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Close up of crocodile skin

Technology

Crocodile-like body armour resists stabbing and cuts

A tough material inspired by the tiled scales of a crocodile could be useful as body armour or for covering equipment to help it last

News

Time series of flame tests on different cottons

Technology

Flame-resistant variety of cotton could cut need for toxic retardants

News

A person looking at a paper

Technology

US government lab is using GPT-3 to analyse research papers

News

Comparison of a gel sheet and a standard cloth

Technology

Super-absorbent towel soaks up liquids better than cloth or paper

News

The alloy of chromium, cobalt and nickel

Chemistry

Toughest material ever is an alloy of chromium, cobalt and nickel

News

Sections of a timber wind turbine tower under construction

Environment

Should we build wind turbines from wood?

News

An image of microscopic disks that were transferred onto various grains of pollen.

Physics

Candy-like mixture can print patterns on microscopic objects

News

Rays of light

Technology

Glass device can tell objects apart without needing a computer

News

Compostable plastic that has not fully disintegrated in a compost bin

Environment

Most ‘home compostable’ plastic doesn’t break down in garden bins

News

Electron microscope image of the new aluminium alloy

Chemistry

Aluminium alloy could boost spacecraft radiation shielding 100-fold

A new metal alloy keeps its flexibility and strength after high doses of radiation, making it potentially useful for building spacecraft or Mars colonies

News

Technology

Metal-enriched silkworm silk is one of the strongest materials ever

News

Health

Tiny chip can quickly identify hundreds of thousands of DNA sequences

News

Video

Material that changes colour as it stretches could be used in bandages

Video

Technology

Stretchy material could make bandages change colour when getting loose

News