Apr 02, 2026 A new plasmonic fiber probe uses linearly polarized light and energy recycling for broadband nanofocusing with resolution rivaling atomic force microscopy. (Nanowerk News) A fiber-based plasmonic probe that operates with ordinary linearly polarized light has resolved features nearly matching atomic force microscopy precision. Developed by researchers at...
3D-printed microbattery stickers for flexible electronics
Apr 01, 2026 A 3D-printed flexible potassium-ion microbattery with a conductive polymer coating delivers ultrahigh power density and thousands of stable cycles in a stick-and-use form factor. (Nanowerk Spotlight) Miniaturized electronics demand miniaturized power sources, but shrinking a battery to the scale of a microchip creates problems that go far...
Nanofluidic chip holder integrates thermal, electrical, and optical control
Apr 01, 2026 A new compact chip holder combines heating, cooling, electrode control, and real-time spectroscopy for studying nanoscale transport and reactions on a single platform. (Nanowerk News) Researchers have built a compact chip holder that combines heating, cooling, electrical control, and optical readout in a single platform. The nanofluidic...
Hexapod concept for low-temperature quantum applications
Apr 01, 2026 Low-temperature nanopositioning concept to address growing demand for ultra-precise optical alignment in cryogenic environments. (Nanowerk News) As quantum and photonics technologies continue to evolve, the need for precise optical alignment under cryogenic conditions is becoming increasingly critical. Addressing this demand, PI (Physik Instrumente), a global leader in...
DNA polymerases can generate long DNA sequences without templates
Apr 01, 2026 New research has discovered that the molecular machines responsible for copying our DNA have a surprising hidden talent: an ability to create entirely new and highly sophisticated DNA sequences from scratch. (Nanowerk News) The study, led by the University of Bristol and published in Nature Communications ("Analysis...
Soft optical sensor enables multi-directional posture sensing in robotic hands
Apr 01, 2026 Researchers developed a soft optical bending sensor that enables humanoid robotic hands to perceive finger posture across multiple axes during dexterous tasks. (Nanowerk News) A team of engineers has developed a humanoid robotic hand equipped with a new type of soft optical sensor that can track finger...
Evidence of cosmic explosions with missing black holes
Apr 01, 2026 Scientists have uncovered evidence of a rare form of exploding star, helping to shed light on one of the most cataclysmic events in the Universe. (Nanowerk News) At the end of their lives, most massive stars collapse into black holes – objects with gravity so strong that...
Fullerene’s spherical symmetry enables a reliable three-state molecular switch
Apr 01, 2026 Fullerene's perfect symmetry turns a long-standing weakness of molecular electronics into a programmable three-state switch. (Nanowerk Spotlight) Shrink an electrical switch down to the size of a single molecule and the current flowing through it becomes hostage to geometry. At that scale, the signal depends not just...
AI inspires new research topics in materials science
Apr 01, 2026 Scientific papers are growing so rapidly that researchers struggle to keep up, but AI analysis of materials science literature can still uncover new research directions. (Nanowerk News) The number of scientific papers is growing so rapidly that scientists are no longer able to keep track of all...
Gravitational waves as possible candidates for the origin of dark matter
Apr 01, 2026 Gravitational waves may have produced dark matter in the early universe, according to new calculations exploring a mechanism driven by stochastic gravitational waves. (Nanowerk News) Gravitational waves could be responsible for the production of dark matter during the early phases of our universe’s formation, according to results...