Using a new 3D printing process, researchers have discovered how to tailor-make artificial body parts and other medical devices with built-in functionality that offers better shape and durability, while cutting the risk of bacterial infection at the same time. Study lead, Dr Yinfeng He, from the Centre for Additive Manufacturing, said: «Most mass-produced medical devices…

Electrical engineers are powering the quantum computing revolution with the development of an on-demand, scalable technique to manipulate nanoscale nanodiamonds. Currently it is possible to trap nanodiamonds using light fields focused near nano-sized metallic surfaces, but it is not possible to move them that way because laser beam spots are simply too big. Using an…

In smaller spacecraft such as CubeSat satellites, a salt-based monopropellant is showing promise. It can be used both in high-thrust chemical propulsion for fast time-sensitive maneuvers, and electric mode for slow maneuvers, such as orbit maintenance. Now, researchers have more knowledge about how it performs under pressure to inform rocket design. The propellant, called FAM-110A,…

Researchers have developed an original approach to flight scheduling that, if implemented, could result in a significant increase in profits for airlines and more flights that align with passengers’ preferences. Some of the most critical decision-making steps taken by airlines across the world rely on tools that do not fully incorporate passengers’ preferences and the…

New studies of a rare type of meteorite show that material from close to the Sun reached the outer solar system even as the planet Jupiter cleared a gap in the disk of dust and gas from which the planets formed. The results add to an emerging understanding of how our Solar System formed and…

New research addresses some of the technical issues that still need to be solved for 3D printed concrete to be strong enough for use in more free-form structures. Researchers found lobster-inspired printing patterns can make 3DCP stronger and help direct the strength where it’s needed. And combining the patterns with a concrete mix enhanced with…

Researchers have solved a major problem for optical wireless communications — the process by which light carries information between cell phones and other devices. Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) pulse their light in a coded message that recipient devices can understand. Now, a team of researchers based in Japan has married the two options into the ideal…

Microscopic aspects of ferroelectricity are canonically related to polar atomic displacements that break inversion symmetry of the crystal, leading to a non-zero net electric dipole moment. However, there is a special class of magnetic materials called multiferroics where inversion symmetry breaking occurs by a magnetic order stabilized in an otherwise crystallographically centrosymmetric lattice. The magnetically…

An international team has investigated a newly synthesized liquid-crystalline material that promises applications in optoelectronics. Simple rod-shaped molecules with a single center of chirality self-assemble into helical structures at room temperature. Using soft X-ray resonant scattering at BESSY II, the scientists have now been able to determine the pitch of the helical structure with high…

Researchers say an experimental approach for demonstrating the existence of an axionic behavior in specific materials may not have found it as previously reported. The multinational team was unable to detect the expected increased magnetoconductivity in the charge density wave of a compound made up of tantalum, selenium, and iodine, called (TaSe4)2I. The findings come…