Physics

  1. Materials Science

    Sweet Glow: Nanotube sensor brightens path to glucose detection

    An implantable glucose sensor based on carbon nanotubes could allow patients with diabetes to monitor their blood sugar levels without the need for daily pinprick tests.

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  2. Materials Science

    Concrete Nation

    From ultrahigh-performance concrete that bends like metal to concrete blocks that transmit light, scientists are pushing the physical and architectural limits of this ubiquitous construction material.

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  3. Materials Science

    Mussel glue inspires coating for medical implants

    An antifouling coating inspired by the sticky adhesive secreted by mussels could protect future medical implants from failure.

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  4. Materials Science

    Glass materials let Venetian art shine

    Sixteenth-century Venetian painters mixed glassy materials with their paints to expand their palettes and enhance the vibrancy of their colors.

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  5. Materials Science

    Bonelike polymer supports stem cells

    A polymer scaffold that mimics the environment in which natural bone grows provides stem cells with the right cues to lay down new bone.

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  6. Materials Science

    Buckyballs store 1s and 0s in new memory device

    Scientists have created a material that stores bits of data in the soccer ball-shaped carbon molecules known as buckyballs.

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  7. Materials Science

    A light wrap?

    Materials scientists have created fabrics that can both detect light and conduct electricity.

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  8. Physics

    An Electron Runs through It

    Now that physicists can observe electrons beneath the surface of microchips, they have uncovered electron-flow patterns that are both surprising and visually startling, as well as new details of electron behavior that may lead to faster electronics and quantum computing.

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  9. Materials Science

    Color Collective: Polymer self-assembles into light-emitting film

    Stacks of sheets of light-emitting organic molecules that assemble into nanoscale structures could be more efficient and luminescent than existing display materials based on organic substances.

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  10. Physics

    Swift Lift: Birds may get a rise out of swirling air

    The wings of airborne birds may generate whirlpools of air to produce lift for flying, just as insects do.

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  11. Materials Science

    Transparent Transistor: See-through component for flexible displays

    Transparent transistors deposited on flexible sheets of plastic could find their way into computer displays embedded in car windshields and other curved surfaces.

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  12. Physics

    Letters from the November 27, 2004, issue of Science News

    Dark Secrets Astronomers and physicists seem to speak of black holes as though they took matter completely out of the universe (“Information, Please,” SN: 9/25/04, p. 202: Information, Please). An evaporating black hole would not fizz away into nothingness. It would lose energy and reappear in normal space as a very dense object (complete with […]

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