Flexible televisions, tablets and phones as well as ‘truly wearable’ smart tech are a step closer thanks to a nanoscale transistor created by researchers at The University of Manchester and Shandong University in China. The international team has developed an ultrafast, nanoscale transistor – known as a thin film transistor, or TFT, - made out of an oxide semiconductor. The TFT is the first oxide-semiconductor based transis...

Researchers at The University of Manchester are using computer simulations of chimpanzees to improve not only our understanding of how the animals walk, but also the technology we use to do it. The research, being published by the Royal Society Open Science Journal, shows how simple changes to ‘machine learning’ algorithms can produce better looking, more accurate computer-generated animal simulations.

Scientists have successfully produced human kidney tissue within a living organism which is able to produce urine, a first for medical science. The study led by Professors Sue Kimber and Adrian Woolf from The University of Manchester, signifies a significant milestone in the development of treatment for kidney disease. The Medical Research Council and Kidney Research UK funded project is published in the journal Stem Cell Reports.

The rapid development of wearable technology has received another boost from a new development using graphene for printed electronic devices. New research from The University of Manchester has demonstrated flexible battery-like devices printed directly on to textiles using a simple screen-printing technique. The current hurdle with wearable technology is how to power devices without the need for cumbersome battery packs.

A considerable amount of attention has been attracted by graphene-oxide membranes as there are some promising candidates for new filtration technologies. Developments have been achieved in which membranes are capable of sieving common salts, a procedure that has been desired for a while. The new research demonstrates a real potential of providing clean drinking water for the millions of people who don’t have the access to adequate clean wat...

  Scientists from The University of Manchester working on a revolutionary telescope project have harnessed the power of distributed computing from the UK's GridPP collaboration to tackle one of the Universe's biggest mysteries – the nature of dark matter and dark energy.

An enterprising researcher from The University of Manchester has developed a prototype tool that could help transform the lives of the blind and visually impaired. Vasileios Tsormpatzoudis has upgraded the white cane - which has been used as a mobility tool for centuries – by adding a low-cost embedded computer that functions in a similar way to a car parking sensor.

Following a decade of intensive research into graphene and two-dimensional materials a semiconductor material shows potential for the future of super-fast electronics. The new semiconductor named Indium Selenide (InSe) is only a few atoms thick, similarly to graphene. The research was reported in Nature Nanotechnology by researchers of The University of Manchester and their colleagues at The University of Nottingham.

Scientists at The University of Manchester have discovered a method of creating optoelectronic circuits using graphene and other 2D materials that are much smaller than their current counterparts. Optoelectronics, the technology that uses pulses of light rather than traditional electrical signals, is vital for telecommunication networks. Modulators are important in optoelectronic circuits as they control the signals passed through optoe...

A group of scientists from The University of Manchester, the National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) and the UK's synchrotron science facility, Diamond Light Source, has completed research into radioactively contaminated material to gain further understanding around the issue, crucial for the safe and more efficient completion of future decommissioning projects.

New methodology for assessing the effect of space weather on radio signals in the ionosphere has been published in the journal Radio Science.

  The Human Brain Project, which launched a range of prototype computer platforms to support brain research (including one based at The University of Manchester), has just received an €89 million boost from the European Commission.

Cardiovascular diseases account for around 30% of adult deaths in the 30−70 year age group, which is greater than the combined deaths from all types of cancer. The ability to diagnose cardiac disease is therefore of utmost concern to doctors. When someone has a heart attack, certain chemicals are released into their bloodstream in elevated amounts, and blood tests are therefore the key to diagnosis.

Scientists operating research aircraft over West Africa have detected organic materials in the atmosphere over a number of urban areas, contributing to concerns of the rise in pollution across the region. The EU-funded Dynamics Aerosols Clouds and Climate in West Africa (DACCIWA) project has, for the first time, investigated the impacts of natural and manmade emissions on the West African atmosphere.

Small balloons made from one-atom-thick material graphene can withstand enormous pressures, much higher than those at the bottom of the deepest ocean, scientists at the University of Manchester report. This is due to graphene's incredible strength - 200 times stronger than steel. The graphene balloons routinely form when placing graphene on flat substrates and are usually considered a nuisance and therefore ignored.

Among the unusual properties of graphene, one of the most exciting and least understood is the additional degree of freedom experienced by electrons. It is called the pseudospin and it determines the probability to find electrons on neighbouring carbon atoms. The possibility to control this degree of freedom would allow for new types of experiments, but potentially also enable to use it for electronic applications.

Extremely thin stacks of 2D materials, which could deliver applications fine-tuned to the demands of industry, are set to revolutionise the world in the same way that graphene will. Writing in Science, leading 2D materials researchers estimate that research on combining materials of just a few atomic layers in stacks called heterostructures is at the same stage that graphene was 10 years ago, and can expect the same rapid progress graphene h...

A graphene hydraulic 'nano-press' has proved to be capable of creating two-dimensional materials by exerting huge pressure on compounds sealed between layers of graphene. Graphene, the world's first two-dimensional material, has a property to add to its superlative repertoire. Research has shown that sealing molecules between two atomically thin sheets of graphene creates extreme pressure upon the molecules to modify their state, converting them ...

A group of scientists at the University of Manchester has developed the first chemically powered autonomous molecular nanomotor—the motor mechanism is itself a transport medium that is capable of moving between fuel stops. In their paper published in the journal Nature, the team outlines the process involved in developing the motor, how well it works, applications to which it could be applied and their plans for changing it to be more effic...

A graphene-based electrical nano-device has been created which could substantially increase the energy efficiency of fossil fuel-powered cars. The nano-device, known as a 'ballistic rectifier', is able to convert heat which would otherwise be wasted from the car exhaust and engine body into a useable electrical current. Parts of car exhausts can reach temperatures of 600 degrees Celsius. The recovered energy can then be used to power additional a...