Dec 12, 2025 A study used DNA origami to form 2D fishnet structures on silicon, testing growth conditions and advancing DNA-assisted lithography for optical materials. (Nanowerk News) A dissertation at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland shows how DNA can act as a nanoscale construction material on a surface used...
Active thermal metasurfaces make small objects mimic much larger thermal signatures
Dec 13, 2025 Active boundary heating and cooling can make a small object look much larger to thermal sensors, a step toward compact thermal camouflage and new ways to steer heat in devices. (Nanowerk Spotlight) Heat does not travel like light. It does not form coherent beams, and it resists...
A ceramic so resilient it can be twisted, frozen, torched, and crushed
Dec 12, 2025 A five-element ceramic aerogel compresses by 98% and recovers its shape from cryogenic to 1500 degrees C temperatures, outperforming conventional thermal insulation materials. (Nanowerk Spotlight) Ceramic aerogels occupy a peculiar niche in materials science: they are among the lightest solid materials ever created, yet they must withstand...
Functionalized graphene microrod resonator enables switchable-selectivity gas sensing
Dec 13, 2025 Graphene integrated silica microrod sensor converts gas adsorption into optical shifts, achieving parts per billion sensitivity with doping controlled selectivity at low power. (Nanowerk News) Monitoring trace gases with high sensitivity and selectivity is essential for environmental safety and smart monitoring systems. Whispering-gallery-mode (WGM) optical microcavities have...
Iron nanoparticles drive the breakdown of plastic additives
Dec 13, 2025 Iron oxide crystal phase governs how efficiently organophosphate ester pollutants hydrolyze, with lepidocrocite showing the strongest catalytic activity despite weaker adsorption. (Nanowerk News) By comparing three common iron oxide polymorphs, researchers discovered that the crystalline phase of these minerals determines how effectively they catalyze the hydrolysis of...
Webb identifies earliest supernova to date, shows host galaxy
Dec 13, 2025 The telescope captured near-infrared light from one of the earliest stars seen to explode in the history of the universe. (Nanowerk News) NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has observed a supernova that exploded when the universe was only 730 million years old — the earliest detection of...