From smartphones to wind turbines, rare earth elements (REEs) are an essential part of the hardware in many advanced technologies. These elements, which include the lanthanides along with scandium and yttrium, are the backbone ...
When spiders spin their webs, they use their hind legs to pull silk threads from their spinnerets. This pulling action doesn't just help the spider release the silk, it's also a crucial step in strengthening the silk fibers ...
Within the animal kingdom, mussels are masters of underwater adhesion. The marine mollusks cluster atop rocks and along the bottoms of ships, and hold fast against the ocean's waves thanks to a gluey plaque they secrete through ...
Researchers have been trying to find new ways to produce and replicate the various useful features observed in nature. Fine hairs and fibers, which are ubiquitous in nature, are useful for various applications ranging from ...
A carnation-like nanostructure could someday be used in bandages to promote wound healing. Researchers report in ACS Applied Bio Materials that laboratory tests of their nanoflower-coated dressings demonstrate antibiotic, ...
The chameleon, a lizard known for its color-changing skin, is the inspiration behind a new electromagnetic material that could someday make vehicles and aircraft "invisible" to radar.
Polymer-grade propylene (>99.5%) is an important raw material in the chemical industry. Producing propylene inevitably generates propane as a byproduct in the product steam. And producing polymer-grade propylene requires ...
Beneath the ocean's surface, simple marine animals called sea sponges grow delicate glass skeletons that are as intricate as they are strong. These natural structures are made of a material called silica—also known as bioglass—that ...
A tiny, four-fingered "hand" folded from a single piece of DNA can pick up the virus that causes COVID-19 for highly sensitive rapid detection and can even block viral particles from entering cells to infect them, University ...
Miriam Filippi, a researcher in the field of soft robotics working on developing bioinspired artificial muscle tissues, believes we can make human activities more ecologically sound by harnessing the power of living cells ...
