new material
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In many cases nature has better versions of our tech. The newest example comes from a common insect in your backyard, which makes nanoscale soccer balls that hide it from predators – inspiring new, better UV protection and maybe even cloaking tech.
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Scraping ice off your car window might get a lot easier in the future thanks to a new spray coating developed by scientists in Austria. That's because of the way the molecules line up – or don't – during its high-tech creation process.
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A plane wing that changes shape in flight to better handle the airflow crossing it could be on the horizon thanks to a materials science advance from researchers in Stockholm. The trick involves the melting and hole-punching power of lasers.
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Prepare for a radical acceleration in technological development. A Google Deepmind AI has achieved "an order-of-magnitude expansion in stable materials known to humanity," finding about 800 years' worth of new materials with revolutionary potential.
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Scientists have found that a “superatomic” material is the fastest and most efficient semiconductor ever. Taking advantage of a tortoise-and-hare mechanism, the new material can transport energy much faster than silicon.
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Scientists have developed what they call the most water-repellent surface ever. By giving it a liquid-like coating that defies usual designs, water will roll off the surface at angles 500 times shallower than other superhydrophobic materials.
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Ice build-up can pose a problem for roads, aircraft, wind turbines and power lines, among many other things. Now scientists have developed a new structure made of copper nanowires that can passively de-ice surfaces with an efficacy of close to 100%.
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An intriguing new glue can basically be switched on and off on demand. The adhesive sticks together when hit with one wavelength of light, and breaks apart with another, allowing it to be removed and reused easily – potentially, even underwater.
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For all its uses, plastic is unfortunately one of our least sustainable materials. Now, scientists at Berkeley Lab have developed a way to engineer bacteria to produce raw materials that can be made into plastics that are completely recyclable.
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In a fight against Iron Man, you might be better off betting on Glass DNA Nanolattice Man instead. Engineers have developed a very strong and lightweight new material out of DNA that self-assembles into lattices, and is then coated in glass.
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Despite its many advantages, glass has one major Achilles' heel – it’s brittle. Now, engineers at Penn State have developed LionGlass, a new form that's not only 10 times more damage resistant, but requires significantly less energy to manufacture.
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Strength and flexibility are two opposites that usually need to be balanced in steel. But now engineers at Purdue University and Sandia Labs have developed a new treatment that can be applied to steel alloys to boost both strength and ductility.
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