Materials news, articles and features | Page 11 | New Scientist

Skip to content

Old SIM cards are good as gold

Physics

Ultrasonic micro-explosions can harvest gold from old SIM cards

We waste $22 billion in gold from electronics that are tossed out instead of recycled. A new technique uses ultrasound to harvest that precious metal from SIM cards

News

Sticky yet slick material pulls water from foggy or humid air

Physics

Sticky yet slick material pulls water from foggy or humid air

News

Fresh water can pull stains out of fabric with an electric field

Physics

Fresh water can pull stains out of fabric with an electric field

News

Eco-friendly nanowood is a super strong and recyclable styrofoam

Physics

Eco-friendly nanowood is a super strong and recyclable styrofoam

News

pile of clothes

Earth

Green is the new black: Redesigning clothes to save the planet

Features

Bunnies draped in fake polar bear fur are both cosy and stealthy

Physics

Bunnies draped in fake polar bear fur are both cosy and stealthy

News

Electric eel-inspired batteries could power life-long pacemakers

Technology

Electric eel-inspired batteries could power life-long pacemakers

News

How a bat’s hairy tongue lets it suck up nectar like a sponge

Physics

How a bat’s hairy tongue lets it suck up nectar like a sponge

News

sand

Earth

We all need to take our heads out of the sand

Leader

rubbish mountain

Life

China's plan to stop recycling the world's rubbish may backfire

China is giving Western nations a headache with a ban on imports of "foreign garbage" to recycle, but the move is also creating a Chinese cardboard shortage

Analysis

Physics

A 'magic number' of people walking across a bridge makes it sway

News

Life

Mussel-inspired plastic could make self-repairing body armour

News

Technology

Shape-shifting origami robot swaps bodies to roll, swim or walk

News

Technology

Fighting fakery: How to make products immune to counterfeiting

Features