Lighting a gas grill, getting an ultrasound, using an ultrasonic toothbrush—these actions involve the use of materials that can translate an electric voltage into a change in shape and vice versa.

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have fabricated a device no wider than a human hair that will help physicists investigate the fundamental nature of matter and light. Their findings, published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, could also support the development of more efficient lasers, which are used in fields ranging from medicine to manufacturing.

Splash a few drops of water on a hot pan and if the pan is hot enough, the water will sizzle and the droplets of water seem to roll and float, hovering above the surface.

Bioenergy sorghum is an important resource for the production of biofuels and bioproducts and a critical component of a sustainable agricultural future. Researchers have been working hard to make this tall, drought-tolerant plant even more productive and resilient to harsh environmental conditions. But those efforts are hampered by a lack of knowledge about the inner working of plant cells, which prevents scientists from giving the proper genetic instructions to modify its key traits—including oil production.

Using the National Astronomical Observatory (OAN) in Mexico, astronomers have observed an open cluster known as NGC 1513. Results of the observations, presented in a paper published May 16 on the pre-print server arXiv, yield crucial information regarding the properties of this cluster.

Scientists at the University of Nottingham have developed a technique to analyze the atomic-level structure of RNA molecules with exceptional precision and speed, and are the first in the world to use the method to examine structural changes in RNA when a cell gets infected with HIV.

A collaboration between researchers at Imperial College London and GNS Science, suggests that reducing plastic pollution by 5% per year would stabilize the level of microplastics—plastics less than 5 mm in length—in the surface oceans.

A team of paleontologists from Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales Bernardino Rivadavia, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas and The Chinese University of Hong Kong, has identified a new species of abelisauroid dinosaur. They have named it Koleken inakayali.

Researchers discovered that microscopic liquid droplets swim toward solvent conditions that favor their dissolution. This mechanism may underlie some transport processes within living cells, and could be exploited to develop fluid micro robots.

Artificial intelligence software has been developed to rapidly analyze animal behavior so that behaviors can be more precisely linked to the activity of individual brain circuits and neurons, researchers in Seattle report.