Home > News > Cosmic ice crystals reveal nanotech bonus
February 16th, 2011
Cosmic ice crystals reveal nanotech bonus
Abstract:
A discovery of 'ice lava' crystals with unusual expansion properties from volcanoes on Saturn and Neptune's moons has given scientists new insight into how nanotechnology may develop, and could inspire new meta-materials.
According to the researchers, the finding could lead to the development of new materials that can retain their structure in fluctuating temperatures, as the crystals made from methanol monohydrate posses the rare ability to shrink when heated and expand when compressed.
"What we're interested in here is the arrangement of structural units in methanol monohydrate which cause [the crystals] to exhibit the weird elastic properties we observed," said Dominic Fortes, a planetary geologist at University College London.
Source:
cosmosmagazine.com
Related News Press |
News and information
Simulating magnetization in a Heisenberg quantum spin chain April 5th, 2024
NRL charters Navy’s quantum inertial navigation path to reduce drift April 5th, 2024
Discovery points path to flash-like memory for storing qubits: Rice find could hasten development of nonvolatile quantum memory April 5th, 2024
Possible Futures
Discovery points path to flash-like memory for storing qubits: Rice find could hasten development of nonvolatile quantum memory April 5th, 2024
With VECSELs towards the quantum internet Fraunhofer: IAF achieves record output power with VECSEL for quantum frequency converters April 5th, 2024
Academic/Education
Rice University launches Rice Synthetic Biology Institute to improve lives January 12th, 2024
Multi-institution, $4.6 million NSF grant to fund nanotechnology training September 9th, 2022
Discoveries
Chemical reactions can scramble quantum information as well as black holes April 5th, 2024
New micromaterial releases nanoparticles that selectively destroy cancer cells April 5th, 2024
Utilizing palladium for addressing contact issues of buried oxide thin film transistors April 5th, 2024
Materials/Metamaterials/Magnetoresistance
Nanoscale CL thermometry with lanthanide-doped heavy-metal oxide in TEM March 8th, 2024
Focused ion beam technology: A single tool for a wide range of applications January 12th, 2024
Announcements
NRL charters Navy’s quantum inertial navigation path to reduce drift April 5th, 2024
Discovery points path to flash-like memory for storing qubits: Rice find could hasten development of nonvolatile quantum memory April 5th, 2024
The latest news from around the world, FREE | ||
Premium Products | ||
Only the news you want to read!
Learn More |
||
Full-service, expert consulting
Learn More |
||