MRI

By Ty Tkacik

By Ty Tkacik

Despite the prevalence of synthetic materials across different industries and scientific fields, most are developed to serve a limited set of functions. To address this inflexibility, researchers at Penn State, led by Hongtao Sun, assistant professor of industrial and manufacturing engineering (IME), have developed a fabrication method that can print multifunctional “smart synthetic skin” — configurable materials that can be used to encrypt or decrypt information, enable adaptive camouflage, power soft robotics and more.

By Sam Sholtis

Oil-in-water droplets respond to chemical cues by forming arm-like extensions that resemble filopodia, which are used by living cells to sense and explore their environment. A research team led by chemists at Penn State studies the droplets to glimpse how matter may have transitioned to life billions of years ago. The researchers dissected the mechanism through which these arms form and showed that they respond directionally, growing toward or away from specific chemicals.