/ en-us �鶹��Ժ internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: �鶹��Ժics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. April 2025 was a busy month for space. /news/2025-05-space-law-doesnt-historical-sites.html Space Exploration Mon, 12 May 2025 10:58:05 EDT news666266281 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 A joint team from National Taiwan University and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology has developed a novel hydrogel actuator whose movement can be programmed using UV light, enabling precise spatial control of thermoresponsive deformation for presenting a potential application in soft robotics and in vitro muscle models. /news/2025-04-uv-programmable-hydrogel-actuator-bioinspired.html Polymers Materials Science Thu, 24 Apr 2025 07:28:03 EDT news664698481 In a breakthrough that blends ancient design with modern materials science, researchers at the University of Houston have developed a new class of ceramic structures that can bend under pressure—without breaking. /news/2025-04-reinvents-ceramics-origami-3d.html Polymers Materials Science Wed, 23 Apr 2025 12:22:03 EDT news664629722 From soft robots crawling through crops to bio-based fertilizers that protect waterways, the future of farming lies at the intersection of scientific disciplines, according to a new study describing how agriculture's toughest challenges require coordinated breakthroughs in biology, chemistry, engineering and data science. /news/2025-04-growth-fields-scientific-collaboration-tackles.html Biotechnology Agriculture Thu, 17 Apr 2025 16:50:03 EDT news664127401 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 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 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 Living cells are bustling with molecular machines that constantly process energy, matter, and information. Among these machines, proteins stand out, with enzymes being the most notable. These catalytic entities dramatically accelerate essential metabolic reactions by many orders of magnitude, facilitating the very processes that sustain life. While it has long been acknowledged that enzymes undergo movements during their catalytic cycles, measuring and predicting these internal motions and forces has proven extremely challenging. /news/2025-03-mechanics-life-enzymes-soft-programmable.html Biotechnology Molecular & Computational biology Mon, 31 Mar 2025 13:21:55 EDT news662646112 Scientists have revealed how tiny swimming cells—such as sperm and bacteria—are able to move faster when traveling as a group, and the research could accelerate the development of microscopic robots that deliver drugs to specific regions of the body. /news/2025-03-scientists-uncover-microswimmers-faster-groups.html Bio & Medicine Nanophysics Fri, 28 Mar 2025 11:43:04 EDT news662380981 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 �鶹��Ժics Mon, 17 Mar 2025 10:34:57 EDT news661426491 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 Plastics, which are polymeric materials composed of long chains of small molecules called monomers, are widely used in everyday life and industry due to their lightweight, good strength and flexibility. However, with approximately 52 million tons of plastic waste generated annually, plastic pollution has become a major environmental concern. /news/2025-03-sustainable-smart-polymers.html Polymers Analytical Chemistry Thu, 06 Mar 2025 11:57:04 EST news660484622 Sometimes scientists must dig and work and sweat to make scientific discoveries. And sometimes a robot rolls over a rock that turns out to be a revelation. /news/2025-03-unburied-treasure-rover-unexpected-minerals.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Wed, 05 Mar 2025 09:29:59 EST news660389395 A US company is aiming for its second lunar touchdown after a lander carrying a suite of unique experiments successfully launched aboard a SpaceX rocket on Wednesday. /news/2025-02-private-company-blasts-moon.html Space Exploration Thu, 27 Feb 2025 04:12:48 EST news659851937 Researchers at Hokkaido University and Duke University have developed a hydrogel that heals and strengthens itself as it is overloaded and damaged. The proof-of-concept demonstration could lead to improved performance for situations where soft but durable materials are required, such as load-bearing connections and joints within machines, robots and even people. /news/2025-02-network-hydrogel-polymers-feature-rapid.html Polymers Materials Science Wed, 26 Feb 2025 12:51:49 EST news659796697 Intuitive Machines made history last year as the first private company to put a robot on the moon, although the triumph was marred by the lander tipping onto its side. /news/2025-02-private-company-moon.html Space Exploration Wed, 26 Feb 2025 04:48:17 EST news659767692 A team led by researchers at UNC-Chapel Hill have made an extraordinary discovery that is reshaping our understanding of bubbles and their movement. Picture tiny air bubbles inside a container filled with liquid. When the container is shaken up and down, these bubbles engage in an unexpected, rhythmic "galloping" motion—bouncing like playful horses and moving horizontally, even though the shaking occurs vertically. /news/2025-02-fluid-discovery-defies-logic.html General �鶹��Ժics Soft Matter Tue, 25 Feb 2025 12:25:04 EST news659708701 On Wednesday 26 February, a thermal imaging camera built by researchers at the University of Oxford's Department of �鶹��Ժics will blast off to the moon as part of NASA's Lunar Trailblazer mission. This aims to map sources of water on the moon to shed light on the lunar water cycle and to guide future robotic and human missions. /news/2025-02-lunar-trailblazer-blasts-moon.html Space Exploration Planetary Sciences Mon, 24 Feb 2025 15:30:04 EST news659633401 The practice of purposely looping thread to create intricate knit garments and blankets has existed for millennia. Though its precise origins have been lost to history, artifacts like a pair of wool socks from ancient Egypt suggest it dates back as early as the third to fifth century CE. Yet, for all its long-standing ubiquity, the physics behind knitting remains surprisingly elusive. /news/2025-02-theoretical-physics.html General �鶹��Ժics Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:19:13 EST news659355547 Before Apollo astronauts set foot upon the moon, much remained unknown about the lunar surface. While most scientists believed the moon had a solid surface that would support astronauts and their landing craft, a few believed a deep layer of dust covered it that would swallow any visitors. Until 1964, no closeup photographs of the lunar surface existed, only those obtained by Earth-based telescopes. /news/2025-02-years-ranger-moon-photos-aid.html Space Exploration Planetary Sciences Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:56:03 EST news659292961 Imagine microscopic robots that can navigate the body, delivering medicine precisely to damaged tissues while avoiding side effects. Engineers at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa have discovered a new breakthrough that brings this vision closer to reality. /news/2025-01-microscopic-robots-chemical-precise-drug.html Bio & Medicine Mon, 13 Jan 2025 10:33:03 EST news655986781 Princeton engineers have developed an easily scalable 3D printing technique to manufacture soft plastics with programmed stretchiness and flexibility that are also recyclable and inexpensive—qualities not typically combined in commercially manufactured materials. /news/2024-12-stretchable-flexible-recyclable-3d-method.html Polymers Materials Science Fri, 13 Dec 2024 14:18:31 EST news653321905 A world-first soft robotic hand, developed by researchers at CSIRO, Australia's national science agency, could revolutionize the delicate, labor-intensive process of cultivating baby corals in laboratories, offering a groundbreaking approach to coral restoration efforts. /news/2024-11-world-robotic-cultivate-baby-corals.html Ecology Biotechnology Thu, 14 Nov 2024 09:50:01 EST news650799636 Researchers said on Monday they had designed the first robotic leg with "artificial muscles"—oil-filled bags allowing machines to move more like humans—that can jump nimbly across a range of surfaces. /news/2024-09-robot-leg-artificial-muscles-nimbly.html General �鶹��Ժics Mon, 09 Sep 2024 19:00:02 EDT news645101569 A perfect combination of fiber optics and micro/nanotechnology, optical micro/nanofiber (MNF) is a new type of micro/nano-waveguide structure developed in recent years. /news/2024-08-advances-optical-micronanofiber-enabled-tactile.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Fri, 30 Aug 2024 12:39:03 EDT news644240341 For plants, cleaning the air, providing food and medicines, and preserving our ecosystem is just another day's work. In the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, however, plants are being studied in new ways to inspire future biohybrid soft robotic designs. /news/2024-08-defense-future-soft-robotic.html Biotechnology Thu, 29 Aug 2024 13:08:59 EDT news644155736