Silk is an unlikely substitute for steel in any context, but for bone fractures, it may just be the perfect thing. A Swinburne researcher has developed a mix of cocoon silk fibres and biodegradable polymers that may one day hold bones together and help heal them from the inside out. Steel plates and bolts are often a surgeon's only tools for fixing fractured bones. The problem is that steel can block new bone cells from repairing the fr...

Researchers at Swinburne's Centre for Micro-Photonics are one step closer to producing commercially viable, chemical-free, long-lasting, safe batteries. Professor Baohua Jia and Dr Han Lin lead a team developing the Bolt Electricity Storage Technology (BEST) battery – a graphene oxide-based supercapacitor offering high performance and low-cost energy storage.

Swinburne University of Technology engineers have turned used coffee grounds into building materials for roads. Professor Arul Arulrajah, who leads the geotechnical group in the Centre for Sustainable Infrastructure, has been investigating the use of recycled materials, such as crushed brick or glass and concrete, for use in road construction.

A flat optical lens just a billionth of a metre thick will let us see living creatures as small as a single bacterium better than ever before. The new lens, developed by researchers at Swinburne University of Technology, promises to revolutionise much of the technology around us.