polymers Archives

25 June 2026

Schematic illustration of the unconventional thermo-mechanical response of the DA equilibrium of humins and bismaleimide. Copyright: The authors. Published in Green Chem., 2026, 28, 6958 by The Royal Society of Chemistry 2026. This publication is licenced under CC BY-NC 3.0.

25 June 2026

New Value for Biorefinery Side Streams: Humins as Dynamic Polymer Network Precursors

Humins are a by-product of biomass processing that are typically regarded as low-value waste. Researchers at SoftComp partner KU Leuven in The Netherlands now demonstrate that these furan-rich materials can directly serve as... (Read more)

11 December 2025

Fig.1 Sketch of the damage mechanism. Copyright: Donghao Zhao. All right reserved.

11 December 2025

Why We Can Cut Rubber Easier Than We Tear It

Ever wonder why it's so much easier to cut a tough material like rubber or leather with a sharp knife than it is to rip or tear it with your hands? Researchers from... (Read more)

18 October 2022

Investigating protein solution dynamics using XPCS at an XFEL

Novel experiment opens up possibility of studying collective dynamics providing insight for better drug... (Read more)

11 March 2022

Figure 2: Membrane deformations induced by actin assembly. A membrane bilayer (pink) constituting an initially spherical liposome is deformed through the growth of a branched actin network (blue marks the colour of the end of actin filaments) at its surface. Spikes (inward) and tubes (outward) are formed during this process. Note that compared to the cell geometry, the geometry here is inside out, as the ingredients of the cytoskeleton are outside the liposome. Bar 5 μm. Copyright: Cécile Sykes, CNRS

11 March 2022

How Active Biopolymer Networks Shape the Cell Membrane

Experiments on active deformations of a cell membrane by an actin assembly may inspire new materials and approaches. Cécile Sykes from the Laboratoire de Physique de l‘Ecole Normale Supérieure reports on results raising... (Read more)