Symmetry crucial for building key biomaterial collagen in the lab

Researchers describe what may be the key to growing functional, natural collagen fibers outside of the body: symmetry.

Forces of nature: Interview with microscopy innovators Gerd Binnig and Christoph Gerber

The inventors of one of the most versatile tools in modern science - the atomic force microscope, or AFM - tell their story in an interview published online this week.

A nanoscale wireless communication system via plasmonic antennas

Greater control affords 'in-plane' transmission of waves at or near visible light.

Physicists discovered new peculiarities of a material with a giant magnetocaloric effect

Scientists showed that the smallest structural change in the iron-rhodium alloys may result in a significant change in its magnetocaloric properties.

Designing ultrasound protein tools with molecular engineering

Researchers engineered protein-shelled nanostructures called gas vesicles - which reflect sound waves - to exhibit new properties useful for ultrasound technologies. In the future, these gas vesicles could be administered to a patient to visualize tissues of interest.

A promising route to the scalable production of highly crystalline graphene films

Researchers discovered a procedure to restore defective graphene oxide structures that cause the material to display low carrier mobility.

Defects, electrons, and a long-standing controversy

Scientists explain diverse results around a material that is both insulator and conductor and offer chemical roadmap to harness it.

Artificial retinas: promising leads towards clearer vision

Scientists were able to improve the properties of the interface between the prosthesis and retina, with the help of specialists in interface physics.

Graphene under pressure

Small balloons made from one-atom-thick material graphene can withstand enormous pressures, much higher than those at the bottom of the deepest ocean, scientists report.

Nanovesicles in predictable shapes

Beads, disks, bowls and rods: scientists have demonstrated the first methodological approach to control the shapes of nanovesicles. This opens doors for the use of nanovesicles in biomedical applications, such as drug delivery in the body.