3D printing drones work like bees to build and repair structures while flying (w/video)

Sep 21, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Imperial College London and Empa researchers have created a fleet of bee-inspired flying 3D printers for building and repairing structures in-flight. The technology could ultimately be used for manufacturing and building in difficult-to-access or dangerous locations such as tall buildings or help with post-disaster relief...

Physicists make molecular vibrations more detectable

Sep 21, 2022 (Nanowerk News) In molecules, the atoms vibrate with characteristic patterns and frequencies. Vibrations are therefore an important tool for studying molecules and molecular processes such as chemical reactions. Although scanning tunnelling microscopes can be used to image individual molecules, their vibrations have so far been difficult to...

Teaching robots to be team players with nature

Sep 21, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Algae bloom, birds flock, and insects swarm. This en masse behavior by individual organisms can provide separate and collective good, such as improving chances of successful mating propagation or providing security. Now, researchers have harnessed the self-organization skills required to reap the benefits of natural...

Soft devices – powered by ‘stressed’ algae

Sep 21, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Researchers at the University of California San Diego have developed soft devices containing algae that glow in the dark when experiencing mechanical stress, such as being squished, stretched, twisted or bent. The devices do not require any electronics to light up, making them an ideal...

Designing new quantum materials on the computer

Sep 20, 2022 (Nanowerk News) How do you find novel materials with very specific properties - for example, special electronic properties which are needed for quantum computers? This is usually a very complicated task: various compounds are created, in which potentially promising atoms are arranged in certain crystal structures and...