Materials Science
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Materials Science
Nanotech Goes to New Lengths: Scientists create ultralong carbon nanotubes
In an advance toward making superstrong fibers, chemists have synthesized a 4-centimeter-long carbon nanotube, the longest nanotube reported to date.
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Materials Science
Falling into Place: Atom mist yields nanobricks and mortar
Researchers have induced tiny particles of nickel to spontaneously assemble into exceptionally uniform, three-dimensional arrays of macroscopic size.
By Peter Weiss -
Materials Science
Model Growth: Simulations expose branching nature of polymer crystals
Using computer models, scientists have uncovered previously unknown facets of the physics underlying polymer crystal growth.
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Materials Science
Face to Face: Crystal-growth method bodes electric payoff
A new method for growing silicon carbide eliminates crystal defects that have long prevented the compound's wider use in electric devices.
By Peter Weiss -
Materials Science
Warm Reflections: Window tint kicks in when it’s hot
A novel window coating automatically transforms into a heat mirror only when warmed above room temperature.
By Peter Weiss -
Materials Science
Bacterial glue: The stuff that binds?
A sticky slime secreted by bacteria could soon find its way into a host of wood products, including plywood and particleboard.
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Materials Science
Sea urchin shell lights the way for optical material
Using the porous skeleton of a sea urchin as a template, materials scientists have fabricated a photonic crystal.
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Materials Science
Savvy Sieve: Carbon nanotubes filter petroleum, polluted water
A filter made out of carbon nanotubes has potential for such applications as processing crude oil and decontaminating drinking water.
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Materials Science
To make bronze, tin flakes do a wild dance
Upsetting some prevailing ideas about how alloys form, rafts of tin atoms jitterbug madly around on a pure copper surface and leave spots of bronze in their wakes.
By Peter Weiss -
Materials Science
Charging gold with a single electron
Dropping a single electron onto a gold atom with a scanning tunneling microscope converts gold from its neutral state to an ionic state.
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Materials Science
Diatom Menagerie
Materials scientists are trying to coerce diatoms into making silicon-based microdevices with specific features.
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Materials Science
DNA coordinates assembly of glassy nanoscale structures
Chemists use DNA as a scaffold to construct miniature rings and rods out of silica.