Thermal properties as a research area focuses on the quantitative characterization, prediction, and control of how materials and systems store, conduct, and exchange heat. It encompasses investigation of thermal conductivity, specific heat capacity, thermal diffusivity, thermal expansion, and related transport coefficients across temperature, pressure, and phase regimes. Research typically integrates experimental calorimetry and thermal analysis, steady-state and transient heat-flow methods, and atomistic or continuum simulations to elucidate phonon, electron, and radiative contributions. This domain underpins advances in thermal management, energy conversion, high-temperature materials, cryogenics, and micro/nanoscale heat transfer, often coupling with mechanical, electrical, and structural behavior.
A research team led by Davoud Jafari at the University of Twente, in collaboration with the University of Pisa, has completed a series of parabolic flight experiments to investigate advanced smart surfaces under rapidly changing ...
Space Exploration
Jun 6, 2026
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Black holes, regions in space where gravity is so strong that nothing can escape, have been widely studied over the past decades, due to their unique and intriguing properties. Einstein's theory of general relativity predicts ...
Glasses are non-crystalline but solid states of matter in which molecules and atoms are not arranged into a regular crystal lattice, but rather in a disordered pattern. Glassy materials are widely used in various settings, ...
Tardigrades, also known as water bears or moss piglets, are tiny eight-legged animals that can survive in extreme environments, where humans and most other animals would die. This resistance to extreme conditions, including ...
Living cells cool much slower than our current understanding of heat conduction can explain, according to new research from the University of Tokyo. Researchers have used two techniques—high-speed temperature mapping and ...
Cell & Microbiology
May 28, 2026
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Heat behaves in predictable ways: a hot cup of coffee cools, a laptop warms your hands, the sun heats Earth. But at scales thousands of times smaller than a human hair, those rules begin to break down, and scientists are ...
Nanophysics
May 27, 2026
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A research team led by Professor Steven Wang, Associate Vice President (Resources Planning) and Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and School of Energy and Environment, has designed a revolutionary ...
General Physics
May 26, 2026
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An unusual thermoelectric effect has been observed in the semiconductor tellurium by RIKEN physicists for the first time. This demonstration points to the potential of similar materials to be used in applications such as ...
Condensed Matter
May 21, 2026
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Gold nanoparticles, which are about one-thousandth the width of a human hair, can convert light they receive from a laser into heat. This capacity, known in medicine as photothermal therapy, is effective at destroying cancer ...
Bio & Medicine
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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