Making liquid crystals stand tall

Most liquid-crystalline displays contain rod-like molecules that quickly switch from one orientation to another when subjected to electric fields. This movement creates a shutter effect that turns light on and off at high ...

Microspiders: Polymerization reaction drives micromotors

(PhysOrg.com) -- Though it seems like science fiction, microscopic "factories" in which nanomachines produce tiny structures for miniaturized components or nanorobots that destroy tumor cells within the body and scrape blockages ...

Making light work of artificial muscles

A new form of self-assembling polymer film that bends and stretches when hit by light is pointing the way to a new family of functional materials. This flexing film is the first material to have been made by coaxing complex ...

Giant molecule synthesized

Producing molecules comparable with large bio-molecules in size, shape and structure is an age-old dream of organic chemists. An international research team led by A. Dieter Schluter from the Department of Materials Science ...

Muscle filaments make mechanical strain visible

Plastics-based materials have been in use for decades. But manufacturers are facing a serious hurdle in their quest for new developments: Substantial influences of the microscopic material structure on mechanical material ...

Scientists identify spontaneously chain-reacting molecule

In the burgeoning field of nano-science there are now many ways of 'writing' molecular-scale messages on a surface, one molecule at a time. The trouble is that writing a molecule at a time takes a very long time.

Molecules delivering drugs as they walk

An octopus-like polymer can "walk" along the wall of a narrow channel as it is pushed through by a solvent. Now research in The Journal of Chemical Physics, which is published by the American Institute of Physics, provides ...

Chemists discover twisted molecules that pick their targets

New York University chemists have discovered how to make molecules with a twist—the molecules fold in to twisted helical shapes that can accelerate selected chemical reactions. The research, reported in the latest issue ...

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