Sunburn in fruits and fruiting vegetables is a big concern for farmers because it affects the food’s marketability. Researchers in Brazil tested the potential of spray-on calcium carbonate nanoparticles to protect pineapples from sunburn.
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Marine creatures are a great source of inspiration for materials scientists looking to develop stronger and better structures. Researchers led by Virginia Tech found that the skeleton of the Protoreaster nodosus starfish offers valuable insights into designing porous calcium carbonate.
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Researchers have developed a method of creating bio-bricks from human urine. The process also offers by-products of nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium that could be used as components in commercial fertilizers.
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Scientists at ETH Zurich have discovered a way to create ceramic materials using cold sintering—which could someday replace huge energy-consuming kilns currently used to manufacture ceramics and cements.
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Molten metal batteries, electromagnetic properties of graphene-BN materials, and other materials stories that may be of interest for January 20, 2015.
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Researchers from Stony Brook University have recently reported the ability to use thermal-sprayed ceramic deposits as templates for synthesis of ceramic–polymer composites with striking microstructural similarity and mechanical behavior similar to those observed in nacre.
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Designer Alex Goad has fabricated ceramic Modular Artificial Reef Structure (MARS) that can help damaged coral reefs rebuild, repair, and rebound.
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MIT researchers recently discovered that the shells of blue-rayed limpets—a fingernail-sized mollusk—contain unique biological photonic structures that are the first known to be made from inorganic, mineralized structures.
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Scientists at McGill University show that the introduction of microcracks can strengthen glass by mimicking the microstructure of nacre to provide durability and flexibility to an otherwise brittle material.
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