Latest Jack Douglas Stories

Manufacturers who design new materials often struggle to understand viscous liquids at a molecular scale. Many substances including polymers and biological materials change upon cooling from a watery state at elevated temperatures to a tar-like consistency at intermediate temperatures, then become a solid "glass" similar to hard candy at lower temperatures. Scientists have long sought a molecular-level description of this theoretically mysterious, yet common, "glass...

Better predictions of how many valuable materials behave under stress could be on the way from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), where scientists have recently found evidence* of an important similarity between the behavior of polycrystalline materials"”such as metals and ceramics"”and glasses.Most metals and ceramics used in manufacturing are polycrystals. The steel in a bridge girder is formed from innumerable tiny metal crystals that grew together in a...

For centuries, people have preserved fruit by mixing it with sugar, making thick jams that last for months without spoiling. Now scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have discovered* a fundamental property of mixture behavior that might help extend the life of many things including vaccines, food and library books"”and save money while doing it. In addition to jams, sugars are often used to preserve pharmaceuticals and similar biological materials....