Scientists have unintentionally created the tiniest and tightest knot to date, earning a prestigious spot in the Guinness Book of World Records. This extraordinary microscopic knot is made up of only fifty-four atoms.
US scientists have observed metal cracking and fusing back together, in a discovery that could pave the way for self-healing machines, vehicles and bridges.
Scientists described how pieces of pure platinum and copper spontaneously healed cracks caused by metal fatigue during nanoscale experiments that had been designed to study how such cracks form and spread in metal placed under stress.
An alloy of chromium, cobalt, and nickel has just given us the highest fracture toughness ever measured in a material on Earth.
Physicists observed a strange new type of behaviour in a magnetic material when it's heated up. The magnetic spins 'freeze' into a static pattern when the temperature rises.
Scientists have found a new way to structure carbon at the nanoscale, making a super-light material that's superior to diamond on the strength-to-density ratio.
Scientists have found naturally occurring superconducting materials in extraterrestrial objects for the first time, discovering superconductive grains embedded inside two distinct meteorites that crash-landed on Earth.
A team of U.S. scientists has observed a new state of matter at the interface between two oxide materials. The discovery shows electrons can bind together in ways similar to how quarks combine to form neutrons and protons.
Researchers long ago theorized that if hydrogen gas were exposed to enough pressure, it would transition into a metal. Recent results indicate that hydrogen does become a solid at 425 gigapascals.
Engineers have cooked up a material made of carbon nanotubes that is 10 times blacker than anything that has previously been reported.
Swiss researchers have now identified an unusual way to prevent water from forming ice crystals, so even at extreme sub-zero temperatures it retains the amorphous characteristics of a liquid.
U.S. researchers have discovered that a high-strength polymer called "PBDT" has a rare double helix structure, opening possibilities for use in a variety of applications, for instance lightweight aerospace materials.
A new material can transform into complex, pre-programmed shapes via light and temperature stimuli.
Scientists have engineered a molecular soft cocrystalline structure that bends and twists reversibly and without disintegration. Such crystal it a robust candidate for advanced molecular electronics and other new materials.
Researchers found a new technique to "densify" wood where fibers assemble to make the cell walls stiff and strong, a process called cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs).