Scientists in Germany have developed car windscreens that can de-ice in cold
weather without an inbuilt heating element. Bernd Szyszka of the Fraunhofer
Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films in Braunschweig put glass
sheets in a vacuum chamber with a plate made from a zinc-aluminium alloy.
Heating the alloy ejected metal atoms which embedded themselves in the glass
sheet. This makes the glass electrically conductive but still transparent. When
a current passes through the glass it heats it up, melting any frost.
To continue reading, today with our introductory offers
Advertisement
More from New Scientist
Explore the latest news, articles and features
Popular articles
Trending New Scientist articles
1
The world's fastest spider tops 3.5 metres per second
2
Babies are born with the neural foundations for maths
3
I’m the first person whose life was saved by CRISPR base editing
4
US government wants to have a useful quantum computer by 2028
5
Remote-controlled cockroach swarm can now breathe underwater
6
Where, when and how to watch the 2026 solar eclipse
7
We’ve uncovered a master gene that switches on human development
8
The race to understand how and when Thwaites glacier will collapse
9
Humans sleep the least of all apes – is it the secret to our success?
10
This physicist is hunting for the biggest black hole in the universe
