The Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) is the focus of Harvard's long tradition of interdisciplinary materials research. The Harvard MRSEC is funded by the National Science Foundation, and identifies new research areas to train and retain students in materials science and engineering.
Chemical and Engineering News reports on a recent paper in Science (2005, 308, 537): "A new microfluidics-based device made by physicist David A. Weitz and colleagues at Harvard University, and Unilever Corp. makes precisely controlled double emulsions in a single step (Science 2005, 308, 537).
Double emulsions—droplets inside droplets—could be useful for encapsulating products such as drugs, cosmetics, or food additives." See the complete details. MSNBC has created a related story that features a video of the bubbles in action. Read the story and watch the movie. Researcher Darren Link says there's a poetry to the physics behind the technique, "I think it's art," he says.
