The strongest Cu-Ta-Li alloy developed to date exhibits outstanding strength and stability, making it ideal for advanced engineering applications. A team of researchers from Arizona State University, the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL), Lehigh University, and Louisiana State University has de
Controlling the uniformity in size and quantity of macroscopic three-dimensional (3D) DNA crystals is essential for their integration into complex systems and broader applications. However, achieving such control remains a major challenge in DNA nanotechnology. Here, we present a novel strategy for synthesizing monodisperse 3D DNA single crystals using microfluidic double-emulsion droplets as nanoliter-scale microreactors. These uniformly sized droplets can shrink and swell without leaking their inner contents, allowing the concentration of the DNA solution inside to be adjusted. The confined volume ensures that, once a crystal seed forms, it rapidly consumes the available DNA material, preventing the formation of additional crystals within the same droplet. This approach enables precise control over crystal growth, resulting in a yield of one DNA single crystal per droplet, with a success rate of up to 98.6% ± 0.9%. The resulting DNA crystals exhibit controlled sizes, ranging from 19.3 ± 0.9 μm to 56.8 ± 2.6 μm. Moreover, this method can be applied to the controlled growth of various types of DNA crystals. Our study provides a new pathway for DNA crystal self-assembly and microengineering.
It’s no wonder engineers have long dreamed of harnessing these powers in human-made structures. Now, scientists have combined fungus and bacteria to create a living material that stays alive for up to a month and can form bone-like structures. The researchers say this approach could one day be used to create structural components that repair themselves.
“We are excited about our results and look forward to engineering more complex and larger structures,” Chelsea Heveran at Montana State University, who led the study, told New Scientist. “When viability is sufficiently high, we could start really imparting lasting biological characteristics to the material that we care about, such as self-healing, sensing, or environmental remediation.”
A team led by UChicago Pritzker Molecular Engineering has discovered materials that defy convention, shrinking when heated and expanding under pressure, marking a breakthrough in fundamental science. What expands when crushed, shrinks when heated, and could both transform scientists’ fundamental
A research team from the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering (NIMTE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has proposed a hybrid transfer and epitaxy strategy, enabling the heterogeneous integration of single-crystal oxide spin Hall materials on silicon substrates for high-performance oxide-based spintronic devices.
The study is published in Advanced Functional Materials.
Spintronic devices are gaining attention as a key direction for next-generation information technologies due to their low power consumption, non-volatility, and ultra-fast operating capabilities.
A research team at POSTECH (Pohang University of Science and Technology) has developed a new alloy that maintains its strength and ductility across extreme temperatures ranging from −196 °C to 600 °C. The findings, which have drawn attention from the aerospace and automotive industries, were published in the journal Materials Research Letters. The team was led by Professor Hyoung Seop Kim from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Graduate Institute of Ferrous Technology, and Department of Mechanical Engineering.
Most metals used in everyday life are sensitive to temperature changes—metal doorknobs feel icy in winter and hot in summer. Consequently, conventional metal materials are typically optimized for performance within a narrow temperature range, limiting their effectiveness in environments with dramatic temperature fluctuations.
To overcome this challenge, the POSTECH research team introduced the concept of the “Hyperadaptor” and developed a nickel-based high-entropy alloy (HEA) that embodies this idea.
Opaque materials can transmit light when excited by a high-intensity laser beam. This process, known as optical bleaching, induces a nonlinear effect that temporarily alters the properties of a material. Remarkably, when the laser is switched on and off at ultrahigh speeds, the effect can be dynamically controlled, opening new possibilities for advanced optical technologies.
Multicolored optical switching is an important phenomenon with potential applications in fields such as telecommunications and optical computing. However, most materials typically exhibit single-color optical nonlinearity under intense laser illumination, limiting their use in systems requiring multicolor or multiband switching capabilities. Currently, most optical switches are based on microelectromechanical systems, which require an electric voltage or current to operate, resulting in slow response times.
To address this gap, a group of researchers, led by Professor Junjun Jia from the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Waseda University, Japan, in collaboration with Professor Hui Ye and Dr. Hossam A. Almossalami from the College of Optical Science and Engineering at Zhejiang University, China, Professor Naoomi Yamada from the Department of Applied Chemistry at Chubu University, Japan, and Dr. Takashi Yagi from the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Japan, investigated the multivalley optical switching phenomenon in germanium (Ge) films.
Scientists from South Korea have advanced lithium-ion battery technology through nanotechnology and a new hybrid composite material.
Beams of light that can be guided into corkscrew-like shapes called optical vortices are used today in a range of applications. Pushing the limits of structured light, Harvard applied physicists in the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) report a new type of optical vortex beam that not only twists as it travels but also changes in different parts at different rates to create unique patterns. The way the light behaves resembles spiral shapes common in nature.
The researchers borrowed from classical mechanics to nickname their never-before-demonstrated light vortex an “optical rotatum,” to describe how the torque on the light’s corkscrew shape gradually changes. In Newtonian physics, “rotatum” is the rate of change in torque on an object over time.
The optical rotatum was created in the lab of Federico Capasso, the Robert L. Wallace Professor of Applied Physics and the Vinton Hayes Senior Research Fellow in Electrical Engineering at SEAS. “This is a new behavior of light consisting of an optical vortex that propagates through space and changes in unusual ways,” Capasso said. “It is potentially useful for manipulating small matter.” The research is published in Science Advances.
The current prototype impressively produces 200 milliliters of hydrogen per hour with a promising 12.6% energy efficiency.
“Water and energy are both critically needed for our everyday life, but typically, if you want to produce more energy, you have to consume more water,” said Lenan Zhang, assistant professor in the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in Cornell Engineering, who led the project.
Zhang added: “On the other hand, we need drinking water, because two-thirds of the global population are facing water scarcity. So there is a bottleneck in green hydrogen production, and that is reflected in the cost.”
