Materials/​Biomaterials

Researchers at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, and California's IBM Research - Almaden (IBM) have discovered a new, potentially life-saving application for polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which is widely...

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) selected a consortium led by Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, to establish a new NIST-sponsored center of excellence for advanced materials research. The new Center for Hierarchical Materials Design (CHiMaD) also includes the University...

Plastics can be made scratch-proof and flame-proof, or given antibacterial properties through the addition of nano-sized additives mixed in with the pellets of plastic during the manufacturing process. However, the particle distribution within the plastic compound must be absolutely precise. A new device being...

ASTM International, formerly known as the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), West Conshohocken, PA, has proposed a new international standard to be used in the design, development, quality control, and comparison of a variety of collagen-based medical products, including surgical...

A team of researchers from Stanford University and the Department of Energy’s (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have made the first battery electrode that heals itself, opening a new and potentially commercially viable path for making the next generation of lithium ion batteries.

The Center for the Polyurethanes Industry (CPI) of the American Chemistry Council has issued a call for papers and posters to be presented at the 2014 Polyurethanes Technical Conference, which will take place September 22-24, 2014 at the Gaylord Texan in Dallas, Texas.

Top executives from plastics resin producers gathered during the 2013 K Fair, in DuŸsseldorf, Germany, the world's largest plastics industry exhibition, and agreed to launch the World Plastics Council, to be the voice of global plastics manufacturers and to facilitate a united approach to address global...

A team of engineers at the University of Colorado at Boulder say that they have successfully added a fourth dimension to their printing technology, opening up exciting possibilities for the creation and use of adaptive, composite materials in manufacturing, packaging, and biomedical applications.

While sutures have evolved over millennia, and catgut gave way to synthetics for stitching up injuries and surgical wounds, the basic process of suturing tissue remains the same. However, the method may finally have become outdated, say a team of researchers at Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY.

Researchers at Kiel University, Kiel, Germany, have been studying the role of adhesion in nature, which allows insects and lizards to climb walls, plants to twine up structures, and even bacteria cling to surfaces. During evolution, many of these develop mushroom-shaped adhesive structures and organs,...

The silk of the venomous brown recluse spider could be the key to creating new super-sticky films and wafer-thin electronics and sensors for medical implants that are highly compatible with the human body. So says a team of scientists from Oxford University, UK, and The College of William and Mary,...

Engineers in the School of Biomedical Engineering and the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Colorado State University, Fort Collins, are developing a new family of replacement heart valves made from synthetic materials that, they say, will be superior to current mechanical and tissue-based...