EurekAlert! - Nanotechnology

From toxic dust and algae to ill winds from Africa

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(United States Geological Survey) Media tipsheet on USGS scientific presentations at SETAC conference, Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry.

Nanotube defects equal better energy and storage systems

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(University of California - San Diego) Most people would like to be able to charge their cell phones and other personal electronics quickly and not too often. A recent discovery made by UC San Diego engineers could lead to carbon nanotube-based supercapacitors that could do just this.

NIEHS awards Recovery Act funds to focus more research on health and safety of nanomaterials

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(NIH/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences) The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, part of the National Institutes of Health, is increasing its investment in understanding the potential health, safety and environmental issues related to tiny particles that are used in many everyday products such as sunscreens, cosmetics and electronics. The NIEHS will award about $13 million over a two-year period, through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, to bolster the NIEHS's ongoing research portfolio in the area of engineered nanomaterials.

UCLA researchers create 'fly paper' to capture circulating cancer cells

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(University of California - Los Angeles) Just as fly paper captures insects, an innovative new device with nano-sized features developed by researchers at UCLA is able to grab cancer cells in the blood that have broken off from a tumor. These cells, known as circulating tumor cells, or CTCs, can provide critical information for examining and diagnosing cancer metastasis, determining patient prognosis, and monitoring the effectiveness of therapies.

Small nanoparticles bring big improvement to medical imaging

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)) A joint research team, working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has discovered a method of using nanoparticles to illuminate the cellular interior to reveal the slow, complex processes taking place in a living cell.

'No muss, no fuss' miniaturized analysis for complex samples developed

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)) NIST researchers have created a novel and simple way to analyze samples that are complex mixtures -- such as whole milk, blood serum and dirt in solution -- by adapting a NIST-developed separation technique called gradient elution moving boundary electrophoresis.

Small optical force can budge nanoscale objects

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(Cornell University) With a bit of leverage, Cornell researchers have used a very tiny beam of light with as little as 1 milliwatt of power to move a silicon structure up to 12 nanometers. That's enough to completely switch the optical properties of the structure from opaque to transparent.

New study confirms exotic electric properties of graphene

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(Vanderbilt University) First, it was the soccer-ball-shaped molecules dubbed buckyballs. Then it was the cylindrically shaped nanotubes. Now, the hottest new material in physics and nanotechnology is graphene: a remarkably flat molecule made of carbon atoms arranged in hexagonal rings much like molecular chicken wire.

NJIT engineer discovers why particles disperse on liquids

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(New Jersey Institute of Technology) Even if you are not a cook, you might have wondered why a pinch of flour (or any small particles) thrown into a bowl of water will disperse in a dramatic fashion, radiating outward as if it was exploding. Pushpendra Singh, Ph.D., a mechanical engineering professor at NJIT who has studied and written about the phenomenon, has not only thought about it, but can explain why.

Monetary gain and high-risk tactics stimulate activity in the brain

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(Elsevier) Monetary gain stimulates activity in the brain. Even the mere possibility of receiving a reward is known to activate an area of the brain called the striatum.

Nanoparticles used in common household items caused genetic damage in mice

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(University of California - Los Angeles) Titanium dioxide nanoparticles, found in everything from cosmetics to sunscreen to paint to vitamins, caused systemic genetic damage in mice, according to a comprehensive study conducted by researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.

NJIT professor to speak about discovery to Physical Society

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

ASU research efforts to improve human health will get $3 million in federal stimulus grants

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(Arizona State University) Arizona State University has been awarded nearly $3 million in federal stimulus funds from the National Institutes of Health. ASU professors Stuart Lindsay and Paul Westerhoff will lead a pair of two-year, innovative projects designed to tackle challenges in the fields of rapid DNA sequencing and the potential health risks of nanotechnology.

Scientists guide immune cells with light and microparticles

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(Yale University) A team led by Yale University scientists has developed a new approach to studying how immune cells chase down bacteria in our bodies. They used holographic optical tweezers to guide "artificial bacteria" -- microparticles that mimic bacteria by giving off a chemical "scent," stimulating immune cells to respond. By controlling the chemical patterns produced, they were able to study how immune cells respond to and interact with these chemical signals.

NIST demonstrates 'universal' programmable quantum processor

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)) Physicists at the National Institute ofStandards and Technology have demonstrated thefirst "universal" programmable quantum informationprocessor able to run any program allowed by quantummechanics—the rules governing the submicroscopicworld -- using two quantum bits (qubits) of information. Theprocessor could be a module in a future quantumcomputer, which theoretically could solve some importantproblems that are intractable today.

Berkeley researchers take the lead out of piezoelectrics

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) By applying epitaxial strain to thin films of bismuth ferrite, Berkeley Lab researchers have produced a lead-free alternative to the current crop of piezoelectric materials.

Nanotech in space: Rensselaer experiment to weather the trials of orbit

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) Novel nanomaterials developed at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute are scheduled to blast off into orbit on Nov. 16 aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis. The project, funded by the US Air Force Multi University Research Initiative, seeks to test the performance of the new nanocomposites in orbit. The materials will be mounted to the International Space Station's outer hull and exposed to the rigors of space.

Invisibility visualized: German team unveils new software for rendering cloaked objects

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(Optical Society of America) Scientists and curiosity seekers who want to know what a partially or completely cloaked object would look like in real life can now get their wish -- virtually. A team of researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany has created a new visualization tool that can render a room containing such an object, showing the visual effects of such a cloaking mechanism and its imperfections.

LLNL licenses carbon nanotube technology to local company

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has exclusively licensed to Porifera Inc. of Hayward a carbon nanotube technology that can be used to desalinate water, and can be applied to other liquid based separations.

In touch with molecules

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(Kiel University) The performance of modern electronics increases steadily on a fast pace thanks to the ongoing miniaturization of the utilized components. However, severe problems arise due to quantum-mechanical phenomena when conventional structures are simply made smaller and reach the nanometer scale. Therefore current research focuses on the so-called bottom-up approach: the engineering of functional structures with the smallest possible building blocks -- single atoms and molecules.

Discoveries at NJIT including drug to stop brain injury receives $1.4M funding

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(New Jersey Institute of Technology) A drug to stop bleeding during a brain injury and a mattress that will prevent bedsores are among the scientific discoveries at NJIT that received earlier this week more than a million dollars in funding from the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology. The discoveries are the work of five early stage companies based at NJIT's Enterprise Development Center, the state's oldest business incubator program.

findNano app puts nanotech in your pocket

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies) The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies has developed findNano, an application for Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch that lets users discover and determine whether consumer products are nanotechnology-enabled. Nanotechnology, the emerging technology of using materials by engineering them at an incredibly small scale, has applications ranging from consumer electronics to improved drug delivery systems.

£4.9 million to develop metamaterials for 'invisibility cloaks' and 'perfect lenses'

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(Imperial College London) Research into designing and building unique "metamaterials" has received a £4.9 million funding boost from The Leverhulme Trust, it is announced today. Metamaterials can be used for invisibility "cloaking" devices, sensitive security sensors that can detect tiny quantities of dangerous substances, and flat lenses that can be used to image tiny objects much smaller than the wavelength of light.

Pushing light beyond its known limits

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(University of Adelaide) Scientists at the University of Adelaide have made a breakthrough that could change the world's thinking on what light is capable of.

New nano color sorters from Molecular Foundry

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) Berkeley Lab researchers at the Molecular Foundry have created bowtie-shaped antennae that function as the first tunable nano color sorters, able to capture, filter and steer light at the nanoscale.