In the not-too-distant future, we may see wound dressings that default to absorbing bodily fluids, while also releasing medication on demand. The same material could allow robots to cool themselves by ...

If you want to fly under the radar, you could do with a sheet of this material. Using a series of liquid-metal absorbers, the new film can soak up radar in order to cloak whatever it happens to be ...

Super absorbent polymers (SAPs) have quietly become one of the most influential material innovations of the modern era. Known for their extraordinary ability to absorb and retain large amounts of ...

Corn sweat happens when plants absorb liquid water from the ground, then release it from the leaves as water vapor into the atmosphere. The official term is "evapotranspiration." Just one acre of corn ...

When it comes to kitchen spills, paper towels and rags do the job. But using a hydrogel—a gelatin-like material in the form of a dry sheet—researchers have crafted a better picker-upper that absorbs ...