EurekAlert! InContext Modules

Public Release: 30-May-2013

Science
Scientists capture first images of molecules before and after reaction
Using atomic force microscopy, chemists for the first time can capture images of molecules before and after they react, which will allow them to better tune reactions to get the products they want. UC Berkeley chemist Felix Fischer and physicist Michael Crommie joined forces to develop the technique, which could help scientists study and improve catalytic reactions like those used widely in industry to make chemicals or crack oil.

Office of Naval Research, US Department of Energy, National Science Foundation

Public Release: 29-May-2013

Nature Communications
Stanford scientists develop high-efficiency zinc-air battery
Stanford University scientists have developed an advanced zinc-air battery with higher catalytic activity and durability than similar batteries made with costly platinum and iridium catalysts. The results could lead to the development of a low-cost alternative to conventional lithium-ion batteries widely used today, according to the researchers.

Intel, Stanford Global Climate and Energy Project, Stanford Precourt Institute for Energy

Public Release: 29-May-2013

Optical Materials Express
Charred micro-bunny sculpture shows promise of new material for 3-D shaping
Researchers in Japan used state-of-the-art micro-sculpting techniques on a new type of resin that can be molded into complex, highly conductive 3-D structures (in this case the famous "Stanford bunny") with features just a few micrometers across. The team says one of the most promising applications is 3-D microelectrodes that could interface with the brain.

Public Release: 29-May-2013
Flexible opals
A synthetic material which mimics the brightest and most vivid colours in nature, and changes colour when twisted or stretched, has been developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge, and could have important applications in the security, textile and sensing industries.

Public Release: 28-May-2013

Scientific Reports
Diamonds, nanotubes find common ground in graphene
What may be the ultimate heat sink is only possible because of yet another astounding capability of graphene. The one-atom-thick form of carbon can act as a go-between that allows vertically aligned carbon nanotubes to grow on nearly anything, including diamonds.

Honda Research Institute

Public Release: 28-May-2013

Advanced Materials
Shape-shifting nanoparticles flip from sphere to net in response to tumor signal
Tiny spherical particles float easily through the bloodstream after injection, then assemble into a durable scaffold within diseased tissue. An enzyme produced by a specific type of tumor can trigger the transformation of the spheres into netlike structures that accumulate at the site of a cancer.

National Institutes of Health, Army Research Office, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, Sloan Foundation

Public Release: 28-May-2013
University of Huddersfield awarded £93k award from the EPSRC
University of Huddersfield scientist Dr. Feng Gao has been awarded £93,668 for a research project to achieve new levels of efficiency and cost-saving for companies making advanced products using ultra-precise surfaces. This research will help to reduce the amount of material that is wasted due to imperfections.

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

Public Release: 24-May-2013

Physical Review B
How do cold ions slide?
One of the challenges faced by those who study friction is finding a connection between the phenomena observed within the macroworld and those in the nanoworld. The stick-slip, a phenomenon observed at every scale when two surfaces slide on one another, could be the starting point to identify such connection. The scientists at SISSA have studied such phenomenon through a system of "trapped cold ions."

Public Release: 23-May-2013

Science
Gold nanocrystal vibration captured on billion-frames-per-second film
A billon-frames-per-second film has captured the vibrations of gold nanocrystals in stunning detail for the first time.

Public Release: 22-May-2013

Advanced Functional Materials
Innovation could bring flexible solar cells, transistors, displays
Researchers have created a new type of transparent electrode that might find uses in solar cells, flexible displays for computers and consumer electronics and future "optoelectronic" circuits for sensors and information processing.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 22-May-2013

Journal of Controlled Release
Research offers promising new approach to treatment of lung cancer
Researchers have developed a new drug delivery system that allows inhalation of chemotherapeutic drugs to help treat lung cancer, and in laboratory and animal tests it appears to reduce the systemic damage done to other organs while significantly improving the treatment of lung tumors -- the tumors virtually disappeared.

NIH/National Cancer Institute, National Science Foundation, Department of Defense

Public Release: 22-May-2013

Scientific Reports
New technique may open up an era of atomic-scale semiconductor devices
Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a new technique for creating high-quality semiconductor thin films at the atomic scale -- meaning the films are only one atom thick. The technique can be used to create these thin films on a large scale, sufficient to coat wafers that are two inches wide, or larger.

US Army Research Office