How oversized atoms could help shrink

"Lab-on-a-chip" devices – which can carry out several laboratory functions on a single, micro-sized chip – are the result of a quiet scientific revolution over the past few years. For example, they enable doctors to make ...

Sandcastles of star-shaped motes are stable structures

Duke graduate student Yuchen Zhao has spent the last year studying such "sandcastles of stars"—towers crafted from hundreds of six-armed stars or "hexapods" which bear a remarkable resemblance to the jacks you might have ...

Structural colors, without the shimmer

Structural colors, like those found in some butterflies' wings, birds' feathers and beetles' backs, resist fading because they don't absorb light like dyes and pigments. However, the iridescence that enhances their beauty ...

Newly discovered mechanism propels micromotors

Scientists studying the behavior of platinum particles immersed in hydrogen peroxide may have discovered a new way to propel microscopic machines. The new mechanism is described in The Journal of Chemical Physics.

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