Easily digestible tech news... http://www.techdirt.com/ en-us http://www.techdirt.com/images/td-88x31.gifhttp://www.techdirt.com/ Tue, 29 Jan 2013 17:00:00 PST Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101101/09530411670/dailydirt-like-water-off-ducks-back.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101101/09530411670/dailydirt-like-water-off-ducks-back.shtml

A superhydrophobic coating called NeverWet can make a variety of materials extremely water resistent -- preventing things like ice buildup, corrosion and biofilm formation. As a demo, coating an iPhone with this stuff allowed it to be submerged for 30 minutes and still work... [url]

Bio-inspired materials can be omniphobic -- repelling both oil and water. Plants do it. Maybe educated fleas humans can, too. [url]

Ceramic materials that repel water could form more durable hydrophobic coatings. Rare earth oxides aren't so rare, and they could potentially create some pretty cool superhydrophobic surfaces. [url]

A recently-created superomniphobic surface coating repels almost any liquid except chlorofluorocarbons. Non-Newtonian liquids also seem to "bounce" off this stuff -- which hasn't been seen before. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post.

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]]> urls-we-dig-up http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20101101/09530411670 Tue, 20 Mar 2012 17:00:00 PDT Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100323/1034538680/dailydirt-spiders-man.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100323/1034538680/dailydirt-spiders-man.shtml

Japanese researchers have used spider silk as violin strings. This is what it sounds like when doves flies cry.... [url]

Surprisingly, certain spider silk is an excellent conductor of heat -- better than silicon, aluminum or iron -- and becomes more conductive as it stretches. Silk threads from "golden silk orbweavers" could teach us more about thermal conductivity and have applications in heat sinks or textile fiber technology. [url]

It took a million spiders to produce enough silk to make an 11'x4' rug. It also took 70 people four years to collect all that silk. [url]

To discover more interesting biological curiosities, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]  

By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

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]]> urls-we-dig-up http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20100323/1034538680 Wed, 8 Feb 2012 17:00:00 PST Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100202/0321468004/dailydirt-age-super-lightweight-stuff.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100202/0321468004/dailydirt-age-super-lightweight-stuff.shtml

A metallic lattice is the current record-holder for being the lightest solid material -- beating out aerogels and low-density foams. This material is made up of hollow struts (up to 500-microns wide, made from a nickel-phosphorous alloy) that form a 3D lattice that looks like tiny scaffolding. [url]

Aerogels used to be the lowest-density solid material for many decades, and it has several practical applications. Aerogels generally have very low thermal conductivities, so they can be useful for anything from cryogenic insulation to insulating shoe insoles. [url]

Common metals, like steel, contain metal grains that can move along grain boundaries, but these boundaries can be made immobile by adding defects such as small particles. Nanometals are made with really small grain boundary defects -- which can create super strong materials that are also lightweight. Material scientists are constantly working on making metal alloys and composites to further understand how these nanostructures can be created. [url]

To discover more interesting science-related stuff, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]  

By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

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