Inexpensive new carbon-based catalysts can be fine-tuned

Material could replace precious metals and produce precisely controlled electrochemical reactivity.

New way to repair nerves: Using exosomes to hijack cell-to-cell communication

Biomedical engineers report a new way to induce human mesenchymal stem cells to differentiate into neuron-like cells: treating them with exosomes from rat-derived progenitor cells. In combination with synthetic nanoparticles now in development, researchers hope to make synthetic exosomes, inducing neuron growth without neural progenitor cells.

Understanding Nature's most striking colors

Researchers show how natural materials like plant cellulose can self-assemble into surfaces with stunning optical properties - including shiny iridescence and colors that change depending on the humidity.

New tool for studying magnetic, self-propelled bacteria that resemble compass needles

A simple mechanism can control the swimming direction of magnetotactic bacteria - a group of bacteria that orient along the earth's magnetic field and are of interest to scientists studying geology, environmental change and more.

A small, inexpensive high frequency comb signal generator

Researchers have calculated that the Nobel Prize-winning device called a Josephson junction could precisely convert a signal from megahertz to gigahertz - with potential uses in metrology and telecommunications.

An 'instruction manual' for futuristic metallic glass

Research paves the way for alloys that are 3x stronger than steel yet bend like gum.

One step closer to a new kind of computer

An international group of physicists recently presented results of experiments testing a new phenomenon. The results may assist scientists in the creation of an essentially new kind of electronics - Mott transition, or the transition of an insulator to a conductor.

Pillared graphene gains strength

Researchers discovered that putting nanotube pillars between sheets of graphene could create hybrid structures with a unique balance of strength, toughness and ductility throughout all three dimensions.

Tracking slow nanolight in natural hyperbolic metamaterial slabs

Scientists have imaged how light moves inside an exotic class of matter known as hyperbolic materials. They observed, for the first time, ultraslow pulse propagation and backward propagating waves in deep subwavelength-scale thick slabs of boron nitride - a natural hyperbolic material for infrared light.

Observing nano-bio interactions in real time

Researchers have developed a technique to observe, in real time, how individual blood components interact and modify advanced nanoparticle therapeutics. The method helps guide the design of future nanoparticles to interact in concert with human blood components, thus avoiding unwanted side effects.

New efficiency record for solar hydrogen production is 14 percent

An international team has succeeded in considerably increasing the efficiency for direct solar water splitting with a tandem solar cell whose surfaces have been selectively modified. The new record value is 14 percent and thus tops the previous record of 12.4 percent, broken now for the first time in 17 years.