Nov 10, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Vibrating tiny robots could revolutionize research. Individual robots can work collectively as swarms to create major advances in everything from construction to surveillance, but microrobots’ small scale is ideal for drug delivery, disease diagnosis, and even surgeries. Despite their potential, microrobots’ size often means they...
A supernova in distant space allows us to understand the origin of the elements in the universe
Nov 10, 2022 (Nanowerk News) A supernova is a stellar explosion, which occurs when the lives of some really massive stars come to an end. In this violent epilogue, the star expels the material from its outer layers by means of a shock wave, allowing us to see the various...
Soft robotic microfinger enables interaction with insects through tactile sensing
Nov 10, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Humans have always been fascinated by scales different than theirs, from giant objects such as stars, planets and galaxies, to the world of the tiny: insects, bacteria, viruses and other microscopic objects. While the microscope allows us to view and observe the microscopic world, it...
Material separates water from… water
Nov 09, 2022 (Nanowerk News) A research group led by Susumu Kitagawa of Kyoto University’s Institute for Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS), Japan and Cheng Gu of South China University of Technology, China have made a material that can effectively separate heavy water from normal water at room temperature. Until now, this...
Forseeing failure of crystalline metallic materials
Nov 09, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Take a wire paperclip. Now, bend it back and forth in the same spot 15, maybe 20 times. Chances are the paperclip will have broken before you finish. This is due to what’s called metal fatigue, which occurs when a metal component is cyclically stressed...
New technology creates carbon neutral chemicals out of thin air
Nov 09, 2022 (Nanowerk News) It is possible to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from the surrounding atmosphere and repurpose it into useful chemicals usually made from fossil fuels, according to a study from the University of Surrey (Nanoscale, "Feasibility of switchable dual function materials as a flexible technology for CO2...
Growing pure nanotubes is a stretch, but possible
Nov 09, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Like a giraffe stretching for leaves on a tall tree, making carbon nanotubes reach for food as they grow may lead to a long-sought breakthrough. Materials theorists Boris Yakobson and Ksenia Bets at Rice University’s George R. Brown School of Engineering show how putting constraints...