A plane has to be going pretty fast for a mere raindrop to crack its windshield, but it can happen. Now, new models of the physics behind the improbable feat may just help doctors crack kidney stones to pieces.
General Physics
Nov 5, 2019
3
315
Since the first laser was invented in 1960, they've always given off heat—either as a useful tool, a byproduct or a fictional way to vanquish intergalactic enemies.
Optics & Photonics
Nov 16, 2015
1
4944
As devices get smaller and more powerful, the risk of them overheating and burning out increases substantially. Despite advancements in cooling solutions, the interface between an electronic chip and its cooling system has ...
Nanomaterials
Feb 14, 2023
0
330
Active matter is any collection of materials or systems composed of individual units that can move on their own, thanks to self-propulsion or autonomous motion. They can be of any size—think clouds of bacteria in a petri ...
General Physics
Sep 4, 2023
1
547
The promise of wearables, functional fabrics, the Internet of Things, and their "next-generation" technological cohort seems tantalizingly within reach. But researchers in the field will tell you a prime reason for their ...
Nanomaterials
Sep 21, 2018
5
419
Ultrathin materials made of a single layer of atoms have riveted scientists' attention since the discovery of the first such material—graphene—about 17 years ago. Among other advances since then, researchers including ...
Nanophysics
Sep 7, 2021
0
553
Journeying to the center of the Earth, a la Jules Verne, won't be happening anytime soon. A new material made from a liquid metal and magnetic particles, however, could make it much easier for researchers to recreate the ...
Condensed Matter
Jan 31, 2017
4
2594
Yuan Yang, assistant professor of materials science and engineering at Columbia Engineering, has developed a new method to increase the energy density of lithium (Li-ion) batteries. He has built a trilayer structure that ...
Nanophysics
Oct 24, 2016
1
658
Semiconductors are important materials in numerous functional applications such as digital and analog electronics, solar cells, LEDs, and lasers. Semiconducting alloys are particularly useful for these applications since ...
Materials Science
Aug 1, 2020
0
1187
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (MPICI) have designed a carbohydrate sequence capable of folding into a stable secondary structure.
Polymers
Jul 4, 2023
0
352
