Bioengineers have been exploring a unique phenomenon whereby randomly dispersed microparticles will self-assemble into a highly organized structure during flow through micro-scale channels. From ...

MIT engineers observed that a liquid crystal’s orderly microstructures will spontaneously assemble into large, twisted structures (pictured) when the liquid is made to slowly flow. Credit: ...

Blood may be thicker than water, but in a narrow enough tube, both liquids flow like treacle. This sluggish behaviour arises because, as you reduce the size of the channel, friction between the liquid ...

The destructive ability of bacteria to organize an infection or block pathways such as intestines, medical stents and wastewater pipes relies on communication with one another. New work from Princeton ...

Current drilling and fracturing methods can't extract oil and natural gas very well, recovering an estimated 5 percent of oil and 20 percent of gas from shale. That's partly due to a poor ...

(Nanowerk News) From atomic crystals to spiral galaxies, self-assembly is ubiquitous in nature. In biological processes, self-assembly at the molecular level is particularly prevalent. Phospholipids, ...

Hold your hands out in front of you, and no matter how you rotate them, it’s impossible to superimpose one over the other. Our hands are a perfect example of chirality — a geometric configuration by ...