Programmable

The University of Bristol-led study, published today in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), demonstrates how to make conductive, biodegradable wires from designed proteins. These could be compatible with conventional…

One of the challenges in treating burn victims is the frequency of dressing changes, which can be extremely painful. To bring relief to this and other problems, University of Waterloo researchers have created a new type of wound dressing…

Miniaturization is progressing rapidly in just any field and the trend towards the creation of ever smaller units is also prevalent in the world of robot technology. In the future, minuscule robots used in medical and pharmaceutical…

A new smart material developed by researchers at the University of Waterloo is activated by both heat and electricity, making it the first ever to respond to two different stimuli. The unique design paves the way for a wide variety of…

Cambridge scientists have used synthetic biology to create artificial enzymes programmed to target the genetic code of SARS-CoV-2 and destroy the virus, an approach that could be used to develop a new generation of antiviral drugs. Enzymes…

Muscles waste as a result of not being exercised enough, as happens quickly with a broken limb that has been immobilized in a cast, and more slowly in people reaching an advanced age. Muscle atrophy, how clinicians refer to the phenomenon,…

Tiny particles that are interconnected despite sometimes being thousands of kilometres apart -- Albert Einstein called this 'spooky action at a distance'. Something that would be inexplicable by the laws of classical physics is a…

Many organisms in nature have evolved spots with two structural colors on their bodies, like the Papilio Palinurus butterfly. The green color on its wings derives from the turquoise-yellow dual color spots. Imitation of such dual-color…

MIT researchers have developed a method for 3D printing materials with tunable mechanical properties, which can sense how they are moving and interacting with the environment. The researchers create these sensing structures using just one…

For years, scientists have been attempting to engineer tiny, artificial cilia for miniature robotic systems that can perform complex motions, including bending, twisting, and reversing. Building these smaller-than-a-human-hair…