Jan 28, 2024 (Nanowerk Spotlight) Wearable sensors promise continuous, personalized health tracking beyond clinical visits. But most devices today still have fixed designs targeting single applications, lacking versatility to address users' changing needs. Now, researchers report in Advanced Materials ("Hard Magnetic Graphene Nanocomposite for Multimodal, Reconfigurable Soft Electronics") magnetically self-assembling...
New rapid rototyping method for microscale spiral devices
Jan 26, 2024 (Nanowerk News) A team of researchers from Tohoku University and Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) has achieved significant advancement in the field of microfluidics, allowing for precise and efficient manipulation of fluids in three-dimensional microscale environments. This work opens up new possibilities for bioanalytical applications,...
A next-generation semiconductor memory that operates in extreme environments
Jan 26, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST) revealed a breakthrough by Professor Hyuk-jun Kwon's team from the Department of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science. The team, including Ph.D. scholar Bong-ho Jang as the lead author, has innovated a new manufacturing process for high-quality oxide...
‘Living’ 4D printed materials display complex, lifelike adaptability
Jan 26, 2024 (Nanowerk Spotlight) 3D printing technology, also known as additive manufacturing, has rapidly advanced to enable the production of intricate product geometries across industries from aerospace to biomedical. However, expanded capabilities for printed components to be imbued with dynamic, adaptable properties remain constrained. Now, researchers have developed 3D...
Small steps from a robot with muscles is a giant leap for robotics
Jan 26, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Compared to robots, human bodies are flexible, capable of fine movements, and can convert energy efficiently into movement. Drawing inspiration from human gait, researchers from Japan crafted a two-legged biohybrid robot by combining muscle tissues and artificial materials. Publishing in the journal Matter ("Biohybrid bipedal...
A long-lasting neural probe
Jan 26, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Recording the activity of large populations of single neurons in the brain over long periods of time is crucial to further our understanding of neural circuits, to enable novel medical device-based therapies and, in the future, for brain–computer interfaces requiring high-resolution electrophysiological information. But today...
Researchers demonstrate rapid 3D printing with liquid metal (w/video)
Jan 26, 2024 (Nanowerk News) MIT researchers have developed an additive manufacturing technique that can print rapidly with liquid metal, producing large-scale parts like table legs and chair frames in a matter of minutes. Their technique, called liquid metal printing (LMP), involves depositing molten aluminum along a predefined path into...
Turning glass into a transparent light-energy harvester
Jan 26, 2024 (Nanowerk News) What happens when you expose tellurite glass to femtosecond laser light? That’s the question that Gözden Torun at the Galatea Lab, in a collaboration with Tokyo Tech scientists, aimed to answer in her thesis work when she made the discovery that may one day turn...
Puffed-up MOFs for improved drug delivery
Jan 26, 2024 (Nanowerk News) The spongelike structure of metal organic frameworks (MOFs) allows these polymers to possibly carry and deliver a range of therapeutic compounds. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Applied Bio Materials ("Performance of MIL-101(Cr) and MIL-101(Cr)-Pore Expanded as Drug Carriers for Ibuprofen and 5‑Fluorouracil Delivery") treated a...
Locusts’ sense of smell boosted with custom-made nanoparticles
Jan 26, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Our sensory systems are highly adaptable. A person who cannot see after turning off a light in the night slowly achieves superior power to see even small objects. Women often attain a heightened sense of smell during pregnancy. How can the same sensory system that...