CAMBRIDGE, MASS.--Plastics are excellent insulators, meaning they can efficiently trap heat - a quality that can be an advantage in something like a coffee cup sleeve. But this insulating property is ...

Plastics are excellent insulators, meaning they efficiently trap heat—a quality that is an advantage in something such as a coffee cup sleeve. But this insulating property is less desirable in ...

In a carefully controlled environment, physicists have managed to stabilize a rare and previously short-lived phase of matter by using a simple method of rapid heating and cooling. This breakthrough ...

Normally metals and insulators sit at opposite ends of a spectrum of conductivity, but researchers have discovered a material that can switch between those states freely, even at room temperature. The ...

Managing heat is a major challenge in electronics and engineering, and it’s controlled using materials that either conduct or insulate heat. A new material blurs that line by blocking heat in one ...

Polymers are used to develop various materials, such as plastics, nylons, and rubbers. In their most basic form, they are made up of many of identical molecules joined together over and over, like a ...

The need to integrate renewable energy resources, and prepare for increased demand for power as electrification takes hold in transportation and other sectors, creates challenges for an aging grid.

Conductors are materials that allow electric current to flow with minimal resistance and are essential for transmitting power and electrical signals in electronic devices. Most metals are good ...

Is your laptop or phone overheating? Newly engineered plastic could lead to self-cooling casings for common electronics. Plastics are excellent insulators, meaning they can efficiently trap heat -- a ...