Carbon films can give microchips energy storage capability

After more than half a decade of speculation, fabrication, modeling and testing, an international team of researchers have confirmed that their process for making carbon films and micro-supercapacitors will allow microchips and their power sources to become one and the same.

Scientists find a new way to make nanowire lasers

Scientists have found a simple new way to produce nanoscale wires that can serve as bright, stable and tunable lasers - an advance toward using light to transmit data.

Enhancing glass by coating it with extremely thin layers

Imagine if the picture window in your living room could double as a giant thermostat or big screen TV. A discovery by researchers has brought us one step closer to this becoming a reality.

Power walk: Footsteps could charge mobile electronics (w/video)

When you're on the go and your smartphone battery is low, in the not-so-distant future you could charge it simply by plugging it into your shoe.

A super-thin acoustic metasurface for perfect sound absorption

Researchers have developed a design for a coiled-up acoustic metasurface which can achieve total acoustic absorption in very low-frequency ranges.

Breaking cell barriers with retractable protein nanoneedles

Adapting a bacterial structure, researchers develop protein actuators that can mechanically puncture cells.

Bumpy liquid films could simplify fabrication of microlenses

Have you ever noticed that when heated a film of oil in a pan doesn?t remain completely flat? Instead, it forms a wavy pattern that resembles the exterior of an orange. These sorts of deformations inspired a group of researchers to explore whether they could be used to improve and streamline microfabrication processes.

Growing nanowire lasers right on a silicon chip

Thanks to an ingenious process, researchers grow nanowire lasers right on a silicon chip, making it possible to produce high-performance photonic components cost-effectively.

Making molecules that twinkle

Single step process transforms carbon dioxide into star-shaped molecules that are promising building blocks for useful polymeric materials.