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A wood transistor made from balsa wood soaked in a conductive polymer, along with carbon fibres, paraffin wax, silver paste and carbon paste.

Wood transistor could let us embed electronics in trees

24 April 2023

An electrochemical transistor made from balsa wood opens up the possibility of embedding sensors and other electronic devices in plants, which could help in agriculture and forest management


The smart bandage

Electronic wound dressing releases drugs to help injuries heal

24 March 2023

A stretchable sticking plaster detects whether an injury is healing well and uses stimulating electrodes and microinjections of drugs to speed up the process


The fermented, probiotic tea kombucha

Kombucha cultures can be turned into flexible electric circuit boards

22 February 2023

The congealed mat of yeast and bacteria cells that forms on top of the brewed drink kombucha could be used to make light, cheap and flexible circuit boards for wearable electronics or even partially living rudimentary computers


A smartphone on some wood

Wood coated in nanocrystals can block electromagnetic signals

14 February 2023

A thin film made from wood and coated in nanocrystals can act as a shield against electromagnetic signals that disrupt electrical devices


Artwork of nodes in a network

‘Artificial synapse’ could make neural networks work more like brains

28 July 2022

Networks of nanoscale resistors that work in a similar way to nerve cells in the body could offer advantages over digital machine learning


Photograph of a stencil-printed two-cell paper battery with a design that spells the name of the authors' research institution (Empa). The battery is running a liquid crystal display alarm clock. Credit: Alexandre Poulin.

Disposable paper battery is activated by a drop of tap water

28 July 2022

Small and cheap batteries could enable a host of electronic devices such as parcel trackers, environmental monitors and sensors used in healthcare


shirt

Sweater includes a wireless charger to keep your gadgets topped up

13 May 2022

A sweater containing tubes filled with a liquid metal alloy can charge up wearable electronic devices


Zhitao Zhang wears the flexible light-emitting film, featuring a Stanford logo.

Stretchy light-emitting plastic could be used in wearable screens

23 March 2022

Existing flexible screens are either too power-hungry, fragile or expensive to be used in most electronic devices, but a new material could enable more practical versions


Ultra-thin glass screen could be used to make e-readers or billboards

Ultra-thin glass screen could be used to make e-readers or billboards

10 March 2021

An ultra-thin glass screen that can smoothly go from transparent to displaying words could be used to make e-readers and billboards


Self-cooling microchips could make your smartphone more efficient

Self-cooling microchips could make your smartphone more efficient

9 September 2020

Microchips with a built-in cooling system made from tiny water pipes could could provide a more efficient way of removing the heat generated by electronic devices


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