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News is circulating about a novel method for 3D printing liquid metals that was developed by researchers working at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Self-Assembly Lab. The invention can print furniture-sized components using molten aluminum and a ceramic nozzle graphite printer... View full entry
On a plot of land rented from a rural village on the Malaysian side of the island of Borneo, the group has proved it at small scale. Every six to 12 months, a farmer shaves off one foot of growth from these nickel-hyper-accumulating plants and either burns or squeezes the metal out. After a short purification, farmers could hold in their hands roughly 500 pounds of nickel citrate, potentially worth thousands of dollars on international markets. — The New York Times
A thought-provoking report from Ian Morse of The New York Times highlights a burgeoning approach for harvesting necessary (and toxic) metals like nickel from soil through "hyper-accumulating" plants. Morse checks in researchers from the University of Melbourne who are farming... View full entry
[Researchers at Tsinghua University] discovered that an applied electrical current causes the gallium alloy to drastically alter its shape. Changing the voltage applied to the metal allowed it to 'shape-shift' into different formations. When the current was switched off, the metal returned to its original drop shape. [...]
they realized that bringing it into contact with a flake of aluminum caused a reaction creating hydrogen bubbles that allowed it to move of its own accord.
— reuters.com
The metal alloy in question is made mostly of gallium, which is liquid at <30 degrees Celsius. Researchers think that the material could have profound implications for medical science, in particular the delivery of drugs into the blood stream. Professor Liu Jing, leader of the research team at... View full entry
