What Urbanites Can Do To Slow Down Climate Change
Feeling overwhelmed by the latest news from the IPCC? Read on to see what you can do in your neighbourhood When it was signed in December 2015, the Paris Climate Agreement was described as a landmark agreement; one that would chart “… a new course in the global climate effort.” Its central goal was to limit global temperature change to “…well below...
Exploring the long-term biocompatibility of implantable nanogenerators
Just how safe are self-powered, implantable medical devices? Image credit: Hellerhoff [CC BY-SA 3.0 , from Wikimedia Commons Piezoelectric materials have been used as transducers or to power small-scale sensors for many years. They can harvest even the smallest deflections from the environment, transforming micro- and nanoscale mechanical energy into useable...
Self-healing superhydrophobic coatings
Long-term water-repellent metal surfaces may be one step closer Photo credit: UCL MAPS / O. Usher Superhydrophobic coatings have found widespread application in the maritime sector – from protecting ship hulls from ice and corrosion, to reducing friction, or keeping windscreens clear. But because these coatings owe their water-repellency to micro- or nanoscale...
Ultimate carrot cake recipe
Five years after sharing my first cake recipe on here, I thought it was time to share another! I hope you enjoy it. I love a good carrot cake, but I’ve always struggled to find the perfect recipe. But just a few weeks ago, I think I finally cracked it, so I thought I’d share it with you lovely people. The cake recipe is based on this one, but...
Forbes..... the long-overdue update
Hi peeps, Hope you’re all well? It’s been AGES since I did a proper update here on the blog. Myself and RJ are just about to head Europe-ward (for a very exciting reason), so I’m hoping to make time to do that on one on the many long-haul flight we’ll be taking! With only a few days until we fly, my life is a mess of packing &...
Triboelectric kill switch for secure flash memory
Could the touch of a finger make mobile data storage more secure? The agent was in trouble. She couldn’t let the files fall into enemy hands, but her capture seemed inevitable. And then, she remembered the kill switch. Pulling off a glove as she ran, she reached into her pocket and found the tiny pad on the surface of the flash memory drive. With that simple...
Improving the properties of Kevlar reinforced composites
Could extra-long carbon nanotubes give us stronger Kevlar bullet-proof vests? By National Photo Company [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons Discovered by DuPont™ chemist Stephanie Kwolek in 1964, Kevlar® is one of the world’s most famous fibres. Found in everything from parachutes and skis, to tyres and bullet-proof vests, it combines low weight with...
Materials Down Under
Since January, I’ve been working on a new column at Materials Today. Called ‘Materials Down Under’, it features some of the brightest and best materials science talent here in the Antipodes. So far, it features just four researchers, but I have a long wishlist of other people I hope to interview. You’ll find all of them here:...
'Sea-snake' triboelectric generator could harvest ocean wave energy
By Shalom Jacobovitz (SJ1_8558) [CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons] Revisiting an old technology to capture energy from the rolling sea Back in 2004, the Pelamis Wave Energy Converter became the world’s first offshore wave machine to successfully generate electricity and deliver it to the grid. Unlike many other wave energy harvesters, the Pelamis...
De-icing aircraft with a carbon nanotube web
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons If you’ve ever had a flight delayed by a snow-covered runway, you’ll know that cold weather can be the enemy of air travel. But far from the ground, ice has even more serious implications. As an aircraft flies through clouds at sub-zero temperatures, super-cooled water droplets can form layers of ice on aerodynamic surfaces...