Materials Sciences

An innovative strategy of mixing lipids and nanoparticles to produce new drug and agricultural materials and delivery vehicles has been developed by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

“This is a new way to make nano-size capsules of a biologically friendly material,” said Steve Granick, a professor of materials science and engineering, chemistry and physics. “The hollow, deformable and biofunctional capsules could be used in drug delivery, colloidal-based b

Scientists at UCL (University College London) have discovered the area of the brain linked to dyscalculia, a maths learning disability. The finding shows that there is a separate part of the brain used for counting that is essential for diagnosis and an understanding of why many people struggle with maths.

The paper, published online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), explains that an area of the brain widely thought to be involved in processing number

The technology used in space suits to protect astronauts carrying out space walks in direct sunlight is now being used to develop protective clothing to safeguard firefighters and steel workers who often work in extremely hot and dangerous conditions.

“The existing protective clothing used while performing physically demanding work in hot conditions can, in many cases, hinder workers’ ability to remain cool,” explains Stefano Carosio from the Italian company D’Appoloni

A team of researchers has developed a new process to make flexible, conducting ’nano skins’ for a variety of applications, from electronic paper to sensors for detecting chemical and biological agents. The materials, which are described in the March issue of the journal Nano Letters, combine the strength and conductivity of carbon nanotubes with the flexibility of traditional polymers.

“Researchers have long been interested in making composites of nanotubes and polymers, but i

Researchers at the California Institute of Technology have discovered that ceria (or cerium dioxide) is an excellent catalyst for fuel cell anodes. This discovery was made through careful electrochemical characterization using a.c. impedance spectroscopy, an important tool for studying the electrical transport behavior of ceramics. The study is published in the Journal of the American Ceramic Society.

By applying an a.c. electrical voltage to the ceria (a white crystalline p

MIT researchers have devised a new method for shrinking the size of crystals to make safer metal alloys. The new materials could replace metal coatings such as chromium, which is dangerous for factory workers to produce.

The method, developed by Associate Professor Christopher Schuh and graduate student Andrew Detor, both of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, involves making the crystals within an alloy (a combination of two or more metals) smaller and thus hard