Graphene has attracted intense scientific interest since its recent discovery.  Much of the research on graphene has been directed towards exploration of its novel electronic properties, but the structural aspects of this model two-dimensional system are also of great interest and importance.  In particular, microscopic corrugations have been observed on all suspended and supported graphene [...]

A team of researchers has fabricated a micron-scale device that deforms significantly under the force of light, a technology that could form the basis for tiny light-actuated switches or filters in future optical devices.  [ScientificAmerican.com, 15 Nov 2009]

TechJournalContents is a new free service that enables a user to “search across the current issues of more than 4,500 scholarly technology journals from multiple publishers” . . . to find the most research articles in a wide range of scientific, technical, and social science disciplines.  Approximately 400 of the journals searched by TechJournalContents are [...]

The Engineering Pathway is a portal to high-quality teaching and learning resources in engineering, applied science and math, computer science/information technology, and engineering technology and is designed for use by K-12 and university educators and students.   Higher education resources may be discovered by multiple criteria including discipline, audience, resource type, title, author/creator, or special topics, [...]

When a liquid droplet is located above a super-hydrophobic surface, it only barely touches the solid portion of the surface, and therefore slides very easily on it.  More generally, super-hydrophobic surfaces have been shown to lead to significant reduction of viscous friction in the laminar regime, so it is of interest to quantify their effective [...]

The incorporation of metallic units into polymer chains has emerged as a promising route towards functional metal-containing nanomaterials.  The resulting polymers possess rich functions derived from their metallic elements, such as redox, optical, catalytic, and magnetic properties.  In addition, the directional and dynamic nature of metal coordination interactions provides further variables for the exploration of [...]

Novel biosynthetic platforms supporting ex vivo growth of partially differentiated muscle cells in an aligned linear orientation that is consistent with the structural requirements of muscle tissue are described.  These platforms consist of biodegradable polymer fibers spatially aligned on a conducting polymer substrate.  Long multinucleated myotubes are formed from differentiation of adherent myoblasts, which align [...]

More than 90% of people over 50 need correction for presbyopia, an age-related inability of the eye to shift focus from distant to near objects. Conventional lenses (bifocal, trifocal) have been used for more than 200 years, but they have drawbacks such as a limited field of view for each vision task. That requires users [...]

Optical sensing and imaging typically involve optoelectronic devices and arrays that use elaborate wafer-based processes.  While they can create small features, they are restricted to planar geometries and a limited coverage area.  The search for approaches enabling large area and flexible assemblies of optoelectronics devices with nanoscale features has recently attracted considerable interest.  However, the [...]

In most respects, Prof. Natasha Neogi’s aerospace engineering class is like any other.  It’s a large, hour-long lecture-style course at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.  But at the halfway mark, Neogi’s class takes on a new twist.  She invites her students to log on to Twitter — the “micro-blogging” service that limits messages to 140 [...]