Tuesday May 21st 2013

Posts Tagged ‘materials science’

How to stop a speeding bullet

How to stop a speeding bullet

A bullet fired into a disk of polyurethane — a type of plastic — may not burst out the other side. In some instances, the bullet will stop in its tracks, frozen by the plastic and sealed inside. How a simple plastic can do this has left researchers scratching their [Read More]

Hot technology

Hot technology

Almost every device that needs energy also wastes energy. Cars get their zip by burning gasoline, but that process heats up the car — and that heat is wasted energy. Computer batteries get hot when they’re in use; so do cell phones and kitchen appliances. All that hot [Read More]

Electronic skin

Electronic skin

  James Bond and his enemies would be interested in the goings-on at the laboratory of John Rogers. So would Batman, the Spy Kids, Darth Vader and their enemies. That’s because Rogers, a materials scientist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, mixes [Read More]

Self-cleaning clothes

Self-cleaning clothes

Cleaning clothes usually requires soap and water to remove stains and smells, and a tumble in the dryer or an afternoon on the clothesline to dry. The time and energy needed to turn a heap of dirty laundry into a pile of clean clothes might make people wish for clothes that [Read More]

Latest Topics

‘Print’ almost anything

‘Print’ almost anything

Imagine having a printer hooked up to your computer that could make anything. Tired of your toothbrush? No problem. [Read More]

Patents for software?

Patents for software?

  AT SOME point in their career every mathematician comes up against the question, is mathematics invented or [Read More]

Ahead of the wave

Ahead of the wave

  Bump a glass and any water inside might slop over the side. Splash in the bathtub and waves slosh. Toss a rock [Read More]

Foraging flights

Foraging flights

First, he tracked basking sharks—filterfeeding leviathans that look like supersized great whites—in the coastal [Read More]

Cutting Cancer’s Engine

Cutting Cancer’s Engine

Not every hypothesis in cancer research has the same staying power. Some emerge with fanfare and hype, only to fade [Read More]

Archives