solvents that hold the key to green chemistry
Ionic liquids – fluid salts – date back more than a century, but it was not until the 1990s that these "super-solvents" revealed their potential for n...
the cheap computer set to revolutionise programming
The Raspberry Pi was born in response to fears about a decline in computer literacy. In 2006, Eben Upton and his colleagues at the University o...
3D printing with embryonic stem cells
A novel 3D printing technique has been used to arrange human embryonic stem cells, the parent cells of the 200 or more cell types i...
the thinnest material known, with a range of attractive properties
Drawing a line with a pencil produces many stacked sheets of graphene. Andre Geim (born 1958) and Konstantin Novoselov (born 197...
opening the door to new physics
On 4 July 2012, physicists at CERN announced the discovery of a particle consistent with the long-sought Higgs boson. The partic...
new hope for the blind
Thousands of people with failing eyesight have been given fresh hope of a treatment after gene therapy techniques have been successfully used. ...
air-breathing rocket engine
Developed by Alan Bond, Richard Varvill and John Scott-Scott of Reaction Engines over the last two decades, the Synergetic Air-Breathing Rocket...
a versatile, powered prosthetic hand
The Princess Margaret Rose Hospital in Edinburgh had been developing prosthetics for children affected by thalidomide since the 1960s. David Go...
semiconductors with extraordinary properties and many potential uses
Quantum dots are tiny particles of a semiconductor material (usually based on cadmium or zinc) ranging from 2 to 10 nanometres...
a new generation of materials with extraordinary properties
Metamaterials are artificially produced materials with properties not necessarily found in nature. They are composed of metals or plastics un...
for gadgets that are flexible, disposable and printable
Plastic electronics (also known as printed or organic electronics) is a technology that is predicted to change the way electronics are develope...
first probe to land in the outer Solar System
After a seven-year journey from Earth, on 14 January 2005 the Huygens spacecraft touched the surface of Saturn’s moon Titan.
The Ca...