Smart Foam…

Topics: Biology, Biotechnology, Materials Science, Polymer Science, Robotics SINGAPORE, July 6 (Reuters) – Singapore researchers have developed a smart foam material that allows robots to sense nearby objects, and repairs itself when damaged, just like human skin. Artificially innervated foam, or AiFoam, is a highly elastic polymer created by mixing fluoropolymer with a compound thatContinue reading “Smart Foam…”

Our Flexible Molecule…

Topics: Biology, DNA, Physics, Polymer Science, Research DNA molecules are not fixed objects – they are constantly getting broken up and glued back together to adopt new shapes. Davide Michieletto explains how this process can be harnessed to create a new generation of “topologically active” materials. Call me naïve, but until a few years ago I hadContinue reading “Our Flexible Molecule…”

3D Hydrogel Polymers…

Topics: Chemistry, Materials Science, Polymer Science AbstractHydrogel-polymer hybrids have been widely used for various applications such as biomedical devices and flexible electronics. However, the current technologies constrain the geometries of hydrogel-polymer hybrid to laminates consisting of hydrogel with silicone rubbers. This greatly limits functionality and performance of hydrogel-polymer–based devices and machines. Here, we report aContinue reading “3D Hydrogel Polymers…”