Dec 16, 2025 Physicists used liquid crystals to build a near-perpetual clock-like system, demonstrating a 'time crystal' phase where components move continuously without external power. (Nanowerk News) Imagine a clock that doesn’t have electricity, but its hands and gears spin on their own for all eternity. In a new study,...
Cool satellites and flexible electronics
Dec 16, 2025 Aluminum-coated polymer satellite insulation gains durability via ultrathin 5-nanometer interlayer, with potential uses in flexible electronics and medical sensors. (Nanowerk News) The picture that pops up before our inner eye when we hear the word "satellite" is probably this: Two extended solar “wings” and a compact body...
Researchers find way to image nanoscale objects without shrinking the sensor
Dec 16, 2025 Scientists use acoustic waves and condensed matter physics to detect proteins and cancer cells, sidestepping the limits of traditional miniaturization. (Nanowerk News) At the heart of every camera is a sensor, whether that sensor is a collection of light-detecting pixels or a strip of 35-millimeter film. But...
High-speed platform mass-produces insect-inspired nanostructures
Dec 15, 2025 A new self-assembly platform produces synthetic brochosomes at over 100,000 per second, enabling scalable antireflective, sensing and camouflage materials. (Nanowerk News) When most people see a leafhopper in their backyard garden, they notice little more than a tiny green or striped insect flicking from leaf to leaf....
Scientists put nanomotors in motion in artificial cells
Dec 15, 2025 Researchers used Listeria's movement as a model to build nanomotors inside artificial cells, giving them lifelike mobility and functions usually seen only in living cells. (Nanowerk News) No one has yet created a fully functioning artificial cell. But a research team at Aarhus University has taken a...
World’s smallest programmable robots perform tasks
Dec 15, 2025 Microscale swimming bots take in sensory information, process it and carry out tasks, opening new possibilities in manufacturing and medicine. (Nanowerk News) The world’s smallest fully programmable, autonomous robots have debuted at the University of Pennsylvania, sporting a brain developed at the University of Michigan. These microscopic...
Scientists create stable, switchable vortex knots inside liquid crystals
Dec 15, 2025 Researchers formed stable vortex knots in chiral nematic liquid crystals and used electric pulses to reversibly fuse and split them into different knotted forms. (Nanowerk News) The knots in your shoelaces are familiar, but can you imagine knots made from light, water, or from the structured fluids...
Molecules as switches for sustainable light-driven technologies
Dec 15, 2025 A team of nanophysicists identifies new mechanisms of plasmonic damping. (Nanowerk News) Metal nanostructures can concentrate light so strongly that they can trigger chemical reactions. The key players in this process are plasmons—collective oscillations of free electrons in the metal that confine energy to extremely small volumes....
How microscopic particles surf forces to move with minimal energy
Dec 15, 2025 Physicists show how microscopic particles can harness fluctuations and external forces to minimize transport energy and even extract usable work. (Nanowerk News) Conditions can get rough in the micro- and nanoworld. To ensure that e.g. nutrients can still be optimally transported within cells, the minuscule transporters involved...
Glowing carbon nanodots that remember injuries could transform aircraft safety inspections
Dec 15, 2025 A new phosphorescent material remembers mechanical stress and resets with ultrasound, enabling reusable optical sensors to track hidden structural damage in aircraft components. (Nanowerk Spotlight) When structural engineers examine aircraft components for signs of fatigue or hidden damage, they typically rely on instruments like ultrasonic scanners, X-ray...