Category Physics

An artist’s depiction of the promise of carbon nanotube porins for desalination. The image depicts a stylized carbon nanotube pipe that delivers clean desalinated water from the ocean to a kitchen tap. Credit: Image by Ryan Chen/LLNL

Lawrence Livermore scientists, in collaboration with Northeastern University have developed a saltwater purification device. The team also found that water permeability in carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with diameters smaller than a nanometer (0.8 nm) exceeds that of wider CNTs by an order of magnitude. The nanotubes, hollow structures made of carbon atoms in a unique arrangement, are more than 50,000 times thinner than a human hair...

Coiled carbon nanotube yarns, created at the University of Texas at Dallas and imaged here with a scanning electron microscope, generate electrical energy when stretched or twisted. Credit: University of Texas at Dallas

An international team led by scientists at The University of Texas at Dallas and Hanyang University in South Korea has developed high-tech yarns that generate electricity when they are stretched or twisted. In a study published in the Aug. 25 issue of the journal Science, researchers describe “twistron” yarns and their possible applications, such as harvesting energy from the motion of ocean waves or from temperature fluctuations. When sewn into a shirt, these yarns served as a self-powered breathing monitor.

“The easiest way to think of twistron harvesters is, you have a p...

Crystalline samples of CeRhIn5 from Los Alamos were cut into microscopic, crystalline conducting paths with a focused ion beam at MPI-CPfS.
© MPI CPfS

New research shows a rare state of matter in which electrons in a superconducting crystal organize collectively. The findings lay the groundwork for answering one of the most compelling questions in physics: How do correlated electron systems work, and are they related to one another? Electrons in most metals act individually, free to move through a metal to conduct electric currents and heat. But in a special sample of layered cerium, rhodium and indium (CeRhIn5), scientists discovered that electrons unite to flow in the same direction (a behavior called “breaking symmetry”) when in high magnetic fields of 30tesla...

This is a full robot set. Credit: MIT CSAIL

MIT CSAIL’s ‘Interactive Robogami’ lets you design in minutes, and 3D-print, assemble origami-inspired robots from 2D designs in 4 hours. Even as robots become increasingly common, they remain incredibly difficult to make. From designing and modeling to fabricating and testing, the process is slow and costly: even one small change can mean days or weeks of rethinking and revising important hardware. But what if there was a way to let non-experts craft different robotic designs – in one sitting?

One of the key features of the system is that it allows designers to determine both the robot’s movement (“gait”) and shape (“geometry”), a capability that’s often separated in design systems...