New ways to strengthen biomimetic spider-silk

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have found that spiders have a special trick to make their silk strong, by using a natural biocompatible molecular enhancer. By using the same secret the researchers are able to create ...

Hacking DNA to make next-gen semiconductor materials

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, Columbia University, and Stony Brook University have developed a universal method for producing a wide variety of designed metallic and semiconductor ...

Tiny networks intertwine to mimic design of bird colors

The bright plumage of birds is often a feast for the eyes, but it has been a headache for scientists who have struggled to recreate the photonic nanostructures that generate those colors in the lab.

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Self-assembly

Self-assembly is a term used to describe processes in which a disordered system of pre-existing components forms an organized structure or pattern as a consequence of specific, local interactions among the components themselves, without external direction.

Self-assembly can be classified as either static or dynamic. In static self-assembly, the ordered state forms as a system approaches equilibrium, reducing its free energy. However in dynamic self-assembly, patterns of pre-existing components organized by specific local interactions are not commonly described as "self-assembled" by scientists in the associated disciplines. These structures are better described as "self-organized".

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