Materials

Self-healing concrete for safer, durable, and cheaper-to-maintain infrastructure
Wolverines researchers develop self-healing concrete; the concrete self-heals itself when it develops cracks; no human intervention required — only water and carbon dioxide
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One-story masonry building withstands strong jolts during seismic tests
University of California, San Diego researchers design a one-story masonry structure and showed it could survive two days of intense earthquake jolts
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DARPA looking for construction material made of solar cells
What if there was a material made of solar cells but which would be strong and flexible enough to be used for making planes and cars? There would be no need for an engine — or for batteries, as the material would generate and store power
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Composite materials extend life of existing bridges
The Obama administration’s stimulus package directs large amounts of money toward rehabilitating the aging U.S. infrastructure; Jayhawks researchers are testing a new class of devices that could double the life of America’s existing bridges using composite materials
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South Korea develops homemade stealth technology
While the United States keeps a close eye on work by Shina, Russia, and India on stealth technology, South Korea announces it has mastered the technology
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Better bullet-proof vests with advanced fiber weaves
Manchester University researchers say that bullet-proof vests used to protect the lives of police officers could be further improved with advanced fiber weaves
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New anti-crime approach: vigilant windows
Windows are coated with special polymer which contains nanoparticles that convert light into fluorescent radiation; this radiation is channeled to the edges of the window where it is detected by sensors; when a person approaches the window, the sensors wirelessly relay this currency information to a computer program, which alerts security officials of the potential intruder
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A simpler route to invisibility
Two years ago Duke University researchers built an invisibility cloak — a device that can make objects vanish from sight, at least when viewed using a narrow band of microwave frequencies; researchers now show how to create cloaks that work across a wider range of frequencies
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Acoustic cloak silences nuisance noise
Spanish researchers prove metamaterials can be designed to produce an acoustic cloak — a cloak that can make objects impervious to sound waves
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New class of meterials offers many benefits
Microspheres to carry hydrogen, deliver drugs, filter gases, and detect nuclear weapons development
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"Fibrous" steel withstands extremely cold temperatures
Steel is very strong, except that in cold temperatures it becomes brittle; new method of making steel withstand cold temperatures could make steel structures in Arctic areas, like ships or oil rigs, cheaper to construct
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Breakthrough: Dramatic increase in thermoelectric efficiency achieved
Two hundred years ago scientists discovered the thermoelectric effect: Certain materials can convert heat into electricity and vice versa; trouble is, most materials which conduct electricity also conduct heat, so their temperature equalizes quickly; until now: Boston College, MIT researchers solve this vexing problem
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New material captures carbon dioxide
Georgie Tech researchers developed material which captures CO2 from the chimneys of coal-fired power plants and other generators of the greenhouse gases
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European consortium to make RFID tags more affordable
To make RFID more popular, there is a need to make them cheaper; a team of major technology companies is confident that the cost will be reduced once the tags can be printed because electrically conductive and semiconducting plastics can be used in high-volume printing processes
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Invisibility cloak for nanoparticles designed
Researchers design invisibility cloak for nanoparticles; the new particle invisibility cloak will help create a vast array of new material technologies that combine unknown property combinations such as strength and durability with optical transparency
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