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Archive for the 'Nano' Category

Novel silicon nanostructure extends battery life

Posted by Jim Lewis on May 15th, 2012

Templates made from polymer nanofibers enable the formation of long-lived silicon nanostructures that store ten times as much charge as do graphite battery terminals.

Drug-resistant cancer cells cannot resist plasmonic nanobubbles

Posted by Jim Lewis on May 13th, 2012

Nanoparticles targeted to cancer cells by antibodies cannot achieve enough specificity to kill drug-resistant cancer cells while sparing normal cells, but can achieve enough specificity to produce nanobubbles only in cancer cells, so the drug only enters cancer cells.

Foresight Institute on Singularity Hub (video)

Posted by Jim Lewis on May 12th, 2012

Recent interview touches on new Foresight programs and issues in nanotechnology development

Nanosponges to recover spilled oil (includes video)

Posted by Jim Lewis on May 7th, 2012

Doping carbon nanotubes with boron while they are being formed produces a novel molecular architecture formed by boron induced kinks and linkages. These nanosponges can be used repeatedly to absorb and retrieve or burn spilled oil.

Will piezoelectric graphene provide options for nanoscale manipulation?

Posted by Jim Lewis on April 25th, 2012

Calculations using density functional theory have demonstrated that graphene can be made piezoelectric by adsorbing atoms or molecules on one surface, or by adsorbing different atoms or molecules on each surface.

Gold nanostars shuttled to cancer cell nucleus to release drug

Posted by Jim Lewis on April 24th, 2012

Gold nanostars targeted to a protein over-expressed in most cancer cells are shuttled by that protein directly to the cancer cell nucleus where illumination with a laser light releases a drug that deforms the nucleus and kills the cell.

Mounting graphene on boron nitride improves its electronic properties

Posted by Jim Lewis on April 21st, 2012

Creating a superlattice by placing graphene on boron nitride may allow control of electron motion in graphene and make graphene electronics practical.

Nanoparticles reduce tumors in clinical trial

Posted by Jim Lewis on April 17th, 2012

Clinical trials in patients with advanced or metastatic tumors using targeted nanoparticles to deliver a standard chemotherapeutic drug showed tumor shrinkage, even in the case of cancers for which that drug is not normally effective.

Fast nanoscale 3D-printing (link to video)

Posted by Jim Lewis on April 12th, 2012

A new two-photon polymerization process enables fast printing of arbitrarily complex three dimensional objects with 100-nanometer resolution.

Nano for younger kids

Posted by Jim Lewis on April 6th, 2012

Nanotechnology outreach and education in Latin America, a buckyball toy, and a Swiss nanotechnology education kit featuring a Lego + laser model of an atomic force microscope

Adding to the toolbox for making complex molecular machines

Posted by Jim Lewis on April 4th, 2012

A set of rationally engineered transcriptional regulators for yeast will make it easier to build complex molecular machine systems in yeast, some of which may become useful additions to pathway technologies for atomically precise manufacturing and productive nanosystems.

Nanotechnology-based sensor does rapid reads of single DNA molecule

Posted by Jim Lewis on April 1st, 2012

A combination of a molecular motor protein and a nanopore protein has been harnessed for rapidly sequencing single DNA molecules.

Nanostructured adhesive can hold up to 700 pounds on glass

Posted by Jim Lewis on March 31st, 2012

A hand-sized adhesive inspired by the skin and tendon morphology of a gecko provides an easily reversible force capable of holding 700 pounds on a glass surface.

Nanotechnology regrows blood vessels after ischemic damage

Posted by Jim Lewis on March 26th, 2012

In a rat model of ischemic damage, nanoparticle delivery of a growth factor and a coreceptor promotes regrowth of damaged blood vessels in seven days.

Faster, less expensive medical diagnostics through nanotechnology

Posted by Jim Lewis on March 23rd, 2012

New protein repellent coating enhances the speed of carbon nanotube-based biosensors, pointing the way to faster, cheaper medical diagnostics.

Carbon Nanotubes Help Renewable Energy Industry by Improving Wind Turbine Durability

Posted by Jim Lewis on March 16th, 2012

Composites made with small amounts of multi-walled carbon nanotubes improve wind turbine blades by reducing mass while retaining strength.

DNA nanotechnology-based nanorobot delivers cell suicide message to cancer cells

Posted by Jim Lewis on March 8th, 2012

Functioning DNA nanorobots to deliver specific molecular signals to cells were designed by combining DNA origami, DNA aptamers, and DNA logic gates.

Nanotechnology, digital fabrication, and innovation at TED

Posted by Jim Lewis on March 2nd, 2012

A talk at TEDxBerkeley includes nanotechnology among the options for digital fabrication, one of five new rules of innovation.

Novel RNA structural motifs expand tool kit for RNA nanotechnology

Posted by Jim Lewis on February 26th, 2012

New computational methods to explore the rapidly expanding collection of high resolution three-dimensional RNA structures reveal new RNA structural motifs, identifying additional building blocks for complex RNA nanostructures.

Machine learning may improve molecular design for nanotechnology

Posted by Jim Lewis on February 22nd, 2012

A set of machine learning programs can now predict properties of small organic molecules as accurately as can calculations based upon the Schrödinger equation, but in milliseconds rather than hours.