The incredible properties of hagfish slime have fascinated scientists for decades, but researchers are only just beginning to make sense of this mucilaginous secretion. In doing so, they hope to create superfibers that could one day be used in everything from bullet-proof vests to artificial tendons.
Materials scientists have been eyeing spider silk as a potential supermaterial for years, but the stuff is notoriously difficult to produce in quantities. Now, recent breakthroughs in the production of synthetic spider silk could see this remarkable substance commercialized, and publicly available, sooner than…
In a surprising breakthrough for the world of materials science, researchers have created some of the most powerful artificial muscles we've ever seen. And they did it with simple fishing line. These freakishly strong and cheap muscles could revolutionize robotics, and perhaps one day our own bodies.
The hotter an object gets, the more heat it radiates. Simple, right? It's a fundamental physical principle that makes instruments like infrared goggles possible. But now researchers at Harvard have identified a material that defies this principle by actually appearing colder as it warms up.
This deceptively simple animation reveals a surprising new discovery out of MIT. Researchers say it could lead to more efficient power plants and new techniques for energy-harvesting.
A strange, newly discovered particle could shrink a laptop computer's hard drive to the size of a peanut and an iPod's drive to the size of a rice grain.
Harvard engineers have a devised a technique for designing and producing intricate microscopic models, called "hierarchical microarchitectures," and the tiny sculptures it produces are nothing short of incredible.
Some kids are hawking a new line of button-ups they claim can endure 100 wears (unwashed) and come out looking and smelling like new. So what's the big, scientific secret?
Scientists have just unveiled the lightest human-made substance on Earth. How light are we talking? Let's put it this way: it's less dense than helium.
The boundary that divides man from machine continues to dissolve — and in more literal ways than you might imagine. Scientists today announced a new class of electronics that can disappear completely, resorbing into its environment after carrying out a designated task.
Scientists at the Vienna University of Technology have developed a brand new method for positioning molecules in space with micrometer precision. They call it "3D-photografting," and it uses laser beams to place microscopic chemical structures in the nooks and crannies of a macromolecular meshwork known as hydrogel.
Last November, we told you about a metallic microlattice that was light enough to rest on the seed heads of a dandelion. At the time, it had just supplanted NASA's aerogel as the lightest material on Earth by a mere tenth of a milligram per cubic centimeter (the former has a density of just .9 mg/cm3; the latter an…
In 1901, Thomas Edison developed the recharcheable nickel-iron battery, a technology he hoped to see implemented in electric cars. But a slow rate of energy output and slower charging time saw it superseded by lead-acid and lithium-ion batteries in standard and electric cars alike.
Seriously. Just kick back, relax, and enjoy the show — because chances are you've never seen steel like this.
An international team of researchers has successfully created silicene, a hexagonal mesh of silicon atoms which, like graphene, measures just one atom tall.
What if washing your favorite T-shirt didn't require any washing whatsoever? Well, guess what. Science says it's possible. Chemical engineers in China say they've developed a cotton fabric that cleans itself — all it needs is a little sunlight.