A team of scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has developed a prototype device that mimics natural photosynthesis to produce ethylene gas using only sunlight, water and carbon dioxide. The novel method, which produces ethylene at room temperature and pressure using benign chemicals, could be scaled up to provide a more eco-friendly and sustainable alternative to the current method of ethylene production.

It's not easy to bounce a single particle of light off a single atom that is less than a billionth of a metre wide. However, researchers at the Centre for Quantum Technologies at the National University of Singapore have shown they can double the odds of success, an innovation that might be useful in quantum computing and metrology. The findings were published in Nature Communications.

  Advancement in nanoelectronics, which is the use of nanotechnology in electronic components, has been fueled by the ever-increasing need to shrink the size of electronic devices in a bid to produce smaller, faster and smarter gadgets such as computers, memory storage devices, displays and medical diagnostic tools.

As implantable devices continue to shrink, the race is on for similarly-sized reliable power sources. Current state-of-the art implantables often depend on chunky batteries that suffer from limited lifetimes, with a typical pacemaker battery lasting around eight years. While some techniques have successfully harvested power from biological processes such as heart beats or from body heat, most devices require significantly more energy.

A research team from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has successfully pushed the frontier of polymer technology further by creating novel 2D graphene-like polymer sheets. "In the last century, scientists have successfully developed molecules which can be crosslinked to form one-dimensional and three-dimensional polymers. These are used to produce a wide range of technological products.

Quantum replicants of responsive systems can be more efficient than classical models, say researchers from the Centre for Quantum Technologies in Singapore, because classical models have to store more past information than is necessary to simulate the future. They have published their findings in npj Quantum Information. The word 'replicant' evokes thoughts of a sci-fi world where society has replaced common creatures with artificial ma...

Associate Professor Yang Hyunsoo from the National University of Singapore led a research team to successfully embed a powerful magnetic memory chip on a flexible plastic material. This malleable memory chip hails a breakthrough in the flexible electronics revolution, and brings researchers a step closer towards making flexible, wearable electronics a reality in the near future.

Researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the University of Strathclyde, UK, have become the first to test in orbit technology for satellite-based quantum network nodes. They have put a compact device carrying components used in quantum communication and computing into orbit. And it works: the team report first data in a paper published in the journal Physical Review Applied.

A team of researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has invented a novel camouflage technique that effectively hides thermal and electronic sensors without compromising performance. Led by Assistant Professor Qiu Cheng-Wei from the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at NUS Faculty of Engineering, the team created the world's first multifunctional camouflage shell that renders sensors invisible in both thermal an...

A team of researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have found a way to make personalised medicine cheaper and easier. Imagine if you could combine the myriad of pills you need to take for your ailment in just one tablet; or if you need only to take the medication once a day and the drug will be slowly released throughout the day at different rates to treat your illness; or if doctors could easily make tablets on the spot that a...

A team of food scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has successfully formulated a recipe for making healthier bread by adding a natural plant pigment, called anthocyanin, extracted from black rice. This new bread option gets digested at a slower rate – hence improving blood glucose control – and is high in antioxidants, among other health benefits.

A research team from the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Faculty of Engineering has achieved a world’s first by successfully converting paper waste into green cellulose aerogels that are non-toxic, ultralight, flexible, extremely strong and water repellent. This novel material is ideal for applications such as oil spill cleaning, heat insulation as well as packaging, and it can potentially be used as coating materials for dru...

The growing demand for potable water calls for low energy and cost effective methods for water purification. Inspired by the natural water purification systems of the roots of the mangrove plant and the human kidney, a team of researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) Environmental Research Institute (NERI) has engineered a novel biomimetic membrane that can purify water at low pressure, thus reducing energy costs. This new tech...

A team of scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS) Faculty of Engineering has developed a wearable liquid-based microfluidic tactile sensor that is small, thin, highly flexible and durable. Simple and cost-effective to produce, this novel device is very suitable for applications such as soft robotics, wearable consumer electronics, smart medical prosthetic devices, as well as real-time healthcare monitoring.