Magnetic cilia—artificial hairs whose movement is powered by embedded magnetic particles—have been around for a while, and are of interest for applications in soft robotics, transporting objects and mixing liquids. However, existing magnetic cilia move in a fixed way ..read more

Scientists have developed a sustainable new way of making complex molecules, which could greatly reduce waste produced during drug manufacturing, a study suggests ..read more

A new computer process developed by chemists at ETH Zurich makes it possible to generate active pharmaceutical ingredients quickly and easily based on a protein's three-dimensional surface. The new process, detailed in Nature Communications, could revolutionize drug research ..read more

Did you know that 99% of synthetic diamonds are currently produced using high-pressure and high-temperature (HPHT) methods? A prevailing paradigm is that diamonds can only be grown using liquid metal catalysts in the "gigapascal pressure range" (typically 5-6 GPa, where 1 GPa is about 10,000 atm), and typically within the temperature range of 1,300–1,600°C ..read more

A mystery that has puzzled the scientific community for more than 50 years has finally been solved. A team from Linköping University, Sweden, and Helmholtz Munich have discovered that a certain type of chemical reaction can explain why organic matter found in rivers and lakes is so resistant to degradation. Their study has been published in the journal Nature ..read more

Imagine being able to look inside a single cancer cell and see how it communicates with its neighbors. Scientists are celebrating a new technique that lets them study the fatty contents of cancer cells, one by one ..read more

Scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a method that demonstrates how fiber-reinforced polymer composite materials used in the automotive, aerospace and renewable energy industries can be made stronger and tougher to better withstand mechanical or structural stresses over time ..read more

In the field of aerospace, a high-temperature piezoelectric vibration sensor is one of the few key devices that can be monitored in a high-temperature and harsh environment, so it is particularly urgent to develop high performance high-temperature piezoelectric ceramics as the core component of this kind of sensor. Bi4Ti3O12 (BIT), as one vital type of bismuth layered structure ferroelectrics (BLSFs), has great application prospects in high-temperature environments due to its excellent TC of 675 ..read more

What if there was plastic-like material that could absorb excess nutrients from water and be used as a fertilizer when it decomposes? That product—a "bioplastic" material—has been created by University of Saskatchewan (USask) chemistry professor Dr. Lee Wilson and his research team, as detailed in a paper recently published in RSC Sustainability. The research team includes Ph.D. candidate Bernd G. K. Steiger, BSc student Nam Bui and postdoctoral fellow trainee Bolanle M. Babalola ..read more

Researchers believe that understanding how electrons move within small, natural systems could power a more sustainable future for our energy grid ..read more