In 314 BC the Greek philosopher Theophrastus noticed something unusual: when he heated a black crystalline rock called tourmaline, it would suddenly attract ash and bits of straw. He had observed what ...

Our bodies are alive with electrical signals that allow us to contract muscles and sense the world. The complex brain orchestrates these processes, but it turns out that even simpler biological ...

(Nanowerk Spotlight) For decades, researchers have sought to understand and harness the pyroelectric effect in biological materials. Pyroelectricity refers to the phenomenon where heating or cooling a ...

Many useful bulk properties of solid materials such as piezoelectricity and pyroelectricity are manifested when a material is highly ordered and lacks a center of symmetry. Achieving this level of ...

Some crystalline materials generate an external electric current in response to a temperature change — a 'pyroelectric' effect. This can be exploited in temperature sensors, such as for alarm devices, ...