Articles tagged with Liquid Crystals
Researchers have developed portable chemical sensors using shifting liquid crystals, which can detect environmental exposure to residential pesticides and monitor food spoilage. The sensors are extremely sensitive and quick, taking only seconds to complete detection and reset.
Scientists have successfully created a liquid form of DNA, which can be processed in various ways and may improve genetic engineering and microelectronic circuitry. The liquid DNA is also soluble in several solvents that ordinary DNA is not, enabling new scientific studies.
Researchers at Case Western Reserve University have developed a technique to simulate various gravitational environments using a magnetic levitation method. This allows them to study the behavior of liquids and solids in conditions ranging from Earth's gravity to zero-G environments, providing new insights into fluid dynamics.
Researchers at Purdue University are designing software to manufacture superior crystals, enabling better electronic hardware and alloys. Space experiments have uncovered critical information on crystal formation in the absence of gravity, which is incorporated into mathematical models.
Scientists at the University of Manchester and the Natural History Museum in London found water-bearing salt crystals within the Zag meteorite that may have formed just two million years after the solar system's birth. This discovery could indicate that hospitable conditions for life might have arisen earlier than previously thought.
Crystals grown in space may produce better semiconductor materials due to reduced gravity effects. The 'detached growth' process, performed on the space shuttle, has produced pencil-thin crystals with uniform distributions.
University of Illinois researchers have developed a theory that explains how glassy materials behave and predict the speed of molecular motion changes with temperature. The theory, based on thermodynamic measurements of heat capacity, provides a universal form for expressing glass transition phenomena.
Chemist Peter G. Wolynes explains how glass, a disorganized crystal in a frozen state, keeps its shape and applies this insight to study protein structures. His work has numerous applications in environmental cleanup and drug design.
A new liquid crystal film can protect against continuous glare and intense light, improving visibility for drivers and welders. The material reduces light intensity from 140 milliwatts to 5 microwatts, solving glare problems in optical sensors and communications systems.
Researchers find that atoms in super-cooled metals exhibit clustered motion, a phenomenon crucial for understanding bulk metallic glasses with unique properties. This discovery has significant implications for various technical applications, including industry and military uses.
Researchers used helium scattering to probe the germanium surface at temperatures above 1000K, finding that it undergoes a structural phase transition from an ordered phase to another highly ordered phase. At this temperature, the surface becomes metallic and exhibits jump diffusion of adatoms, similar to liquid germanium.
Researchers at NASA have developed innovative methods to study molten metals in space, including electrodes and magnets to measure fluid flows and dendrite growth. These techniques will help improve manufacturing processes on Earth by understanding subtle phenomena affected by gravity.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University are creating new metallic glasses with superior strength, elasticity, and magnetic properties. These materials can be molded into a final shape and exhibit distinct mechanical and magnetic properties due to their random atomic structure.
A new liquid crystal assay developed at the University of California, Davis, can detect target molecules in test samples using minimal supplies and no electricity. The assay uses a microscopic landscape of hills and valleys to bend light and create colorful patterns, allowing for quick and easy analysis.
Researchers have developed a method to align liquid crystals using molecular anchors, allowing for the creation of stable patterns on both flat and curved surfaces. This technology has potential applications in fields such as optics, displays, and biosensing.
A Penn State engineer has developed liquid crystal fibers that can automatically prevent overload and protect optical sensors from laser damage. The fibers absorb all colors of light and react non-linearly to intensity, allowing low levels of laser light to pass through.
Researchers from UC Berkeley have disproved the hypothesis that the Earth's inner core is a perfectly aligned mass of iron crystals. Instead, they found that the crystals align themselves like boats in a circular eddy, driven by the rise of hotter iron toward the surface. This finding has implications for modeling the Earth's magnetic ...