New insight into early growth of solid thin films

(Phys.org) —The foundation of many modern electronic devices, such as computer chips, are thin films – nanoscale-thickness layers of one material grown on the surface of another. As consumers continue to demand products ...

A metal switch to control motor proteins

(Phys.org) —Molecular motor proteins inside the body, called kinesins, are a lot like the motor in your car. The molecular motors convert stored chemical energy into specific conformational changes, which lead to various ...

Watching a protein as it functions

(Phys.org) —When it comes to understanding how proteins perform their amazing cellular feats, it is often the case that the more one knows the less one realizes they know. For decades, biochemists and biophysicists have ...

Blocking infinity in a topological insulator

(Phys.org)—In bulk, topological insulators (TIs) are good insulators, but on their surface they act as metals, with a twist: the spin and direction of electrons moving across the surface of a TI are locked together. TIs ...

High-pressure science gets super-sized

(Phys.org)—The study of materials at extreme conditions took a giant leap forward with the discovery of a way to generate super high pressures without using shock waves whose accompanying heat turns solids to liquid.

Coherent diffractive imaging in living color

(PhysOrg.com) -- Exactly 150 years after the first color photograph was produced, scientists have devised a way of employing the full spectrum of colors from synchrotron and free-electron laser x radiation to image nanometer-sized ...

Structural consequences of nanolithography

(PhysOrg.com) -- Users from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Center for Nanophase Materials Science, working with the X-Ray Microscopy Group, have discovered structural effects accompanying the nanoscale lithography ...

The Molecular Mechanics of Hearing and Deafness (w/ Video)

(PhysOrg.com) -- Our senses are essential for survival and for the exploration of natural environments, and much has been learned about the molecular basis of vision, olfaction, and taste. Yet only a few of the molecules ...

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