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.
Cornell researchers have developed a new way to create moiré patterns—atomic-scale structures that can give materials unusual quantum behaviors—without relying on the traditionally used difficult-to-control twisting and stacking ...
Nanophysics
Jun 2, 2026
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31
Researchers have captured the first atomic structures of human SMUG1, an enzyme that helps cells repair damaged DNA. The findings provide new insight into how cells recognize and remove harmful DNA bases, and may support ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jun 2, 2026
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26
Honeycombs are famous for their elegant design, but now they may have found a new application: quantum computing. To collect knowledge from subatomic particles, quantum computers require carefully designed materials capable ...
Condensed Matter
May 28, 2026
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University of Cincinnati structural biologists are the first in the world to visualize a key cell protein as part of newly published research from the College of Medicine. The Seegar Lab has become the first to visualize ...
Cell & Microbiology
May 25, 2026
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71
A German–Israeli research team led by Dr. Andreas Furchner has demonstrated how imaging ellipsometry enables non-destructive characterization and quality control of microstructured MXene thin films during device fabrication. ...
Nanophysics
May 22, 2026
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31
Northwestern Medicine scientists have developed a new experimental method to analyze conformational fluctuations in protein domains on a uniquely large scale, which may improve data-driven modeling, biology and protein engineering, ...
Molecular & Computational biology
May 21, 2026
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11
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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23
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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32
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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21
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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