Materials Science

The ancients were able to devise a mix for concrete that actually gets stronger over time thanks to chemical reactions. If only we could rediscover the recipe...

ByLaurie L. Dove

Once upon a time, food was used for one thing: eating. Today, it has a much more complicated role. And one of those roles might be serving as an upstart in the world of plastics.

ByJonathan Atteberry

Wouldn't it be cool to blow past that swimmer in the next lane who always leaves you eating her watery dust? Could a bathing suit help you do it?

BySusan L. Nasr

Steam technology powered the Industrial Revolution, transformed the global shipping industry and revolutionized modern warfare. But how do steam engines actually harness the power of steam?

ByRobert Lamb&Yara Simón

Welcome to the wonderful and weird world of nanowires. Scientists can adapt this incredibly thin material for a number of uses, whether as a fiber-optic nanowire or to build increasingly smaller microprocessors. They're even used in medical implants.

ByJonathan Strickland

Turning saltwater into tasty, drinkable H20 at desalination plants is probably the biggest-selling point of reverse osmosis, but let's back up a minute. What's osmosis, and why — and how — is reversing it useful to us?

ByKate Kershner

Engineers have gotten good at making very small things. We're already talking about building at the nanoscopic scale. Is it possible to build tiny machines that can move even tinier atoms?

ByJonathan Strickland

Nanotechnology is one of the hot buzzwords of the 21st century. You know that it has to do with things that are very small, but just what are the implications of technology on the molecular scale, anyway?

ByJonathan Strickland

如果人们可以创建纳米机器,他们可能会able to help fight diseases on the molecular level. They might even be able to replicate themselves. But what happens if that process gets out of hand?

ByJonathan Strickland

纳米技术是新的,没有人能确定what will come of it. Even so, predictions range from the ability to reproduce things like diamonds and food to the world being devoured by self-replicating nanorobots.

By Kevin Bonsor &Jonathan Strickland

For a process that simply bonds two pieces of metal, welding affects a lot of our world and some stuff that's out of this world, like the International Space Station. What's it like to man the torch?

ByJonathan Atteberry

Charles Goodyear was obsessed with this stretchy material, and we are, too. It's weatherproof, shockproof and entertaining, and it's found in more products than you can shoot a rubber band at.

ByCraig Freudenrich, Ph.D.

If you think asphalt is what hot tar roads are made of, you'd be wrong. Asphalt is only one ingredient in the recipe that makes up our roads. And it has a very long, very interesting history.

ByCarrie Whitney, Ph.D.

You think stainless steel is a strong metal. So would it surprise you to learn it can't hold an edge when it comes to your hair?

ByKristen Hall-Geisler

All steel is not the same, and Damascus steel has a reputation for being the best. But is today's Damascus steel the same as that forged centuries ago?

ByCarrie Whitney, Ph.D.

Crumpling is a physical process that occurs when a thin sheet is forced to adapt to a smaller space and is seen in everything from DNA packing in a cell nucleus to the formation of mountains.

ByPatrick J. Kiger

Glass ionomer cement is a kind of cement used in restorative dentistry. Learn what glass ionomer cement is in this article.

ByHowStuffWorks.com Contributors

Old books smell a lot like chocolate and coffee, thanks to certain chemical compounds.

ByShelley Danzy

If you give us a tunable polysiloxane-based material, 21st century Americans can’t resist going full-on Kardashian with it.

ByJesslyn Shields

Welding isn't the only way to make metals, like the ones on your aviator shades, meet up. Brazing can do the trick, too, with a little heat, some filler and some capillary action.

ByWilliam Harris

Just imagine the possibilities: a world free of gum walls and full of bartenders speeding drinks along the bar. But that's really just the tip of the (super-slick) iceberg.

ByWilliam Harris

This not-so-new material looks like a hologram and could play a valuable role in the future of insulation, electronics, oil spill cleanup and green energy. So why don't aerogels have the A-list name recognition they deserve?

ByHeather Quinlan

Versatile and efficient, electroluminescent (EL) wire is widely used by artists to illuminate clothing, bicycle spokes, turntables and even cars. But how does this cool product work with so little power and without a visible energy source?

ByJoanna Burgess

Researchers at Harvard University have developed a method of printing objects using the pressure of sound waves on even the most viscous liquids.

ByJerad W. Alexander

Researchers in China have developed a non-toxic "smart" wallpaper that won't burn and triggers an alarm when it gets hot.

ByLaurie L. Dove