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The realization of electrical sources of surface plasmon polaritons using complementary metal oxide semiconductor technology is a significant step towards silicon-compatible nanoscale photonic devices.
Experiments have shown that the physical characteristics of the matrix surrounding a stem cell can affect its behaviour. This picture gets further complicated by studies of stem cells and their differentiated counterparts that show that the cells' own softness also has a clear role in how they respond to stress.
Most crystalline materials expand when heated. Now, the packing arrangement of an organic dumbbell-shaped molecule is seen to bring about a large thermal contraction of its crystal lattice.
500 years after the first studies on friction, the concepts of superlubricity, wearless sliding and friction control are being realized in laboratories and have become predictable by adequate modelling. The challenge now is to bridge the gap between what is known about these processes on the microscopic and macroscopic scales.