All Articles Tagged As: materials

Trees Can Inspire Smart Materials (7/18/2008)

Nature's branching patterns are most efficient way to flow ...> Full Article

Self-moisturizing contact lenses, naturally (7/9/2008)

Even contact lenses are joining the trend to go green ...> Full Article

The Photonic Beetle: Nature Builds Diamond-like Crystals for Future Optical Computers (5/21/2008)

Researchers have been unable to build an ideal "photonic crystal" to manipulate visible light, impeding the dream of ultrafast optical computers. But now, University of Utah chemists have discovered that nature already has designed photonic crystals with the ideal, diamond-like structure: They are found in the shimmering, iridescent green scales of a beetle from Brazil. ...> Full Article

Self-repairing aircraft could revolutionise aviation safety (5/20/2008)

A new technique that mimics healing processes found in nature could enable damaged aircraft to mend themselves automatically, even during a flight. ...> Full Article

Scientists find that squid beak is both hard and soft, a material that engineers want to copy (3/28/2008)

How did nature make the squid's beak super hard and sharp -- allowing it, without harm to its soft body -- to capture its prey? ...> Full Article

Shell shock (3/15/2008)

An MIT materials scientist's research on sea snails has helped transform battery technology and may end the era when cell phones die if they're dropped and PDAs must be replaced if they get dunked in the tub. ...> Full Article