Imagine shining a flashlight into a material and watching the light bend backward—or in an entirely unexpected direction—as if defying the law of physics. This phenomenon, known as negative refraction ...

Researchers have found that adding just the right amount of disorder to the structure of certain materials can make them more than twice as resistant to cracking. Cut open a bone and you'll see a ...

SAN DIEGO, March 26, 2025 — Can you imagine a smartphone with a wooden touchscreen? Or a house with wooden windows? Probably not — unless you’ve heard of transparent wood. Made by modifying wood’s ...

In the natural world, many things come in mirror-image pairs. Your left and right hands are a perfect example—they look alike but can’t be perfectly superimposed. This idea, called chirality or ...

This slice of semi-transparent wood is made with natural materials and could be used in applications from wearable sensors to energy-efficient windows. SAN DIEGO, March 26, 2025 — Can you imagine a ...

Inspired by the material that makes up oyster and abalone shells, engineers have created a new cement composite that is 17 times more crack-resistant than standard cement and 19 times more able to ...

Materials scientists at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have developed a method for creating natural rubber that significantly increases its resistance to ...