SciFi Insight

ITHACA, N.Y. – Water regulation in leaves is vital to a plant’s health, affecting its growth and yield, disease susceptibility and drought resistance. A breakthrough technology developed by Cornell University researchers uses nanoscale sensors and fiber optics to measure water status just inside a leaf’s surface, where water in plants is most actively managed. The

A team of scientists led by Nanyang Technological University (NTU Singapore) and Rice University in the US, has uncovered the key to the outstanding toughness of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN). h-BN can withstand ten times the amount of force that graphene can, which is known as one of the toughest materials on Earth. A two-dimensional

MIT researchers have created the first fiber with digital capabilities, able to sense, store, analyze, and infer activity after being sewn into a shirt. Yoel Fink, who is a professor of material sciences and electrical engineering, a Research Laboratory of Electronics principal investigator, and the senior author on the study, says digital fibers expand the

IMAGE: Graduate student Patrick Lee (pictured) is working with Dr. Akhilesh Gaharwar to develop new methods for working with light?responsive hydrogels, which have applications in drug delivery and regenerative medicine. view more  Credit: Texas A&M Engineering Hydrogels are commonly used inside the body to help in tissue regeneration and drug delivery. However, once inside, they can

IMAGE: An artistic view of the magnetic spins in the two-dimensional magnet. All spins oscillate in-phase, at a high frequency, in response to the light pulse. view more  Credit: TU Delft Atomically thin van der Waals magnets are widely seen as the ultimately compact media for future magnetic data storage and fast data processing. Controlling the

IMAGE: An illustration of a printed silver microgrid that was featured on a supplemental cover of the journal ACS Applied Electronic Materials view more  Credit: Randal McKenzie / LAMP Lab The future of electronic displays will be thin, flexible and durable. One barrier to this, however, is that one of the most widely used transparent conductors

IMAGE: Detection of the newly-developed nanoparticle contrast agents inside a mouse cell with optical fluorescence (in red). The cell nucleus and plasma membrane are depicted in blue and green, respectively. view more  Credit: Giovanni Marco Saladino Nano-sized particles have been engineered in a new way to improve detection of tumors within the body and in biopsy

The myriad processes occurring in biological cells may seem unbelievably complex at first glance. And yet, in principle, they are merely a logical succession of events, and could even be used to form digital circuits. Researchers have now developed a molecular switching circuit made of DNA, which can be used to mechanically alter gels, depending

IMAGE: A scanning electron microscope image shows branched cracks in a single crystal of 2D hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN). Experiments and computational modelling by Rice University and Nanyang Technological University showed… view more  Credit: Image courtesy of J. Lou/Rice University HOUSTON – (June 2, 2021) – It’s official: Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is the iron man

IMAGE: Scientists Matt Eichenfield, left, and Lisa Hackett led the team at Sandia National Laboratories that created the world’s smallest and best acoustic amplifier. view more  Credit: Bret Latter, Sandia National Laboratories ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Scientists at Sandia National Laboratories have built the world’s smallest and best acoustic amplifier. And they did it using a concept

Liquid biopsy, the detection of circulating disease biomarkers in bodily fluids such as blood, is a non-invasive method, alternative to tissue removal, which has taken important strides toward the implementation of personalized medicine, especially in the case of tumors and RNA-viruses. However, the method still suffers from low sensitivity and is highly expensive, which renders

IMAGE: An illustration of the novel self-aware metamaterial system as used in a coronary artery stent. The design can sense restenosis when used in a stent, and the same design can… view more  Credit: iSMaRT Lab From the biggest bridges to the smallest medical implants, sensors are everywhere, and for good reason: The ability to sense

In a joint effort, ct.qmat scientists from Dresden, Rostock, and Würzburg have accomplished non-Hermitian topological states of matter in topolectric circuits. The latter acronym refers to topological and electrical, giving a name to the realization of synthetic topological matter in electric circuit networks. The main motif of topological matter is its role in hosting particularly

Physicists at the University of Bath in the UK, in collaboration with researchers from the USA, have uncovered a new mechanism for enabling magnetism and superconductivity to co-exist in the same material. Until now, scientists could only guess how this unusual coexistence might be possible. The discovery could lead to applications in green energy technologies

Using a Fitbit and a spy mic, scientists have discovered new insight into the behaviour of the elusive Canada lynx. A new study by researchers from McGill University, University of Alberta, and Trent University provides a first look at how miniaturized technology can open the door to remote wildlife monitoring. “Working on one of the

In a paper published in NANO, researchers from Guizhou Meiling Power Sources Co., Ltd., China have reviewed the recent progress in biopolymer-based electrolyte. The biopolymer materials with unique characteristics including water solubility, film-forming capability and adhesive property played a key role in the design of zero pollution lithium battery. The biopolymers mentioned in this review