Both inventors of centuries past and scientists of today have found ingenious ways to make our lives better with magnets—from the magnetic needle on a compass to magnetic data storage devices and even MRI body scan machines.

All of these technologies rely on magnets made from solid materials. But what if you could make a magnetic device out of liquids?

Using a modified 3D printer, a team of scientists at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have done just that. Their findings, which were published earlier this week in the journal Science , could lead to a revolutionary class of printable liquid devices for a variety of applications—including artificial cells that deliver targeted cancer therapies. This means that by applying an external magnetic field, scientists can control liquid devices made this way, “like waving Harry Potter’s wand.” “We’ve made a new material that is both […]

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