A team of researchers has developed a new technique to open the blood-brain barrier temporarily to deliver medication to the brain. Getting medication past the brain's unique and protective blood vessels, known as the blood-brain barrier, is one of the biggest challenges in treating brain and central nervous system diseases, according to researchers. The technique uses light and nanoparticles to pry open temporarily these barriers -- called tight junctions -- to allow medication to reach its target.

Nanoscale machinery has many uses, including drug delivery, single-atom transistor technology, or memory storage. However, the machinery must be assembled at the nanoscale which is a considerable challenge for researchers.

Researchers extend single-atom electron spin resonance with STM from atoms to molecules, opening the power of synthetic chemistry to engineer their quantum states.

Researchers have developed a silicon coating that, when applied to the surface of a glass lens, can counteract the effects of dispersion.

Researchers have developed a sustainable, plastic-free glitter for use in the cosmetics industry -- and it's made from the cellulose found in plants, fruits, vegetables, and wood pulp.

Nanoparticles are omnipresent in our environment: Viruses in ambient air, proteins in the body, as building blocks of new materials for electronics, or in surface coatings. Visualizing these smallest particles is a problem: They are so small that they can hardly be seen under an optical microscope. Researchers have now developed a sensor that not only detects nanoparticles, but also determines their condition and tracks their movements in space.

The amount of stress a material can withstand before it cracks is critical information when designing aircraft, spacecraft, and other structures. Aerospace engineers used machine learning for the first time to predict stress in copper at the atomic scale.

Mechanical engineers have devised a technique of 'crystal capillary origami' where salt crystals spontaneously encapsulate liquid droplets. The process offers a new method of nanostructure encapsulation for applications in food industries, drug delivery and even medical devices.

An international team of scientists has launched a new paradigm in magnetism and superconductivity, putting effects of curvature, topology, and 3D geometry into the spotlight of next-decade research.

The potential of DNA structural properties in single-molecule electronics has finally been harnessed by researchers in a single-molecule junction device that shows spontaneous self-restoring ability. Additionally, the device, based on a 'zipper' DNA configuration, shows unconventionally high electrical conductivity, opening doors to the development of novel nanoelectronic devices.

An international team has detected an unusual ferromagnetic property in a two-dimensional system, known as 'easy-plane anisotropy.' This could foster new energy efficient information technologies based on spintronics for data storage, among other things.

Physicists have made an advancement in the study of excitons -- electrically neutral quasiparticles that exist in insulators, semi-conductors and some liquids. The researchers are announcing the creation of an 'excitonic' wire, or one-dimensional channel for excitons. This in turn could result in innovative devices that could one day replace certain tasks that are now performed by standard transistor technology.

Cracked phone screens could become a thing of the past thanks to breakthrough research The researchers have unlocked the technology to produce next-generation composite glass for lighting LEDs and smartphone, television and computer screens. The findings will enable the manufacture of glass screens that are not only unbreakable but also deliver crystal clear image quality.

Researchers describe a new high-speed laser writing method for writing data that encompasses two optical dimensions plus three spatial dimensions. The new approach can write at speeds of 1,000,000 voxels per second, which is equivalent to recording about 230 kilobytes of data (more than 100 pages of text) per second.

Oil and water do not mix, but what happens where oil and water meet? Or where air meets liquid? Unique reactions occur at these interfaces, which a team of researchers based in Japan used to develop the first successful construction of uniform, electrically conductive nanosheets needed for next-generation sensors and energy production technologies.

Chemical reactions can be studied at different levels: At the level of individual atoms and molecules, new compounds can be designed. At the level of tiny particles on the nano and micrometer scale, one can understand how catalyst materials influence chemical reactions. Now it is possible to connect all levels from the microscopic to the macroscopic level in order to describe a technologically important chemical reaction under realistic conditions.

Some people are born with hearing loss, while others acquire it with age, infections or long-term noise exposures. In many instances, the tiny hairs in the inner ear's cochlea that allow the brain to recognize electrical pulses as sound are damaged. As a step toward an advanced artificial cochlea, researchers report a conductive membrane, which translated sound waves into matching electrical signals when implanted inside a model ear, without requiring external power.

Space missions, such as NASA's Orion that will take astronauts to Mars, are pushing the limits of human exploration. But during their transit, spacecrafts encounter a continuous stream of damaging cosmic radiation, which can harm or even destroy onboard electronics. To extend future missions, researchers show that transistors and circuits with carbon nanotubes can be configured to maintain their electrical properties and memory after being bombarded by high amounts of radiation.

Researchers have created an innovative hybrid printing method -- combining multi-material aerosol jet printing and extrusion printing -- that integrates both functional and structural materials into a single streamlined printing platform.

Engineers have developed smart material technology that, with the flip of a switch, can alternate between harvesting heat from sunlight and allowing an object to cool. The window-like device has no moving parts and could be a boon for HVAC savings, potentially cutting energy usage by nearly 20% in the United States alone.