Author archives: BCMaterials

Image of BCMaterials

BCMaterials, Basque Center on Materials, Applications and Nanostructures, is an autonomous research center launched in June 2012 by Ikerbasque, the Basque Foundation for Science, and the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). It is included in the BERC’s (Basque Excellence Research Centers) network and its mission is to develop high-quality interdisciplinary research in (multi)functional and active materials with advanced properties, from their basic understanding, to exploring new applications.

From protein design to materials design

From protein design to materials design

ChemistryMaterials

By BCMaterials

A key feature that makes natural materials highly sustainable and recyclable is their modularity. Biodegradable materials are such because biological organisms can digest and break their constituting chemicals into simpler building blocks. Often such simpler building blocks are then reused for energy or structural purposes. In other words, nature needs materials that can be broken […]

Next generation refrigeration technologies

Next generation refrigeration technologies

Materials

By BCMaterials

Human activities impact significantly on the environment we live. The human society has been experiencing extreme weather conditions frequently that indicate a systematic climate shift. Almost every place in the world has set records of extreme temperatures. This trend of extreme weather has been warned by scientists to be possibly a result of excessive human […]

Electroactive microenvironments as a major driver of cell behavior

Electroactive microenvironments as a major driver of cell behavior

Materials

By BCMaterials

“ There is something at work in my soul, which I do not understand.” ― Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851), Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus, 1818 Increasing advances in material’s science have enabled the design and production of materials capable of inducing specific cell behaviors, such as proliferation, migration or differentiation. Consequently, we are now able […]

Neutron sciences as an essential tool to develop ‘materials for a better life’

Neutron sciences as an essential tool to develop ‘materials for a better life’

Materials

By BCMaterials

Until 1932, atoms were considered to consist in positive charges, called protons, located within the atomic nucleus, where the majority of the mass of the atom is concentrated, and negative charges, identified as electrons, surrounding the nucleus to make it electrically neutral. However, in 1932 James Chadwick discovered the neutron, an uncharged particle located at […]