Scientists spin naturalistic silk from artificial spider gland

Researchers have succeeded in creating a device that spins artificial spider silk that closely matches what spiders naturally produce. The artificial silk gland was able to re-create the complex molecular structure of silk ...

A star like a Matryoshka doll: New theory for gravastars

The interior of black holes remains a conundrum for science. In 1916, German physicist Karl Schwarzschild outlined a solution to Albert Einstein's equations of general relativity, in which the center of a black hole consists ...

Light and sound waves reveal negative pressure

Negative pressure is a rare and challenging-to-detect phenomenon in physics. Using liquid-filled optical fibers and sound waves, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) in Erlangen have now ...

How ultrathin polymer films can be used for storage technology

Precisely applied mechanical pressure can improve the electronic properties of a widely used polymer material. This requires that the material be mechanically processed to an accuracy of a few nanometers, a team from Martin ...

Water processing: Light helps degrade hormones

Micropollutants in water often are hormones that accumulate in the environment and may have negative impacts on humans and animals. Researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Leibniz Institute of Surface Engineering ...

Perovskites under pressure: Hot electrons cool faster

In solar cells, about two third of the energy of sunlight is lost. Half of this loss is due to a process called 'hot carrier cooling' where high energy photons lose their excess energy in the form of heat before being converted ...

To push or to pull? How many-limbed marine organisms swim

When you think of swimming, you probably imagine pushing through the water—creating backwards thrust that pushes you forward. New research at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) suggests instead that many marine animals ...

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