Nanomachines: Pirouetting in the spotlight

Scientists have developed a new class of molecular motors that rotate unidirectionally at speeds of up to 1 kHz when exposed to sunlight at room temperature. This unique combination of features opens up novel applications in nano-engineering.

Making batteries with portabella mushrooms

Porous structure of portabella mushrooms is key to making efficient batteries that could power cell phones and electric vehicles.

Disappearing carbon circuits on graphene could have security, biomedical uses

Researchers have demonstrated a technique for creating dynamic patterns on graphene surfaces. The patterns could be used to make reconfigurable electronic circuits, which evolve over a period of hours before ultimately disappearing into a new electronic state of the graphene.

Physicists map the strain in graphene, pixel by pixel

This week, an international group of scientists is reporting a breakthrough in the effort to characterize the properties of graphene noninvasively while acquiring information about its response to structural strain.

Tattoo-like electronic health patches may now be cheaper and easier to make

Researchers have invented a method for producing inexpensive and high-performing wearable patches that can continuously monitor the body's vital signs for human health and performance tracking, potentially outperforming traditional monitoring tools such as cardiac event monitors.

Laser4Fun project develops laser-based surface patterning

Using the latest laser techniques, many surfaces of existing products can be accurately treated. The technique can replace the special coatings that are currently applied to existing materials for surface improvement.

Researchers disguise drugs as platelets to target cancer

Researchers have for the first time developed a technique that coats anticancer drugs in membranes made from a patient's own platelets, allowing the drugs to last longer in the body and attack both primary cancer tumors and the circulating tumor cells that can cause a cancer to metastasize. The work was tested successfully in an animal model.

Variance spectroscopy technique advances nanoparticle analysis

In a great example of 'less is more', scientists have developed a powerful method to analyze carbon nanotubes in solution.

A new sunblock that doesn't penetrate the skin

Scientists have developed a new sunblock, made with bioadhesive nanoparticles, that stays on the surface of the skin.

Researchers create first entropy-stabilized complex oxide alloys

Researchers have created the first entropy-stabilized alloy that incorporates oxides - and demonstrated conclusively that the crystalline structure of the material can be determined by disorder at the atomic scale rather than chemical bonding.

New processes in modern ReRAM memory cells decoded

Researchers discovered an unexpected second switching process in valence change memory (VCM): metal ions also help to form filaments in VCMs.

Hopes of improved brain implants with nanowire structures

Neurons thrive and grow in a new type of nanowire material. In time, the results might improve both neural and retinal implants, and reduce the risk of them losing their effectiveness over time, which is currently a problem.

Electric field control of magnetic moment in palladium

This research demonstrates the possibility of electrically inducing magnetism in non-magnetic materials.