The tiny black dress may be a fashion classic, but making the tiny, perfectly black dress is more a job for scientists. In nature, black can be tremendously functional and fashionable, but for materials engineers, recreating that level of darkness for real-world applications is challenging. A team of designers, ornithologists, and materials scientists at Cornell […]
Sensor Survives Reactor-Level Heat and Radiation, Paving the Way for Real-Time Monitoring
Generating nuclear power takes a lot of energy—extreme heat, pressure, and radiation—that every part of a reactor must withstand each time. Naturally, engineering the perfect apparatus is a difficult task, but researchers continue to discover astonishing ways to advance nuclear technology, the latest of which involves a tiny chip with not-so-tiny performance. In a recent […]
Scientists Reveal the Fluid Physics Behind Why Sighs Feel So Damn Good
The human body works in complex ways—sometimes, certain motions are so small that it’s easy to miss how they might cause discomfort in the body. In this way, the surface tissues in our lungs actually “resist” the expansion and contraction of the lungs when we inhale or exhale. Normally, fluids inside the lungs help reduce […]
How Scientists Turned Water Into Ice at Room Temperature
For something so common to our daily lives, there’s a surprisingly long list of questions scientists have yet to answer about ice—the solid form of water, seen in iced coffee, the frosty sprinkle on mountaintops, and, of course, extraterrestrial surfaces. Fascinatingly, scientists keep finding entirely new types of ice, adding to the mystery surrounding how […]
Researchers Tested Bite-Resistant Wetsuit Material With Great Whites and Tiger Sharks. Here’s What Happened
Australian shark experts have revealed that some special wetsuit materials aiming to keep sharks from ripping your arm off or gouging out your guts might actually be helpful. As detailed in a study published today in the journal Wildlife Research, the team investigated the extent to which four bite-resistant wetsuit materials—Aqua Armour, Shark Stop, ActionTX-S, […]
Stressed Ice Generates Electricity, Researchers Find
Don’t mess with ice. When it’s stressed, ice can get seriously sparky. Scientists have discovered that ordinary ice—the same substance found in iced coffee or the frosty sprinkle on mountaintops—is imbued with remarkable electromechanical properties. Ice is flexoelectric, so when it’s bent, stretched, or twisted, it can generate electricity, according to a Nature Physics paper […]
‘Jelly Ice’ Inspired by Tofu Never Melts
Jelly ice is cold but never melts. Jelly ice is jiggly and reusable. Jelly ice is real, and scientists want to bring it to a store near you. In a presentation for ACS Fall 2025, researchers at the University of California (UC), Davis, introduced “jelly ice,” a gelatin-based hydrogel that freezes and thaws without making […]
The Bizarre Biological Trick That Makes These Teeth Tougher Than Steel
At first glance, chitons look like any other mollusk: round, bashful creatures creeping across seashore rocks. Flip one over, however, and you’ll notice rows of freakishly sharp, polished teeth—indestructible, multi-purpose chompers that researchers are seeking to replicate for the next breakthrough in material science. A new study published August 7 in Science presents a detailed […]
Researchers Harness Black Metal to Turbocharge Solar Power
Several years ago, an optics expert developed a technique for turning shiny metals pitch black. The trick resulted in a material perfectly suited for absorbing sunlight—so much so that generators built with it produced 15 times more power than comparable devices. The team used black metal to develop a new design for solar thermoelectric generators. […]
How Super-Strong ‘Metal Foam’ Could Transform Space Travel and Defense
What’s as strong as steel, as light as aluminum, and capable of withstanding ballistic impact, fire, and radiation? Metal foam. Over a decade ago, engineer Afsaneh Rabiei of North Carolina State University invented Composite Metal Foam (CMF)—a material made of hollow metal “bubbles” embedded in steel, titanium, aluminum, or other alloys. From air and space […]