Tag: materials science
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Signaling, Movement Properties Found in Synthetic Gels
Chemical engineers at University of Pittsburgh developed a computational model to track the ability of certain synthetic gels to sense a chemical signal and reconfigure themselves in response. The team led by Pittsburgh professor Anna Balazs describes its findings this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (paid subscription required). Balazs…
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Rare Earths, Materials Hub Set for Ames National Lab
The U.S. Department of Energy will establish a research center at Ames National Lab in Iowa to find solutions to domestic shortages of rare earth metals and other critical materials for energy security. The $120 million Critical Materials Institute, will bring together for five years researchers from academia, four national laboratories, and the private sector.…
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Color X-Ray System Devised for Health, Security, Industry
Materials scientists at University of Manchester in the U.K. developed a faster and more feasible 3D color X-ray system with potential uses in health care, security inspections, and industrial quality assurance. The researchers, led by Manchester’s Robert Cernik, describe their invention in the current issue of the journal Analyst (free registration required). Cernik’s team, which…
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University Develops, Patents New Coke Fuel Process
Researchers at Purdue University’s Calumet campus in Hammond, Indiana created a new less-expensive process for producing coke, a derivative of coal used in the making of steel, and received a U.S. patent for their discovery. Patent number 8,287,696 was awarded by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in October to Purdue-Calumet physics professor Robert Kramer…
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U.K. Universities Form Advanced Materials Consortium
The universities of Manchester, Cambridge, and Lancaster in the U.K. received funding from the European Research Council to develop new two-dimensional materials similar to graphene. The €13.4 million ($US17.7 million) grant was awarded to the three institutions under the council’s Synergy Grant initiative. The universities will form what they call a Synergy Group to support…
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Nanotech Fibers Remove Sulfur from Petroleum Fuels
Engineering and chemical researchers at University of Illinois in Champaign developed a nanoscale fiber that, when woven into a material, can adsorb sulfur from petroleum-based fuels more efficiently than current methods. The team from the labs of chemistry professor Prashant Jain and the late engineering professor Mark Shannon published their findings online in the journal…
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Smallest Indium Gallium Arsenide Chip Developed
Engineers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology developed a process for creating nanoscale transistors, like those designed for computer logic operations, made of indium gallium arsenide. The team from MIT’s Microsystems Technology Laboratories will discuss its findings later this week at the International Electron Devices Meeting in San Francisco. The team led by electrical engineering professor…
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New Technique Developed for Stem Cell Delivery to Eyes
Engineers at University of Sheffield in the U.K. devised a new method for attaching stem cells to eyes that can lessen the need for tissue banks and reduce the growth of scar tissue on the eye. The technology, designed to treat damage to the cornea, the transparent layer on the front of the eye, is…
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Nanotech Lights Improve on Fluorescent, LED, CFL Bulbs
Physicists at Wake Forest University in North Carolina and Trinity College Dublin in Ireland developed a new type of electric lighting that improves on many of the current commercial and display lighting technologies. Professor David Carroll, director of Wake Forest’s Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials, led the team that published its findings online in…
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Technique Developed to Create Artificial Brain Tissue in Lab
Engineers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Medical School adapted techniques from the semiconductor industry to create simulated brain tissue in the lab. The researchers published their findings online this week in the journal Advanced Materials (paid subscription required). The technique devised by the team of medical researchers, biomedical engineers, and computer scientists produces…