Animals
Intricate silk helps net-casting spiders ensnare prey in webs
Rufous net-casting spiders can tune the stiffness and elasticity of their webs thanks to loops of silk, scanning electron microscope images reveal.
Materials Science
More Stories in Materials Science
- Materials Science
Salt can turn frozen water into a weak power source
Experiments reveal that when slabs of salty ice are strained, electricity is generated, though practical uses are still a long way off.
- Materials Science
Scientists re-create a legendary golden fabric from clam waste
Sea silk, once spun from endangered clams, may make a comeback — thanks to discarded fibers from a farmed species. The find could sustainably revive a fading art.
- Health & Medicine
An injected gel could make drugs like Ozempic last longer
GLP-1 drugs for diabetes and weight loss are difficult for some people to inject weekly. A new slow-release gel, tested in rats, could help.
- Climate
This paint ‘sweats’ to keep your house cool
This experimental paint reflects sunlight, emits heat and mimics sweating to cool buildings without air conditioning, even in the tropics.
- Tech
New audio tech could let you listen privately without headphones
Private listening out in the open is possible thanks to acoustic metasurfaces that precisely bend and direct sound waves.
- Tech
Robots are gaining new capabilities thanks to plants and fungi
Biohybrid robots made with plant and fungal tissue are more sensitive to their surroundings.
- Archaeology
Mount Vesuvius turned this ancient brain into glass. Here’s how
Transforming the brain tissue to glass would have required an extremely hot and fast-moving ash cloud, lab experiments suggest.
- Materials Science
The best way to cook an egg — in 32 minutes
It’s hard to cook both the white and the yolk of the egg to the right temperature. Scientists have found a new method, called periodic cooking.
- Chemistry
A new microbead proves effective as a plastic-free skin scrubber
The nonplastic polymer cleaned up eyeliner and permanent marker and broke down into molecules related to sugar and amino acids.
