(Phys.org)—A smart filter with a shape-shifting surface can separate oil and water using gravity alone, an advancement that could be useful in cleaning up environmental oil spills, among other applications, say its University ...
Materials Science
Aug 29, 2012
4
0
Emulsions of oil-based pesticides are widely used in agriculture, although they are a major environmental and health hazard because they bounce off plant surfaces due to their hydrophobic nature, resulting in the pollution ...
Geckos are renowned for their acrobatic feats on land and in the air, but a new discovery that they can also run on water puts them in the superhero category, says a University of California, Berkeley, biologist.
Plants & Animals
Dec 6, 2018
1
386
(PhysOrg.com) -- In nature, textured surfaces provide some plants the ability to trap insects and pollen, certain insects the ability to walk on water, and the gecko the ability to climb walls. Being able to mimic these ...
Nanomaterials
Oct 29, 2010
0
0
Clogged printer nozzles waste time and money while reducing print quality. University of Missouri engineers recently invented a clog-preventing nozzle cover by mimicking the human eye.
Engineering
Jul 16, 2012
0
0
All living things require proteins, members of a vast family of molecules that nature "makes to order" according to the blueprints in DNA.
Biochemistry
Dec 7, 2015
5
1127
Janus adhesive hydrogels hold promising applications across health care fields. Nevertheless, a simple method to synthesize the material had yet to be bioengineered in the lab.
Blink and you've missed it: Manu Prakash from Stanford University, USA, describes how one moment a waterlily beetle (Galerucella nymphaeae) is sat on the surface of a pond and the next it has vanished. 'The phenomenon is ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 2, 2016
0
84
University of Chicago researchers recently showed that dry granular materials such as sands, seeds and grains have properties similar to liquid, forming water-like droplets when poured from a given source. The finding could ...
General Physics
Jun 24, 2009
0
0
Researchers from North Carolina State University have demonstrated a technique that allows them to produce streams of liquid metal at room temperature. By applying a low voltage to the liquid metal, the researchers were able ...
Materials Science
Jul 27, 2020
2
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