Melanin is best known as the pigment that dictates our skin tones, but it is found just about everywhere—in our brains, in our hair. It is even found in cuttlefish. But as abundant as melanin is, its exact macromolecular ...
Materials Science
May 17, 2016
1
1951
A team of engineers and artists working at the University of Washington's Solheim Rapid Manufacturing Laboratory has developed a way to create glass objects using a conventional 3-D printer. The technique allows a new material ...
Engineering
Sep 24, 2009
0
0
In findings that could change the way industries like nuclear energy and aerospace look for materials that can stand up to radiation exposure, University of Michigan researchers have discovered that metal alloys with three ...
Condensed Matter
Dec 16, 2016
21
860
The quest to harness a broader spectrum of sunlight's energy to produce electricity has taken a radically new turn, with the proposal of a "solar energy funnel" that takes advantage of materials under elastic strain.
Optics & Photonics
Nov 26, 2012
3
3
To make robots more cooperative and have them perform tasks in close proximity to humans, they must be softer and safer. A new actuator developed by a team led by George Whitesides, Ph.D. - who is a Core Faculty member at ...
Engineering
Jun 1, 2016
2
886
(Phys.org) —At just a molecule thick, it's a new record: The world's thinnest sheet of glass, a serendipitous discovery by scientists at Cornell and Germany's University of Ulm, is recorded for posterity in the Guinness ...
Nanomaterials
Sep 12, 2013
7
0
At the chemical level, diamonds are no more than carbon atoms aligned in a precise, three-dimensional (3-D) crystal lattice. However, even a seemingly flawless diamond contains defects: spots in that lattice where a carbon ...
Nanophysics
Jun 11, 2019
0
442
From shipping and construction to outer space, origami could put a folded twist on structural engineering.
Engineering
Sep 7, 2015
0
983
(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of structural engineers from the University of Sheffield in the UK say the assumptions originating with 17th century Dutch engineer Christiaan Huygens may need to be re-examined. Huygens assumed the ...
Bioinspired engineering strategies rely on achieving the combined biological properties of strength and toughness inherent in nature. Tissue engineers and materials scientists therefore aim to construct intelligent, hierarchical ...
