Electron-rich metals make ceramics tough to crack

Researchers at the University of California San Diego have discovered a way to make ceramics tougher and more resistant to cracking, by building them with a blend of metal atoms with more electrons in their outer shell, unlocking the potential to enable ceramics to handle higher levels of force and stress than before.

MIT physicists turn pencil lead into “gold”

MIT physicists have metaphorically turned graphite, or pencil lead, into gold by isolating five ultrathin flakes stacked in a specific order. The resulting material can then be tuned to exhibit three important properties never before seen in natural graphite. “It is kind of like one-stop shopping,” says Long Ju, an assistant professor in the Department […]

450-million-year-old organism finds new life in softbotics

Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, along with paleontologists from Spain and Poland, have utilized fossil records to create a soft robotic model of Pleurocystitid. This marine organism, which lived about 450 million years ago, is thought to be among the earliest echinoderms that could move using a muscular stem. The research seeks […]