Building antimicrobial bullets from breast milk

Scientists have converted a breast milk protein into an artificial virus that kills bacteria by creating bullet holes in the membrane that surrounds and protects the bacteria.

Fuel cell electrolyte developed to offer cleaner, more efficient energy

A new thin-film electrolyte material helps solid oxide fuel cells operate more efficiently and cheaply than those composed of conventional materials, has potential applications for portable power sources.

Researchers developing sponge-like material to more efficiently store natural gas

Researchers are utilizing metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) to develop a new type of storage system that would adsorb the gas like a sponge and allow for more energy-efficient storage and use.

Bridging the bio-electronic divide

New effort aims for fully implantable devices able to connect with up to one million neurons.

Glass-based ultraviolet absorbers act as 'biological shields'

A special metal oxide glass can help protect living cells by absorbing and blocking damaging ultraviolet rays.

New process enables easier isolation of carbon nanotubes

A new method enables isolation and sorting of semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes with little damage and at high purity.

Subatomic silver clusters that self-assemble on cyclic peptide nanotubes

Researchers have described, for the first time the way small clusters of silver metal set weak interactions with other organic molecules.

Localized oxidative killing of tumor cells by glassy iron nanoparticles

Scientists describe their design and synthesis of a special amorphous state of nanoparticulate iron, which can locally release reactive iron species in the acidic and hydrogen peroxide rich environment of cancer cells, providing new possibilities for theranostics and chemodynamic therapies.

Copper deposition to fabricate tiny 3D objects

A new 3D microprinting process allows scientists to easily manufacture tiny, complex metal components.

Seeing the big picture in photosynthetic light harvesting

Researchers create first multiple Aantennae model of Photosystem II.

Good solar cells from bad effects

Researchers used numerical simulations to demonstrate that energy dissipation and decoherence, which were thought to reduce solar cell efficiency, are counterintuitively helpful for the development of more efficient photovoltaics, offering a new guide to finding efficient photovoltaic materials.

Switchable crystals could enable new memory chips

Small voltage can flip thin film between two crystal states - one metallic, one semiconducting.

A simple artificial material can influence the properties of visible light

Metamaterials can be used to manipulate light for a range of applications, but often require complicated three-dimensional structures with features as small as a few tens of nanometers. Now, researchers have constructed a simpler, two-dimensional metasurface for state-of-the-art high-transmission light manipulation.

Researchers create gallium nitride power diode

Researchers built a GaN power-switching device, approximately one-fifth the width of a human hair, that could support 2,000 volts of electricity.

A graphene barrier to precisely control molecules for making nanoelectronics

Scientists have developed a sheet of graphene material with minuscule holes in it that they could then place on a gold substrate. The holes allow molecules to attach to the gold exactly where the scientists want them, creating patterns that control the physical shape and electronic properties of nanoscale devices.

Sub-5 nanometer gaps provide a golden opportunity

Frequency conversion of light on a tiny scale is now possible thanks to a gold nanostructure containing miniscule gaps.

Holography: Nanoscale sieves snare would-be thieves

Bio-inspired algorithms enable a pattern of thousands of nanoscale holes into metal films for high-tech optical security.