Environment
Legos may take hundreds of years to break down in the ocean
Sturdy types of plastic may persist in seawater for much long than scientists previously thought.
Materials Science
More Stories in Materials Science
-
Materials ScienceLead becomes stronger than steel under extreme pressures
Lead is a soft metal, easily scratched with a fingernail. But that changes dramatically when the metal is compressed under high pressures.
-
TechThe first artificial material that follows sunlight may upgrade solar panels
Rows of tiny stemlike rods called SunBOTs orient themselves toward light, optimizing the solar energy that they can harvest.
-
ChemistryMolecular jiggling may explain why some solids shrink when heated
Scientists may have figured out how scandium fluoride crystals shrink as temperature rises, possibly leading to new insights into superconductors.
-
PhysicsPhysicists have found quasiparticles that mimic hypothetical dark matter axions
These subatomic particles could make up dark matter in the cosmos. A mathematically similar phenomenon occurs in a solid material.
-
Materials ScienceA new cooling technique relies on untwisting coiled fibers
A “twist fridge” operates via twistocaloric cooling, a technique that generates cooling by unraveling twisted strands.
-
PhysicsAndrea Young uncovers the strange physics of 2-D materials
Physicist Andrea Young has set his sights on the strange ways electrons behave in flat, layered structures.
-
PhysicsA new magnetic swirl, or skyrmion, could upgrade data storage
Magnetic whorls in a new type of material could be easier to control than their predecessors.
-
PhysicsA predicted superconductor might work at a record-breaking 200° Celsius
A material made of hydrogen, lithium and magnesium and squeezed to high pressures may be a superconductor even at especially high temperatures.
-
TechA chip made with carbon nanotubes, not silicon, marks a computing milestone
Silicon’s reign in cutting-edge electronics may soon over. The carbon nanotube could be its successor.