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Molecules with attitude, ready to perform: Functioning nanostructures self-assemble out of ink

DOE/Sandia National Laboratories
Peer-Reviewed Publication

An intelligent ink, as it dries, self-assembles into nanscopic caves in which it interrogates gasses, fluids, light, or electric or magnetic fields passing through it. Because the ink can be printed easily and cheaply from ordinary inkjet printers or even written by lithographic pens, the achievement should be of practical importance for those wishing to directly write -- rather than mechanically construct -- sensor arrays and fluidic or photonic systems

Journal: Nature
Funder: DOD, DOE, Sandia Laboratory-Directed Research and Development

Possible outpatient relief for millions of older men: MD researcher develops improved technology to shrink enlarged prostate glands without surgery

DOE/Sandia National Laboratories
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Millions of older men who suffer from urinary obstruction and associated pain caused by an enlarged prostate gland could benefit from new treatment technology developed by a senior scientist MD .The method should have several advantages over existing ones -- it could be done on an outpatient basis,a single treatment should have long-lasting benefits (perhaps for the life of the BPH patient), and side effects should be almost nil from the minimally invasive technique

Funder: Laboratory-Directed Research and Development Office of Sandia National Laboratories

How to identify a new killer virus or West Nile fever: Epidemic outbreaks, biological attacks detectable by simple electronic reporting method

DOE/Sandia National Laboratories
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In a Hollywood-style biological attack, Bruce Willis or, perhaps, George Clooney would be expected to render a killer virus harmless in 90 minutes. Because happy endings in real life are less certain, a pilot program to help doctors identify and contain disease outbreaks has begun at Sandia Labs. The program, operational this summer, should quickly identify diseases terrorist in origin, and help doctors more quickly identify and treat natural outbreaks of disease.

Funder: US Department of Energy

Why, in Superbowl of statistical mechanics, famous players could never cross goal line: 3-D proof for Ising model impossible, researcher proves

DOE/Sandia National Laboratories
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The best-studied model in science to discuss a wide variety of changes in state (neural networking, protein folding, flocking birds, beating heart cells, questions of economics) is the Ising Model. The widely used model has been used in one, two and three dimensions, but only proven in one and two. Now a computational biologist has shown that the model's solution cannot be extended into 3-D, exact solutions can never be found, so the model may ultimately be incorrect.

Funder: US Department of Energy

Sandia attenuation technology may help resolve arsenic envirnomental crisis in Bangladesh

DOE/Sandia National Laboratories
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Technology developed at the Department of Energy's Sandia National Laboratories to remove toxin from groundwater contaminated by nuclear waste may offer cludes about how to resolve a catastrophic environmental crisis in Bangladesh where arsenic-polluted wells are slowly poisoning and killing hundreds of thousands of people.

'Smart scalpel' detects cancer cells in seconds

DOE/Sandia National Laboratories
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A "smart scalpel" mechanism to detect the presence of cancer cells as a surgeon cuts away a tumor obscured by blood, muscle and fat has been developed in prototype by Sandia scientists. The dime-sized device, called a biocavity laser, should help surgeons more accurately cut away malignant growths while minimizing the amount of healthy tissue removed. In effect, the patented device tells a surgeon when to stop cutting.

Funder: Sandia National Laboratories' Laboratory-Directed Research and Development, US Department of Energy
Meeting: American Physical Society Meeting

Sandia scientists study 'natural' alternative to cleaning up uranium-contaminated sites

DOE/Sandia National Laboratories
Peer-Reviewed Publication

An innovative "natural" alternative to cleaning up uranium- contaminated sites is being studied by scientists at the Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratories as a way to replace costly and sometimes ineffective traditional techniques.

New semiconductor alloy's 'crazy physics' makes it a possible photovoltaic power source for satellites

DOE/Sandia National Laboratories
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratories are researching ways to use a new semiconductor alloy, indium gallium arsenide nitride (InGaAsN), as a photovoltaic power source for space communications satellites and for lasers in fiber optics.

Not Cartier, but non-allergenic and long-lasting: World’s first diamond micromachines created at Sandia

DOE/Sandia National Laboratories
Peer-Reviewed Publication

You can't give them to your loved one on Valentine's Day, and they're a bit too small to be a girl's best friend, but Sandia National Laboratories has created what are believed to be the world's first diamond micromachines. The biocompatible machines are etched in a manner compatible with current silicon chip manufacturing techniques.

Funder: Sandia's Laboratory-Directed Research and Development Office

Human factors experts at Sandia take new approach to studying human failure in engineered systems

DOE/Sandia National Laboratories
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Taking a lesson from nuclear weapons surety, Chris Forsythe and Caren Wenner of the Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratories have come up with a new approach to studying how and why engineered systems fail due to the actions or inaction of humans.