A crystal’s surface has been found to behave as a distinct material that has temperature-dependent electrical polarization — despite the rest of the crystal being non-polar. Conventional piezo- and ...

Our bodies are alive with electrical signals that allow us to contract muscles and sense the world. The complex brain orchestrates these processes, but it turns out that even simpler biological ...

(Nanowerk Spotlight) For decades, researchers have sought to understand and harness the pyroelectric effect in biological materials. Pyroelectricity refers to the phenomenon where heating or cooling a ...

IN 314 BC the Greek philosopher Theophrastus noticed something unusual: when he heated a black crystalline rock called tourmaline, it would suddenly attract ash and bits of straw. He had observed what ...