/ 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. Researchers have developed a novel way for liquid crystals to retain information about their movement. Using this method could advance technologies like memory devices and sensors, as well as pave the way to future soft materials that are both smart and flexible. /news/2025-08-method-liquid-crystals-recall.html Soft Matter Thu, 14 Aug 2025 12:07:04 EDT news674392022 What if chemical manufacturers could cut their energy costs while eliminating toxic heavy metals from their processes? Researchers at Nagoya University have developed a catalyst system that does exactly that by converting alcohols to valuable chemical products at lower temperature using safer iodine compounds instead of dangerous heavy metals, expensive precious metals, and reagents. /news/2025-08-cleaner-cooler-cheaper-catalyst-temperature.html Analytical Chemistry Materials Science Thu, 07 Aug 2025 11:15:04 EDT news673784101 Cancer remains one of the leading causes of death worldwide, and despite advancements in diagnosis and treatment, it continues to impose a significant health burden globally. Researchers have now started exploring various innovative methods, such as engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) that can enable targeted drug delivery to cancer cells. While promising, the in vivo behavior of pH-responsive ENMs, which continuously interact with body fluids once administered, remains poorly understood. /news/2025-08-ph-responsive-graphene-nanocarriers-precision.html Bio & Medicine Nanomaterials Thu, 07 Aug 2025 10:20:04 EDT news673780802 A new study from researchers at the Advanced Science Research Center at the CUNY Graduate Center (CUNY ASRC) reveals that extremely simple peptides can mimic a biological process that protects sensitive proteins from environmental stress. /news/2025-08-reveals-simple-peptides-mimic-nature.html Biotechnology Molecular & Computational biology Tue, 05 Aug 2025 06:00:03 EDT news673592100 What if particles don't slow down in a crowd, but move faster? Â鶹ÒùÔºicists from Leiden worked together and discovered a new state of matter, where particles pass on energy through collisions and create more movement when packed closely together. /news/2025-08-particles-power-physicists-crowded.html General Â鶹ÒùÔºics Mon, 04 Aug 2025 12:53:31 EDT news673530805 In an advance at the intersection of neuromorphic engineering and photonics, researchers have developed an ionic-electronic photodetector that not only detects light but also performs in-sensor image processing, offering the potential to surpass some limitations of human vision—including color vision deficiencies. /news/2025-08-ionic-electronic-photodetector-sensor-vision.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 04 Aug 2025 11:16:04 EDT news673524961 Salt creeping, a phenomenon that occurs in both natural and industrial processes, describes the collection and migration of salt crystals from evaporating solutions onto surfaces. Once they start collecting, the crystals climb, spreading away from the solution. This creeping behavior, according to researchers, can cause damage or be harnessed for good, depending on the context. /news/2025-07-salt-crystals-surfaces-liquid.html Materials Science Thu, 31 Jul 2025 09:01:51 EDT news673171292 We know magnetism as a fundamental force of nature that plays a crucial role in both the natural world and modern technology. It governs the behavior of materials at the atomic level and is essential for the functioning of countless devices in our everyday life, including data storage, sensing, wireless charging, sound recording and playing systems, and more. /news/2025-07-method-decodes-hidden-magnetism.html Condensed Matter Thu, 24 Jul 2025 16:08:13 EDT news672592088 Inspired by a hitchhiking fish that uses a specialized suction organ to latch onto sharks and other marine animals, researchers from MIT and other institutions have designed a mechanical adhesive device that can attach to soft surfaces underwater or in extreme conditions, and remain there for days or weeks. /news/2025-07-fish-adhesive-device-soft-tissues.html Biotechnology Wed, 23 Jul 2025 11:00:01 EDT news672421040 Rare earth elements sustain the Information Age, and securing a supply of these metals has become a matter of national and economic security. They're ubiquitous in our smart technologies, high-performance materials and industrial catalysts. Yet reclaiming them is complex, dangerous and expensive. /news/2025-07-simple-filter-method-boosts-rare.html Materials Science Tue, 22 Jul 2025 08:10:04 EDT news672386270 Research from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities gives new insight into a material that could make computer memory faster and more energy-efficient. /news/2025-07-currents-device-magnetization-materials.html General Â鶹ÒùÔºics Condensed Matter Fri, 18 Jul 2025 10:20:03 EDT news672050657 In a step toward smarter materials, researchers from the Institute of Science Tokyo collaborated with researchers from Switzerland to develop a smart hinge-like molecule that can indicate mechanical stress in polymeric materials through fluorescence. /news/2025-07-pressure-hinge-mechanophores-smarter-polymeric.html Polymers Materials Science Fri, 18 Jul 2025 09:40:06 EDT news672049966 Polyester plastics, commonly found in synthetic textiles and plastic components of home appliances, are notoriously difficult to recycle. In a study recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from France unveiled a clever method for breaking down polyester waste into reusable building blocks using heat and leveraging the residual catalysts embedded within the plastic during the manufacturing process, eliminating the need for tedious sorting. /news/2025-07-smart-boost-enzymatic-recycling-unsortable.html Polymers Materials Science Thu, 17 Jul 2025 08:25:20 EDT news671959508 Cornell researchers have developed a two-phase liquid crystal system that can rapidly change—and hold—its shape, transforming from a transparent thin liquid film to an opaque emulsion, and then back again, all with a brief jolt of a high-frequency electric field. /news/2025-07-shapeshifting-liquid-crystal-emulsions.html Biochemistry Materials Science Wed, 16 Jul 2025 13:20:12 EDT news671889700 The mechanical strength and toughness of engineering materials are often mutually exclusive, posing challenges for material design and selection. To address this, a research team from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has uncovered an innovative strategy: by simply twisting the layers of 2D materials, they can enhance toughness without compromising material's strength. /news/2025-07-2d-materials-material-strength-toughness.html Nanomaterials Tue, 15 Jul 2025 13:00:01 EDT news671801132 Nanoparticles—the tiniest building blocks of our world—are constantly in motion, bouncing, shifting, and drifting in unpredictable paths shaped by invisible forces and random environmental fluctuations. /news/2025-07-ai-tool-deciphers-mysteries-nanoparticle.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Tue, 15 Jul 2025 08:23:31 EDT news671786606 Carbon emissions continue to increase at record levels, fueling climate instability and worsening air quality conditions for billions in cities worldwide. Yet despite global commitments to carbon neutrality, urban policymakers still struggle to implement effective mitigation strategies at the city scale. /news/2025-07-smarter-tools-policymakers-urban-carbon.html Environment Mon, 14 Jul 2025 16:15:18 EDT news671728512 A powerful new method to control magnetic behavior in ultra-thin materials could lead to faster, smaller and more energy-efficient technologies, a study suggests. /news/2025-07-scientists-unveil-magnetism-super-thin.html Condensed Matter Mon, 14 Jul 2025 09:13:57 EDT news671703232 Cleaning products, candles, cribs, and cosmetics are just a few of the common household items that emit formaldehyde, a colorless, odorless chemical that, when present in the air at levels higher than 0.1 parts per million, has been found to be a risk to human health. /news/2025-07-polymer-coating-life-mxene-based.html Nanomaterials Fri, 11 Jul 2025 14:00:01 EDT news671278376 A new coating for glass developed by Rice University researchers and collaborators could help reduce energy bills, especially during the cold season, by preventing heat-loss from leaky windows. The material—a transparent film made by weaving carbon into the atomic lattice of boron nitride—forms a thin, tough layer that reflects heat, resists scratches and shrugs off moisture, UV light and temperature swings. /news/2025-07-boron-nitride-coating-glass-loss.html Materials Science Thu, 10 Jul 2025 16:37:19 EDT news671384233 Caltech scientists have found a fast and efficient way to add up large numbers of Feynman diagrams, the simple drawings physicists use to represent particle interactions. The new method has already enabled the researchers to solve a longstanding problem in the materials science and physics worlds known as the polaron problem, giving scientists and engineers a way to predict how electrons will flow in certain materials, both conventional and quantum. /news/2025-07-adding-feynman-diagrams-real-materials.html General Â鶹ÒùÔºics Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Thu, 10 Jul 2025 13:32:55 EDT news671373170 Canadians may think they're intimately familiar with ice in all its forms, but there is one kind that most have probably never heard of. Clathrate hydrates are tiny crystalline cages of ice that can trap other gases or liquids inside them. /news/2025-07-ice-compound-pipeline-safety-carbon.html Analytical Chemistry Materials Science Mon, 07 Jul 2025 16:22:03 EDT news671124121 Analytical chemistry researchers at the University of Amsterdam's Van 't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences (HIMS) have developed a novel algorithm that significantly improves the analysis of copolymers. It allows the determination of their block structure, which has until now been impossible using common analytical approaches. The researchers present their achievement in two recent papers in Macromolecules and Analytica Chimica Acta. /news/2025-07-algorithm-unprecedented-insight-copolymer-block.html Polymers Analytical Chemistry Wed, 02 Jul 2025 10:00:03 EDT news670669201 Researchers at the Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology (Leibniz IPHT) in Jena, Germany, together with international collaborators, have developed two complementary methods that could make quantum communication via fiber optics practical outside the lab. /news/2025-07-photon-bins-stability-quantum-communication.html Optics & Photonics Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Tue, 01 Jul 2025 13:02:21 EDT news670593734 How does a cloud stay cool under direct sunlight—or seem to vanish in infrared? In nature, phenomena like white cumulus clouds, gray storm systems, and even the hollow hairs of polar bears offer remarkable lessons in balancing temperature, color and invisibility. Inspired by these atmospheric marvels, researchers have now created a nanoscale "cloud" metasurface capable of dynamically switching between white and gray states—cooling or heating on demand—all while evading thermal detection. /news/2025-06-nano-clouds-temperature-outwit-sensors.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Mon, 30 Jun 2025 13:05:03 EDT news670507501 Scientists have created tiny disk-shaped particles that can swim on their own when hit with light, akin to microscopic robots that move through a special liquid without any external motors or propellers. /news/2025-06-powered-microscopic-swimmers-onoff-pathways.html Biotechnology Molecular & Computational biology Fri, 27 Jun 2025 14:25:35 EDT news670253120 A team of researchers at IMDEA Nanociencia institute and Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore has unveiled a new class of gas sensors based on MINT-functionalized carbon nanotubes, offering unprecedented precision in detecting and distinguishing volatile organic compounds. /news/2025-06-fresh-tech-carbon-nanotube-sensors.html Nanomaterials Fri, 27 Jun 2025 11:21:02 EDT news670242061 A research team from The University of Osaka and the Institute of Science Tokyo has developed a class of mRNA medicines that can sense changes in the body and autonomously adjust their therapeutic effect. This innovation paves the way for precision treatments that are not only more effective, but also safer—by producing just the right amount of medicine based on real-time biological signals. The research is published in the journal NPG Asia Materials. /news/2025-06-smart-mrna-drugs-body-adjusting.html Bio & Medicine Nanomaterials Thu, 19 Jun 2025 10:35:02 EDT news669548101 Cellulose-based textile material can make the clothing sector more sustainable. Currently, cellulose-based textiles are mainly made from wood, but a study headed by researchers from Chalmers University of Technology points to the possibility of using agricultural waste from wheat and oat. /news/2025-06-food-textile-agricultural-future.html Materials Science Tue, 17 Jun 2025 14:36:03 EDT news669389761 Earthworms often form a cluster, from which they can barely free themselves. A similarly active, writhing structure forms when the tentacles of lion's mane jellyfish become entangled. Robotic grippers utilize this principle by using multiple synthetic flexible arms to grip and move objects. And such interlinked self-propelled filaments can also be found at the smaller micrometer scale, for example in a biological cell. /news/2025-06-movement-entangled-cluster-worms-polymer.html Soft Matter Mon, 16 Jun 2025 12:51:04 EDT news669297062