(Press-News.org) Fast facts:
Weaving is one of the oldest crafts known to humankind, with the earliest textiles dating back to about 5,000 years ago.
Organic crystals, long thought to be stiff and brittle, are now known to have extraordinary elastic properties, revealing an unexplored new direction in materials science.
Abu Dhabi, UAE, November 28, 2023: Applying simple, ancient weaving techniques to newly recognized properties of organic crystals, researchers with the Smart Materials Lab (SML) and the Center for Smart Engineering Materials (CSEM) at NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) have, for the first time, developed a unique form of woven “textile.” These new fabric patches expand one-dimensional crystals into flexible, integrated, two-dimensional planar structures that are incredibly strong – some 20 times stronger than the original crystals – and resistant to low temperatures.
These traits give them a host of exciting potential applications, including in flexible electronics that range from sensing devices to optical arrays, as well as in the extreme conditions such as low temperatures encountered in space exploration. In the paper titled Woven Organic Crystals published in the journal Nature Communications, Panče Naumov, NYUAD Professor of Chemistry and Director of the CSEM, and colleagues from Jilin University demonstrate that organic crystal can be simply woven into flexible and robust patches with plain, twill, and satin textures.
Because the organic crystals are inherently flexible materials, the researchers found that the patches are not only light in weight, but also robust to mechanical impact. They are more than 15 times more resilient to failure compared to the individual crystals, reflecting the enhanced collective action in response to bending or other impacts on these entangled structural elements.
The researchers also report that the thermal stability of the new “crystalline fabric” is another impressive asset of the flexible crystals. While the thermal stability depends on the actual crystals used in the weaving, crystalline patches of some of these crystals remain flexible over a temperature range of about 350 oC, between –196 and 150 oC, which is superior to many polymers or elastomers that normally become brittle below their glass transition temperature.
The new fabric remains optically transmissive, providing the opportunity to construct networks of optical waveguides that can perform logic operations by selective laser excitation of the component crystals. As a demonstration of that characteristic, the researchers report optical arrays of the woven crystals that can perform simple logic functions.
When organic crystals have the appropriate aspect ratio, they can be exceedingly mechanically compliant, and either bent, curled or twisted. This counter-intuitive flexibility of organic crystals is likely rooted in their weak intermolecular interactions which can sustain large stress without fracture.
“For thousands of years, weaving has been used to produce a range of textiles that are flexible, yet stronger than their component materials, resistant to abrasion and wear, and remarkably durable,” said Dr. Naumov. “Until recently, organic crystals were considered to be stiff and brittle; however, the realization that they can have extraordinary elastic properties has changed that paradigm, not only adding a new facet to their unique set of properties but also revealing an unexplored new direction in materials science. Our new concept of using crystals as the basis for a woven fabric opens up an exciting range of opportunities to combine these woven crystals with other materials for an untold number of technological applications.”
About NYU Abu Dhabi
www.nyuad.nyu.edu
NYU Abu Dhabi is the first comprehensive liberal arts and research campus in the Middle East to be operated abroad by a major American research university. NYU Abu Dhabi has integrated a highly selective program with majors in the sciences, engineering, social sciences, arts, and humanities with a world center for advanced research. Its campus enables students to succeed in an increasingly interdependent world, and to advance cooperation and progress on humanity’s shared challenges. NYU Abu Dhabi’s high-achieving students have come from some 125 countries and speak over 100 languages. Together, NYU's campuses in New York, Abu Dhabi, and Shanghai form the backbone of a unique global university, giving faculty and students opportunities to experience varied learning environments and immersion in other cultures at one or more of the numerous study-abroad sites NYU maintains on six continents.
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(MEMPHIS, Tenn. – November 28, 2023) Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital comprehensively identified genes directly regulated by a protein associated with high-risk pediatric leukemias. High-risk leukemias, particularly MLL-rearranged (MLL-r) leukemia, often overexpress the homeodomain transcription factor HOXA9 protein, which cannot currently be targeted with drugs. This study provides a foundation for revealing the HOXA9 regulation network and finding novel drug targets downstream of HOXA9 that can form the basis of new treatments. The findings were published today in Nature Communications.
HOXA9 ...
The link between human rights and climate change adaptation policy has not been a major source of discussion in national policies, according to a new Concordia-led study. Moreover, the researchers say the topic should play a bigger role in the upcoming COP28 conference, opening this week in Dubai.
The paper was published in the journal Climate Policy. Assistant professor in Concordia’s Department of Geography, Planning and Environment Alexandra Lesnikowski co-authored the study with researchers from McGill University’s Faculty ...
A new study published in Nutrients illustrates how potatoes may play a beneficial role in encouraging school aged children to eat more vegetables. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans currently recommends children ages 3-18 consume between 2.5-3 cups of vegetables per day to meet their total vegetable goals. Yet, the average school-age child eats only about 1 cup daily. “That’s why we wanted to learn more about how school meal offerings may influence kids’ eating behavior and possibly encourage greater vegetable consumption,” explains principal ...
LA JOLLA (November 28, 2023)—Each year in the United States there are more than 3 million cases of peripheral neuropathy, wherein nerves outside of the brain and spinal cord are damaged and cause pain and loss of feeling in the affected areas. Peripheral neuropathy can occur from diabetes, injury, genetically inherited disease, infection, and more. Salk scientists have now uncovered in mice a mechanism for repairing damaged nerves during peripheral neuropathy. They discovered that the protein Mitf helps turn on the repair function of specialized nervous system Schwann cells.
The findings, published in Cell Reports ...
Heart disease kills 18 million people each year, but the development of new therapies faces a bottleneck: no physiological model of the entire human heart exists – so far. A new multi-chamber organoid that mirrors the heart’s intricate structure enables scientists to advance screening platforms for drug development, toxicology studies, and understanding heart development. The new findings, using heart organoid models developed by Sasha Mendjan’s group at the Institute of Molecular ...
About The Study: The findings of this study of 33.1 million visits to 989 U.S. hospitals suggest that Black and Hispanic patients are more likely to receive care in hospitals with higher overall discharge against medical advice (DAMA) rates, suggesting interventions should address medical segregation. Structural racism may contribute to emergency department DAMA disparities via unequal allocation of health care resources in hospitals that disproportionately treat racial and ethnic minoritized groups. Monitoring variation in DAMA by race and ethnicity and hospital suggests ...
About The Study: Direct-mail human papillomavirus (HPV) self-sampling increased cervical cancer screening by more than 14% in individuals who were due or overdue for cervical cancer screening in this randomized clinical trial of 31,000 individuals. The opt-in approach minimally increased screening. To increase screening adherence, systems implementing HPV self-sampling should prioritize direct-mail outreach for individuals who are due or overdue for screening. For individuals with unknown screening history, ...
Scientists are warning that apparently stable glaciers in the Antarctic can “switch very rapidly” and lose large quantities of ice as a result of warmer oceans.
Their finding comes after a research team led by Benjamin Wallis, a glaciologist at the University of Leeds, used satellites to track the Cadman Glacier, which drains into Beascochea Bay, on the west Antarctic peninsula.
Between November 2018 and May 2021, the glacier retreated eight kilometres as the ice shelf at the end ...
CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Living cells are bombarded with many kinds of incoming molecular signal that influence their behavior. Being able to measure those signals and how cells respond to them through downstream molecular signaling networks could help scientists learn much more about how cells work, including what happens as they age or become diseased.
Right now, this kind of comprehensive study is not possible because current techniques for imaging cells are limited to just a handful of different molecule types within a cell at one time. However, MIT researchers have developed ...
Key takeaways
· A paradigm shift in trauma care: The circulation-airway-breathing (CAB) sequence has gained acceptance over the past decade over the airway-breathing-circulation (ABC) model for patients with severe bleeding injuries.
· Better outcomes: A literature review found significantly lower mortality rates with CAB vs. ABC for patients with severe bleeding injuries.
CHICAGO (November 28, 2023): For trauma patients suffering from massive blood loss, a care approach that emphasizes halting bleeding and restoring ...
