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Breakthrough in the precision engineering of four-stranded beta-sheets

Dec 10, 2024 (Nanowerk News) A newly developed approach can precisely produce four-stranded β-sheets through metal–peptide coordination, report researchers from Institute of Science Tokyo. Their innovative methodology overcomes long-standing challenges in controlled β-sheet formation, including fibril aggregation and uncontrolled isomeric variation in the final product. This breakthrough could advance the...

Advancing the synthesis of two-dimensional gold monolayers

Dec 10, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Researchers have created nearly freestanding nanostructured two-dimensional (2D) gold monolayers, an impressive feat of nanomaterial engineering that could open up new avenues in catalysis, electronics, and energy conversion. Gold is an inert metal which typically forms a solid three-dimensional (3D) structure. However, in its 2D...

Nature inspires self-assembling helical polymer

Dec 10, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Helical structures are ubiquitous across biology, from the double-stranded helix of DNA to how heart muscle cells spiral in a band. Inspired by this twisty ladder, researchers from Hiroshima University’s Graduate School of Advanced Science and Engineering have developed an artificial polymer that organizes itself...

Cracking the code for materials that can learn

Dec 09, 2024 (Nanowerk News) It's easy to think that machine learning is a completely digital phenomenon, made possible by computers and algorithms that can mimic brain-like behaviors. But the first machines were analog and now, a small but growing body of research is showing that mechanical systems are capable...

Scientists and artists create enduring color-shifting coatings for architectural art

Dec 09, 2024 (Nanowerk Spotlight) Creating materials that change color based on viewing angle represents a significant challenge at the intersection of art and science. Natural examples of this phenomenon, called iridescence, appear in butterfly wings, peacock feathers, and opals. Unlike traditional pigments that absorb specific wavelengths of light, these...