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In nature, actin bundling is a key capability that enables cells to apply substantial forces to overcome obstacles. Similarly, in the design of actin-based materials, the ability to bundle semi-rigid filaments into bundles of higher rigidity is a key step toward building more complex architectures. For this reason, developing a toolbox for controlling bundling is an important goal of our IRG. The approaches we have developed for controlling the bundling of actin filaments on a microscopic level allow us to construct actin-based materials with tunable mechanical properties.

  •“Lewis dots” smartphone app showcased at the New York Technology Meetup, a special University-themed roundup in November 2011

LCMRC researchers have found an extraordinary nematic liquid crystal phase, a new entry in the most widely studied and widely applied class of liquid crystals. In the whole history of liquid crystals only four distinct nematic ground states have been found: the uniaxial, the biaxial, and, for chiral molecules, the helical nematic and blue phases.

A  principal  obstacle  to  widespread  applications  of  self-assembled network morphologies (NETs) of linear block polymers is access to only limited pore diameters and unit cell dimensions (typically

LCMRC researchers, motivated by a request from one of the Center's spin-off companies, have developed fisheye lens conoscopy, one of the most significant developments in the characterization of the birefringence of materials in the last 150 years. Its implementation

A new strategy has been introduced to exploit mechanical buckling for autonomic origami assembly of three-dimensional (3D) microstructures across a wide range of material classes, including soft polymers and brittle inorganic semiconductors, and length scales from nanometers to centimeters. The engineered folding creases are created through spatial variation of thickness in the initial two-dimensional structures.

Joanna Aizenberg and her colleagues at the Harvard MRSEC developed Hydroglyphics to use readily accessible and safe materials to visually demonstrate the differences between hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces to a broad audience. This hands-on learning activity has been effective at teaching both elementary school students and their parents.

This University of Pennsylvania program immerses students in hands-on materials research while incorporating a recently piloted initiative: training participants to become effective science communicators. While students spend 10 weeks conducting advanced research projects, they simultaneously develop crucial skills in translating complex scientific concepts for broader audiences, particularly younger students.

UT Austin researchers used polarization-dependent terahertz magnetospectroscopy to observe Zeeman splittings and diamagnetic shifts in a series of Pb1-xSnxTe films, which transition from a topologically trivial insulator to a topological crystalline insulator (TCI) phase as the Sn concentration increases beyond 0.32. This study demonstrates a substantial phonon magnetic moment films in the TCI phase exhibited phonon magnetic moment values significantly larger—by two orders of magnitude—than those in the topologically trivial sample.