(Natural News) Spider silk is pretty strong stuff. It’s so strong, Indian and South Korean researchers are using it to create nano-scale piezoelectric generators. In an article in Nanowerk, the researchers reported getting spider silk molecules to generate an electric charge when placed under physical pressure. This was the first time a piezoelectric response has […]

(Natural News) A team of researchers from the University of Michigan has taken the next step in solar energy technology. Specifically, they’ve developed a new semiconductor alloy that can capture near-infrared light. In addition to being easier and cheaper to manufacture, ScienceDaily.com reported that the semiconductor alloy is also compatible with the semiconductors utilized in […]

(Natural News) Far from just being a luxurious clothing material, silk could have numerous applications in engineering and biomedicine. This was the conclusion that an international team of multi-disciplinary scientists came to in their study, published in Nature Communications. According to the investigators, the nano-architecture of silk makes it highly effective at causing “Anderson localization […]

(Natural News) Insulating materials such as styrofoam and certain types of plastics are certainly useful in many applications, but some of their properties make them a problem for the environment. For this reason, scientists are always on the lookout for alternative materials that can be used to replace them in the future. Now a team […]

(Natural News) Earthquakes can cause immense damage to infrastructure, in turn hindering the operation of important public services. A team of researchers from the Universitat Politècnica de València reportedly developed a new construction element capable of overcoming that problem. Dubbed “Smart Seismic Concrete Connection” (SSCC), this material is a combination of two “symbiotic” components: Shape-memory metal alloy […]

(Natural News) Cotton-based fabric waste has a multitude of uses that range from being recycled into polishing and wiper clothes to automotive insulation. Though, as researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have discovered and demonstrated, this type of waste could be turned into cotton aerogels that have their own practical applications. The cotton […]

(Natural News) The process required in order to create the interesting material called graphene is not a secret. Researchers from the world over have been studying it for many years now to figure out how it can best be used. Now a team of experts in China has devised a method to create the highest […]

(Natural News) MXene is a relatively new miracle material that has captured the curiosity of scientists from all over the world. Broadly speaking, it’s so new that you probably haven’t even heard of it yet. But it’s likely to become the basis for many different kinds of innovations in the near future in relation to […]

(Natural News) Smart coatings: they’re either too soft and wear down easily, or too hard and offer little room for flexibility. This is a dilemma that researchers from the Harbin Institute of Technology have tackled and attempted to overcome. To that end, the investigative team has come up with a smart coating that possesses both […]

(Natural News) Ever since smartphone makers thought it was acceptable to build phones with nothing but mostly screens on them, the world has come to know one major annoyance: broken glass screens. Whenever a phone screen breaks, it’s always a toss-up between continuing to use the phone with cracks on its display, or just ponying up […]