Passive device relies on a layer of material that blocks incoming sunlight but lets heat radiate away. Imagine a device that can sit outside under blazing sunlight on a clear day, and withou... Read more
Material developed at MIT can passively capture solar heat for home heating or industrial applications. A newly developed material that is so perfectly transparent you can barely see it coul... Read more
Can a new type of transparent gel, made from readily-available beer waste, help engineers build greenhouses on Mars? CU Boulder physicists have developed an insulating gel that they say coul... Read more
Researchers at ETH Zurich have created a new type of foam made of real gold. It is the lightest form ever produced of the precious metal: a thousand times lighter than its conventional form... Read more
A method for making elastic high-capacity batteries from wood pulp was unveiled by researchers in Sweden and the US. Using nanocellulose broken down from tree fibres, a team from KTH Royal I... Read more
Bend them, stretch them, twist them, fold them: modern materials that are light, flexible and highly conductive have extraordinary technological potential, whether as artificial skin or elec... Read more
Aerogels could improve some of our favorite machines, such as cars One day, Union College’s Aerogel Team’s novel way of making “frozen smoke” could improve some of our favorite machines, inc... Read more
A research team headed by Professor Gao Chao have developed ultra-light aerogel – it breaks the record of the world’s lightest material with surprising flexibility and oil-absorption. This p... Read more
New flexible aerogels are 500 times stronger than earlier versions and will be used in everything from clothing insulation to building insulation. A major improvement in the world’s lightest... Read more
Materials Inspired by Mother Nature Combining the secrets that enable water striders to walk on water and give wood its lightness and great strength has yielded an amazing new material so bu... Read more
Despite its incredibly low density, aerogel is one of the most powerful materials on the planet. It can support thousands of times its own weight, block out intense heat, cold and sound – ye... Read more
A spongy substance that could be mistaken for packing material has the nanotechnology world buzzing. University of Central Florida Associate Professor Lei Zhai and postdoctoral associate Jia... Read more
Researchers have created a new aerogel that boasts amazing strength and an incredibly large surface area. Nicknamed ‘frozen smoke’ due to its translucent appearance, aerogels are manufacture... Read more