/ en-us Â鶹ÒùÔº internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Â鶹ÒùÔºics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Astrobee is a free-flying robotic system developed by NASA that is made up of three distinct cube-shaped robots. This system was originally designed to help astronauts who are working at the International Space Station (ISS) by automating some of their routine manual tasks. /news/2025-05-astrobee-soft-cargo-source-simulator.html Space Exploration Mon, 19 May 2025 08:00:01 EDT news666624973 A research team has synthesized a novel red sea star-inspired polyurethane, which can achieve rapid underwater self-healing. The study was published in Macromolecules. /news/2025-05-red-sea-star-polyurethane-enables.html Polymers Materials Science Fri, 16 May 2025 09:48:02 EDT news666607681 Researchers at the University of Tokyo and their collaborators have developed a digital laboratory system that fully automates the material synthesis and the structural and physical property evaluation of thin-film samples. /news/2025-05-team-digital-lab-robot-driven.html Analytical Chemistry Materials Science Wed, 14 May 2025 05:00:01 EDT news666272101 An international study featuring scientists from Curtin University's School of Earth and Planetary Sciences and Space Science and Technology Center offers new insights into the moon's history and provides a better understanding of what lies beneath its cratered surface. /news/2025-05-glass-beads-window-moon-hidden.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 12 May 2025 09:17:02 EDT news666260221 Researchers at McGill University, in collaboration with Polytechnique Montréal, pioneered a new way to create hydrogels using ultrasound, eliminating the need for toxic chemical initiators. This breakthrough offers a faster, cleaner and more sustainable approach to hydrogel fabrication, and produces hydrogels that are stronger, more flexible and highly resistant to freezing and dehydration. /news/2025-05-ultrasound-safer-greener-hydrogels.html Polymers Materials Science Thu, 08 May 2025 13:20:07 EDT news665928650 A new study uncovers how fine-tuning the interactions between two distinct network-forming species within a soft gel enables programmable control over its structure and mechanical properties. The findings reveal a powerful framework for engineering next-generation soft materials with customizable behaviors, inspired by the complexity of biological tissues. /news/2025-05-programmable-network-gels-interspecies-interactions.html Soft Matter Tue, 06 May 2025 16:56:02 EDT news665769361 The first case of an electric circuit created using a simple marker and a laser beam shows that simple and sustainable materials can generate innovative applications on any surface, such as a coffee cup. /news/2025-04-marker-ink-graphene-based-electric.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Wed, 30 Apr 2025 03:30:02 EDT news665197504 On a wave-battered rock in the northern Pacific Ocean, a fish called the sculpin grips the surface firmly to maintain stability in its harsh environment. Unlike sea urchins, which use their glue-secreting tube feet to adhere to their surroundings, sculpins manage to grip without a specialized adhesive organ like tube feet or the suction cups of octopuses. /news/2025-04-microscopic-fin-features-sculpins-turbulent.html Plants & Animals Cell & Microbiology Wed, 23 Apr 2025 15:41:04 EDT news664641661 Over the past decades, electronics engineers developed increasingly small, flexible and sophisticated sensors that can pick up a wide range of signals, ranging from human motions to heartrate and other biological signals. These sensors have in turn enabled the development of new electronics, including smartwatches, biomedical devices that can help monitor the health of users over time and other wearable or implantable systems. /news/2025-04-carbon-nanotube-based-strain-sensor.html Bio & Medicine Nanomaterials Wed, 23 Apr 2025 07:50:02 EDT news664544793 From microscopic robots that can carry and deliver drugs inside the human body to tiny particles that can detect and break down microplastics, an emerging field called active matter is looking toward the microscale to solve some of the world's biggest problems. /news/2025-04-qa-microscopic-traffic-solution-insights.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Tue, 22 Apr 2025 16:07:05 EDT news664556821 A bioreactor that mimics a circulatory system can deliver nutrients and oxygen to artificial tissue, enabling the production of over 10 grams of chicken muscle for cultured meat applications. These results are published in Trends in Biotechnology. /news/2025-04-sized-chunks-chicken-texture-meat.html Biotechnology Agriculture Wed, 16 Apr 2025 11:00:01 EDT news663924601 Four space tourists who orbited the north and south poles returned to Earth on Friday, splashing down in the Pacific to end their privately funded polar tour. /news/2025-04-space-tourists-earth-private-flight.html Space Exploration Fri, 04 Apr 2025 12:49:11 EDT news662989746 In the quest to design the next generation of materials for modern devices—ones that are lightweight, flexible and excellent at dissipating heat—a team of researchers led by the University of Massachusetts Amherst made a discovery: imperfection has its upsides. /news/2025-04-polymers-flawed-fillers-boost-plastics.html Polymers Analytical Chemistry Fri, 04 Apr 2025 11:39:04 EDT news662985541 Researchers from Hanyang University have developed an innovative micropillar array capable of collective and rapid magnetic oscillations, demonstrating strong potential for advanced applications in robotics, fluid transport, and dynamic surface control. /news/2025-04-synchronized-magnetic-oscillations-enable-micropillar.html Nanomaterials Wed, 02 Apr 2025 12:07:04 EDT news662814421 Plants don't just grow, they build. From towering trees to delicate flowers, complex plant shapes are sculpted with remarkable precision. Now a study by biologists and biophysicists at Université de Montréal reveals how plants build their organs in three dimensions. /news/2025-04-physical-generate-complex-3d.html Plants & Animals Molecular & Computational biology Tue, 01 Apr 2025 17:10:12 EDT news662746201 Capturing precise 3D details with a single camera has long been a challenge. Traditional methods often require complex dual-camera setups or specialized lighting conditions that are impractical for real-world applications. However, a groundbreaking approach developed at Nanjing University is set to redefine 3D imaging. /news/2025-03-revolutionizing-3d-vision-miniaturized-snapshot.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 01 Apr 2025 07:20:02 EDT news662633824 A bitcoin investor who bought a SpaceX flight for himself and three polar explorers blasted off Monday night on the first rocket ride to carry people over the North and South poles. /news/2025-04-bitcoin-investor-buys-entire-spacex.html Space Exploration Tue, 01 Apr 2025 04:39:30 EDT news662701163 In a leap forward for materials science, a multi-institutional team of researchers has developed a pioneering method of 3D printing cholesteric liquid crystal elastomers (CLCEs), enabling complex, color-changing responsive materials and paving the way for novel applications like smart textiles and advanced robotics. /news/2025-03-3d-method-materials-smart-textiles.html Materials Science Mon, 31 Mar 2025 14:53:04 EDT news662651581 Researchers at The University of Texas at Dallas have invented a new, inexpensive method for fabricating artificial muscles for potential use in robots, in comfort-adjusting jackets that become more thermally insulating as the surrounding air becomes colder, and as mechanical energy harvesters. /news/2025-03-artificial-muscles-action-mandrel-free.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Mon, 31 Mar 2025 14:15:03 EDT news662649301 When materials are created on a nanometer scale—just a handful of atoms thick—even the thermal energy present at room temperature can cause structural ripples. How these ripples affect the mechanical properties of these thin materials can limit their use in electronics and other key systems. /news/2025-03-nanoscale-ripples-key-thin-material.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Thu, 27 Mar 2025 14:05:03 EDT news662303101 Imagine if a doctor could remotely do a non-invasive, highly precise medical procedure on her patients using a tiny robot, or microrobot. With a device researchers from SMU and George Washington University created, that is one step closer to reality. /news/2025-03-magnetic-tweezers-robotic-surgery-safer.html Bio & Medicine Nanomaterials Wed, 26 Mar 2025 12:37:04 EDT news662211422 Florida State University chemists have created a machine learning tool that can identify the chemical composition of dried salt solutions from an image with 99% accuracy. /news/2025-03-democratizing-chemical-analysis-machine-robotics.html Analytical Chemistry Tue, 18 Mar 2025 15:49:04 EDT news661531742 A team of researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS) in Stuttgart developed a biohybrid micro swimmer covered with magnetic material, whose swimming ability is largely unaffected by the coating. The team from the Â鶹ÒùÔºical Intelligence Department at MPI-IS published their work in the journal Matter. /news/2025-03-magnetic-microalgae-tiny-swimmers-mission.html Bio & Medicine Nanomaterials Mon, 17 Mar 2025 14:18:34 EDT news661439908 Interconnected materials containing networks are ubiquitous in the world around us—rubber, car tires, human and engineered tissues, woven sheets and chain mail armor. Engineers often want these networks to be as strong as possible and to resist mechanical fracture and failure. /news/2025-03-law-energy-fracture-stretchable-networks.html General Â鶹ÒùÔºics Mon, 17 Mar 2025 10:34:57 EDT news661426491 Imagine a microscopic locomotive moving back and forth along a track, propelling itself without any external force. At the molecular level, this concept forms the foundation of molecular motors—intricate systems that could enable advanced materials, targeted drug delivery, and the development of nanoscale robotics. /news/2025-03-molecular-motors-action-visualizing-cyclodextrin.html Polymers Analytical Chemistry Tue, 11 Mar 2025 11:18:03 EDT news660910681 Next-generation imaging technology is rapidly expanding beyond smartphones into intelligent devices, robotics, extended reality (XR) devices, health care, CCTV, and various other industries. At the core of these technological advances are highly efficient, ultra-compact image sensors that convert light signals into electrical signals. Image sensors capture and process visual information from objects and environments, enabling precise reconstruction of their shape, size, and spatial position. /news/2025-03-2d-semiconductor-sensor-gold-nanoparticles.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Mon, 10 Mar 2025 13:40:02 EDT news660832492 Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the University of Cologne have developed an AI-based learning system that recognizes strengths and weaknesses in mathematics by tracking eye movements with a webcam to generate problem-solving hints. This enables teachers to provide significantly more children with individualized support. /news/2025-03-ai-based-math-individualized-students.html Mathematics Education Mon, 10 Mar 2025 11:31:04 EDT news660825061 Are subterranean lifeforms viable on Mars? A new interpretation of Martian seismic data by scientists Ikuo Katayama of Hiroshima University and Yuya Akamatsu of Research Institute for Marine Geodynamics suggests the presence of water below the surface of Mars. "If liquid water exists on Mars," Katayama says, "the presence of microbial activity" is possible. /news/2025-03-seismic-clues-marsquakes-liquid-life.html Planetary Sciences Sat, 08 Mar 2025 05:35:51 EST news660634545 We all encounter gels in daily life—from the soft, sticky substances you put in your hair to the jelly-like components in various foodstuffs. While human skin shares gel-like characteristics, it has unique qualities that are very hard to replicate. It combines high stiffness with flexibility, and it has remarkable self-healing capabilities, often healing completely within 24 hours of an injury. /news/2025-03-entangled-polymers-nanosheets-skin-hydrogel.html Polymers Materials Science Fri, 07 Mar 2025 05:00:01 EST news660495721 A privately owned lunar lander touched down on the moon with a drill, drone and rovers for NASA and other customers Thursday, but quickly ran into trouble and may have fallen over. /news/2025-03-private-lunar-lander-fallen-moon.html Space Exploration Fri, 07 Mar 2025 04:04:12 EST news660542646