex structure and functional efficiency that is difficult for scientists to replicate. The system is both a sensor and a processor, with the eyes and the ...
Condensed Matter
May 20, 2026
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Whether in tooth enamel or in nanomaterials made of silicon, the orientation of tiny internal structures often determines the properties of a material. A new X-ray method can even make this nano-order visible when the structures ...
Optics & Photonics
May 12, 2026
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The growing popularity of electronic devices—from fitness trackers and laptops to smartphones—is driving demand for more energy-efficient computing chips. Now, researchers have found a way to change the electronic properties ...
Nanophysics
May 6, 2026
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In the search for new drugs, artificial intelligence in the form of diffusion models is being used in drug design. What exactly does AI do in this context? Dr. Andrea Mastropietro and Prof. Dr. Jürgen Bajorath from Life Science ...
Molecular & Computational biology
May 2, 2026
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Materials called relaxor ferroelectrics have been used for decades in technologies like ultrasounds, microphones, and sonar systems. Their unique properties come from their atomic structure, but that structure has stubbornly ...
Nanomaterials
Apr 30, 2026
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The enzyme RNA polymerase (RNAP) carries out transcription, copying DNA into RNA. It's the first step in gene expression, and a process fundamental to all life. But the inner workings of this essential enzyme have long baffled ...
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 30, 2026
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Researchers in the University of Minnesota Twin Cities have discovered a powerful new way to control the electronic behavior of a metal—by manipulating the atomic properties of materials where they meet. The study, published ...
Nanophysics
Apr 27, 2026
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208
How do cells know when to activate or slow down their activity? A team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) provides new insights by studying TORC2, an essential but still poorly understood protein complex. Using ultra-high-resolution ...
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 23, 2026
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New analytical methods developed at Baylor College of Medicine and collaborating institutions have increased our understanding of how bacteria manage DNA. The methods have enabled researchers to uncover how the sequence, ...
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 22, 2026
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