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Engineers have achieved what they call a "nearly perfect hydrophobic interface" by reproducing, on small bits of flat plastic, the shape and patterns of the minute hairs that grow on the bodies of spiders. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of Florida)

ScienceDaily (Mar. 6, 2010) — Engineering researchers have crafted a flat surface that refuses to [...]

Professor Emily Carter and graduate student Chen Huang developed a new way of predicting important properties of substances. The advance could speed the development of new materials and technologies. (Credit: Frank Wojciechowski)

ScienceDaily (Feb. 26, 2010) — Princeton engineers have made a breakthrough in an 80-year-old quandary in quantum physics, paving the way for the development [...]

ScienceDaily (Feb. 22, 2010) — Welding uses heat to join pieces of metal in everything from circuits to skyscrapers. But Rice University researchers have found a way to beat the heat on the nanoscale.

Two gold nanowires weld when their tips touch. (Credit: Jun Lou/Rice University)
Jun Lou, an assistant professor in mechanical engineering and materials science, [...]

SHEETS of material that produce voltage when flexed could generate power from the motion of the human body.

Tapping into kinetic energy (Image: tempurasLightbulb/iStock)
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Previous materials were either too rigid or too inefficient to be practical as pliable power generators. Now two research teams have solved the problem using different approaches. The materials could allow [...]

The simulation shows the results of cold forging. An optimized tool geometry (bottom) keeps pore density low. (Credit: Copyright Fraunhofer IWM)

ScienceDaily (Feb. 11, 2010) — When metals are shaped, the materials they are made of are often damaged in the process. One cause of this is excessive press force, which cracks and perforates the material. [...]

ScienceDaily (Feb. 5, 2010) — An ultra-lightweight sponge made of clay and a bit of high-grade plastic draws oil out of contaminated water but leaves the water behind.

Oil in Water

And, lab tests show that oil absorbed can be squeezed back out for use.
Case Western Reserve University researchers who made the material, called an aerogel, believe [...]

ScienceDaily (Feb. 2, 2010) — Could humans one day walk on walls, like Spider-Man? A palm-sized device invented at Cornell that uses water surface tension as an adhesive bond just might make it possible.

Paul Steen and Michael Vogel's surface tension-based adhesive device with a lego man payload (Credit: Michael Vogel)
he rapid adhesion mechanism could lead [...]

This Z antenna tested at the National Institute of Standards and Technology is smaller than a standard antenna with comparable properties. Its high efficiency is derived from the "Z element" inside the square that acts as a metamaterial, greatly boosting the signal sent over the air. The square is 30 millimeters on a side. (Credit: [...]

STM scan showing a 96-nanometer square of an iron-based superconductor shows electrons lined up in parallel rows suggesting a 'liquid-crystal' state of the electron fluid. The parallel arrangements appear in random domains across the entire crystal, oriented either vertically or horizontally. The diagonal line across this image is the boundary between two domains. The discovery [...]

GROWING grass on your roof and other attempts to make homes carbon neutral are mere "green bling". So says Rachel Armstrong of University College London (UCL), who suggests that her smart paint can turn buildings into carbon sinks.

Armstrong created the paint by dissolving salts and esters in oil droplets. Repeated coatings react with carbon dioxide [...]