Robots with toes? Experiments suggest that climbing robots could benefit from having flexible, hairy toes, like those of geckos, that can adjust quickly to accommodate shifting weight and slippery surfaces.
Plants & Animals
May 8, 2020
1
263
Want to make a super strong material from nano-scale building blocks? Start with the highest quality building blocks, right?
Nanomaterials
Aug 15, 2019
0
481
Negative pressure governs not only the Universe or the quantum vacuum. This phenomenon, although of a different nature, appears also in liquid crystals confined in nanopores. At the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Polish ...
Condensed Matter
Apr 25, 2019
0
7
Researchers from New Zealand's University of Otago have used advanced technology to find out why three common fibre types differ in how they take in and release body odor.
Materials Science
Sep 5, 2017
0
5
When you spill a bit of water onto a tabletop, the puddle spreads—and then stops, leaving a well-defined area of water with a sharp boundary.
General Physics
Jul 8, 2015
8
170
New calculations shows that the influence of quantum effects on the operating conditions of nanodevices has, until now, been overestimated.
Nanophysics
Nov 15, 2013
2
1
For a car to accelerate there has to be friction between the tire and the surface of the road. The amount of friction generated depends on numerous factors, including the minute intermolecular forces acting between the two ...
Nanophysics
Jul 19, 2013
0
0
Adhesives inspired by the gecko can be made to switch on and off reversibly and repeatedly. The key design parameters for these materials are identified in a study published in Journal of the Royal Society Interface today.
Materials Science
Apr 4, 2013
0
0
The spreading of a liquid drop on a solid surface is a simple, everyday phenomenon. And while it is known that when a drop of oil is placed on a solid surface, its radius increases as its thickness decreases, the mechanisms ...
General Physics
Jul 1, 2011
0
0
A Syracuse University chemist has developed a way to use very low frequency light waves to study the weak forces (London dispersion forces) that hold molecules together in a crystal. This fundamental research could be applied ...
General Physics
Mar 23, 2011
0
0
