EurekAlert! InContext Modules

Public Release: 31-Jan-2013
Solar power: Is it time for the big push?
There are great expectations for solar power in the coming years. But what's needed now for a big push, and can science break barriers in research and industry?

Public Release: 31-Jan-2013

ACS Nano
Nanomaterials key to developing stronger artificial hearts
On January 30, 2013 ACS Nano published a study by Ali Khademhosseini, PhD, MASc, a researcher in the division of biomedical engineering at Brigham and Women's Hospital, detailing the creation of innovative cardiac patches that utilize nanotechnology to enhance the conductivity of materials to induce cardiac tissue formation. Creation of these ultra-thin cardiac patches put medicine a step closer to durable, high-functioning artificial tissues that could be used to repair damaged hearts and other organs.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 31-Jan-2013

Nucleic Acids Research
Discovery in synthetic biology takes us a step closer to new 'industrial revolution'
Scientists report that they have developed a method that cuts down the time it takes to make new 'parts' for microscopic biological factories from two days to only six hours.

Public Release: 31-Jan-2013

Journal of the American Chemical Society
A possible answer for protection against chemical/biological agents, fuel leaks, and coffee stains
A recent discovery funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research may very well lead to a process that not only benefits every uniformed service member of the Department of Defense, but everyone else as well: protection from Chemical/Biological agents, to self-cleaning apparel, to effortless thermal management, to fuel purification as well as enhanced control of leaks -- especially oil and fuels.

Air Force Office of Scientific Research

Public Release: 30-Jan-2013
New semiconductor research may extend integrated circuit battery life tenfold
Researchers at Rochester Institute of Technology, international semiconductor consortium SEMATECH and Texas State University have demonstrated that use of new methods and materials for building integrated circuits can reduce power--extending battery life to 10 times longer for mobile applications compared to conventional transistors.

Public Release: 30-Jan-2013

Journal of the American Chemical Society
A new genre of 'intelligent' micro- and nanomotors
Enzymes, workhorse molecules of life that underpin almost every biological process, may have a new role as "intelligent" micro- and nanomotors with applications in medicine, engineering and other fields. That's the topic of a report in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, showing that single molecules of common enzymes can generate enough force to cause movement in specific directions.

Public Release: 30-Jan-2013

Nature Nanotechnology
Penn research shows mechanism behind wear at the atomic scale
s surfaces rub against one another, they break down and lose their original shape. With less material to start with and functionality that often depends critically on shape and surface structure, wear affects nanoscale objects more strongly than it does their macroscale counterparts. Now, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have experimentally demonstrated one of the mechanisms behind wear at the smallest scale: the transfer of material, atom by atom, from one surface to another.

National Science Foundation/Nanomanufacturing Program, University of Pennsylvania/NanoBio Interface Center

Public Release: 30-Jan-2013

Nature
3D microchip created
Scientists from the University of Cambridge have created, for the first time, a new type of microchip which allows information to travel in three dimensions. Currently, microchips can only pass digital information in a very limited way - from either left to right or front to back. The research was published today, Jan. 31, in Nature.

Public Release: 30-Jan-2013

Nature
NTU research embraces laser and sparks cool affair
With the latest discovery by scientists from Nanyang Technological University, current cooling systems which uses refrigerant harmful to the ozone layer could be replaced by a revolutionary cooling system using lasers.

Public Release: 29-Jan-2013
Anna Balazs announced as 2013 Mines Medalist
Anna Balazs, Ph.D., has been named 2013 Mines Medalist by the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology. It will be the fifth anniversary of the award honoring those who help to ensure the United States' global preeminence in engineering and science.

Public Release: 29-Jan-2013

Angewandte Chemie International Edition
Beer's bitter compounds could help brew new medicines
Researchers using a century-old technique have determined the precise configuration of substances from hops that give beer its distinctive flavor. That could lead to formulation of new pharmaceuticals to treat diabetes, some cancers and other ailments.

KinDex Therapeutics

Public Release: 29-Jan-2013

Nature Photonics
New options for transparent contact electrodes
Found in flat screens, solar modules, or in new organic light-emitting diode (LED) displays, transparent electrodes have become ubiquitous. Typically, they consist of metal oxides like In2O3, SnO2, ZnO and TiO2.

Public Release: 29-Jan-2013
NTU launches new centre to develop new eye-deas for occular therapeutics
For glaucoma patients, taking daily medication will soon become a thing of the past. Instead, with Nanyang Technological University's newest solution, a simple, quick and painless injection four times a year would be enough.

Public Release: 28-Jan-2013

Industrial Biotechnology
Innovative uses of nanotechnology in food and agriculture
The US Department of Agriculture invests nearly $10 million a year to support about 250 nanoscale science and engineering projects that could lead to revolutionary advances in agriculture and food systems.

Public Release: 28-Jan-2013

Physical Review Letters
1 in, 2 out: Simulating more efficient solar cells
Using an exotic form of silicon could substantially improve the efficiency of solar cells, according to computer simulations by researchers at UC Davis and in Hungary. The work was published Jan. 25 in the journal Physical Review Letters.

National Science Foundation

Public Release: 28-Jan-2013

Science
A new material for environmentally friendlier electronics
Some materials, which have very important electrical properties in electronics, could be replaced by a new organic compound whose processing is simple, economical and respectful of the environment. The discovery has been published in Science magazine and features among its authors two SISSA researchers.

Public Release: 27-Jan-2013

Nature Materials
ASU scientists unravel the mysteries of spider silk
Scientists at Arizona State University are celebrating their recent success on the path to understanding what makes the fiber that spiders spin – weight for weight - at least five times as strong as piano wire. They have found a way to obtain a wide variety of elastic properties of the silk of several intact spiders' webs using a sophisticated but non–invasive laser light scattering technique.

DOD, National Science Foundation

Public Release: 27-Jan-2013

Nature Nanotechnology
Rice technique points toward 2-D devices
Rice scientists have created a process to make patterns in atom-thick layers that combine a conductor -- graphene -- and an insulator -- hexagonal boron nitride. The process may lead to new possibilities for two-dimensional electronics.

National Science Foundation, USARO, ONR, Welch Foundation, US Department of Energy