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The result of a combined three-dimensional ToF-SIMS-/SFM surface analysis of a PCBM/CyI-polymer blend used by Empa's Functional Polymers Laboratory to produce organic solar cells.

Using a new process the team working with Professor Dr. Armin Gölzhäuser has produced twelve different nanomembranes. The three images were made using the Bielefeld Helium Ion Microscope and show nanomembranes made from various starting materials.

Scientific testing that doesn’t rely on animals will be needed to cope with the wave of new nanomaterials emerging from nanoscience and nanotechnology booms.

From more than 40 countries and 30 U.S. states, people around the world shared more than 1,400 images of themselves as part of the Wave at Saturn event organized by NASA's Cassini mission. That event on July 19, 2013, marked the day the Cassini spacecraft turned back toward Earth to take our picture as part of a larger mosaic of the Saturn system.

Schematic diagram illustrating the concept of a prevascularized hydrogel. The adjacent fibers could be used to pattern other cell types around the vessels.

World Wildlife Fund (WWF) issued the following statement from Keya Chatterjee, director of renewable energy and footprint outreach, about Global Footprint Network announcement that humanity has exhausted Earth’s resource budget for the year.

Changes in Australia's mass as reported by data from NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites from June 2010 to February 2011. Areas in greens and blues depict the greatest increases in mass, caused by excessive precipitation. The contour lines represent various land surface elevations. A new study co-authored and co-funded by NASA finds extensive flooding in Australia, combined with the continent's soils and unique topography, were the biggest contributors to the drop in global sea level observed in 2010 and 2011.

The global shift towards making research findings available free of charge for readers—so-called 'open access'—was confirmed in a study funded by the European Commission. This new research suggests that open access is reaching the tipping point, with around 50% of scientific papers published in 2011 now available for free. This is about twice the level estimated in previous studies, explained by a refined methodology and a wider definition of open access. The study also estimates that more than 40% of scientific peer reviewed articles published worldwide between 2004 and 2011 are now available online in open access form. The study looks at the EU and some neighbouring countries, as well as Brazil, Canada, Japan and United States of America.

A new three-in-one optical element can control light’s amplitude, phase, and polarization through a wedding of old-fashioned holograms and state-of-the-art nanoscale features.