Using star-shaped block co-polymer structures as tiny reaction vessels, researchers have developed an improved technique for producing nanocrystals with consistent sizes, compositions and architectures – including metallic, ferroelectric, magnetic, semiconductor and luminescent nanocrystals. The technique relies on the length of polymer molecules and the ratio of two solvents to control the size and uniformity of colloidal nanocrystals.

Plastic bags coated by plasma at atmospheric pressure serve as a GMP laboratory for the cultivation of adherent cells. The plasma is used to modify the internal surface of the bag specifically, so that different cell types can grow on it.

Cartilage injuries are difficult to repair. Current surgical options generally involve taking a piece from another part of the injured joint and patching over the damaged area, but this approach involves damaging healthy cartilage, and a person's cartilage may still deteriorate with age.

Using bundles of vertical zinc oxide nanowires, researchers have fabricated arrays of piezotronic transistors capable of converting mechanical motion directly into electronic controlling signals. The arrays could help give robots a more adaptive sense of touch, provide better security in handwritten signatures and offer new ways for humans to interact with electronic devices.

Computer graphics researchers at Cornell and Harvard have created software that will translate a character from a movie or video game, or even something you've created yourself, into a posable plastic figure manufactured by a 3-D printer. Eventually this capability might be built into games and other software, the researchers said.

Paper is known for its ability to absorb liquids, making it ideal for products such as paper towels. But by modifying the underlying network of cellulose fibers, etching off surface "fluff" and applying a thin chemical coating, researchers have created a new type of paper that repels a wide variety of liquids – including water and oil.

Rice, Penn State labs lay groundwork for block copolymer solar cells

A new version of solar cells created by laboratories at Rice and Pennsylvania State universities could open the door to research on a new class of solar energy devices.

The California Institute of Technology, IBM, United Technologies Corporation (UTC) and the University of California, Berkeley have launched a research consortium to identify and develop new engineering techniques that will make it easier to successfully build products and services that combine complex software, hardware and mechanical components. The Industrial Cyber Physical Systems ("iCyPhy") research program will maintain its base of operations at UC Berkeley.

A new partnership between Loughborough University and MEL Chemicals looks set to make the manufacture of nanostructured ceramic components a commercial reality.

In a remote fishing community in Venezuela, a lone fisherman sits on a cliff overlooking the southern Caribbean Sea. This man –– the lookout –– is responsible for directing his comrades on the water, who are too close to their target to detect their next catch. Using abilities honed by years of scanning the water's surface, he can tell by shadows, ripples, and even the behavior of seabirds, where the fish are schooling, and what kind of fish they might be, without actually seeing the fish. This, in turn, changes where the boats go, and how the men fish.

UC Berkeley plans to share scientific and engineering expertise with the Middle East's first major international research center, which is a unique collaboration among scientists from many countries in the region, including Iran, Israel, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority.

Chancellor Robert Birgeneau last month signed a memorandum of understanding that will encourage collaboration between physicists at UC Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and the Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East (SESAME), an X-ray source now being built in Allan, Jordan, about 20 miles from the capital, Amman. SESAME director general Khaled Toukan, chairman of the Jordan Atomic Energy Commission, signed the agreement on May 19.

Scientists have produced the largest flexible, plastic solar cells in Australia – 10 times the size of what they were previously able to – thanks to a new solar cell printer that has been installed at CSIRO.

The printer has allowed researchers from the Victorian Organic Solar Cell Consortium (VICOSC) – a collaboration between CSIRO, The University of Melbourne, Monash University and industry partners – to print organic photovoltaic cells the size of an A3 sheet of paper.