World's fastest man-made spinning object could help study quantum mechanics

At more than 60 billion revolutions per minute, this machine is more than 100,000 times faster than a high-speed dental drill.

Two faces offer limitless possibilities

Named for the mythical god with two faces, Janus membranes - double-sided membranes that serve as gatekeepers between two substances - have emerged as a material with potential industrial uses. Creating two distinct 'faces' on these delicate surfaces, however, is a process fraught with challenges.

Relax, just break it

The properties of a solid depend on the arrangement of its atoms, which form a periodic crystal structure. At the nanoscale, arrangements that break this periodic structure can drastically alter the behavior of the material, but this is difficult to measure. Recent advances by scientists are starting to unravel this mystery.

Using spin current to convert mechanical vibrations into electricity

A nanodevice that generates an electrical current from a spin current, which in turn is generated by mechanical oscillations, demonstrates the versatility of electron spin to convert between energy forms.

Research team finds physics treasure hidden in a wallpaper pattern

An international team of scientists has discovered a new, exotic form of insulating material with a metallic surface that could enable more efficient electronics or even quantum computing.

Complete fly brain imaged at nanoscale resolution

Two high-speed electron microscopes. 7,062 brain slices. 21 million images. For a team of scientists these numbers add up to a technical first: a high-resolution digital snapshot of the adult fruit fly brain.

Targeting headaches and tumors with nano-submarines (w/video)

Scientists have developed a new method to enable miniature drug-filled nanocarriers to dock on to immune cells, which in turn attack tumors.