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Archive for the ‘nanotechnology’ category: Page 190

Mar 5, 2018

Modified, 3D-printable alloy shows promise for flexible electronics, soft robots

Posted by in categories: 3D printing, engineering, nanotechnology, robotics/AI

Researchers in Oregon State University’s College of Engineering have taken a key step toward the rapid manufacture of flexible computer screens and other stretchable electronic devices, including soft robots.

The advance by a team within the college’s Collaborative Robotics and Intelligent Systems Institute paves the way toward the 3D printing of tall, complicated structures with a highly conductive gallium alloy.

Researchers put nickel nanoparticles into the , galinstan, to thicken it into a paste with a consistency suitable for .

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Mar 2, 2018

Can Earth be hacked by aliens? Scientists say messages from space could destroy life as we know it

Posted by in categories: alien life, military, nanotechnology, robotics/AI

The researchers also suggested that aliens could “gift” us with an artificial intelligence (AI) system that may trick humans into developing self-replicating nanobots and eventually deploy them to wreak havoc on our planet. The researchers argue that it would be cheaper for aliens to “send a malicious message to eradicate humans compared to sending battleships”.

In one scenario, the researchers argued that a message from aliens could be a panic-inducing statement like “We will make your sun go supernova tomorrow”. According to the researchers, if such a threatening message is received in just one location, it may be possible to contain and even destroy it. “If it is received repeatedly, perhaps even by amateurs, containment is impossible,” the researchers wrote in a paper available online on arXiv.

In another scenario, the scientists argue that humans could be tricked into begetting their own demise by aliens offering the “gift” of knowledge. For instance, aliens could transmit a message that reads: “We are friends. The galactic library is attached. It is in the form of an artificial intelligence (AI) which quickly learns your language and will answer your questions. You may execute the code following these instructions…”

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Feb 26, 2018

New technique allows printing of flexible, stretchable silver nanowire circuits

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, cyborgs, health, nanotechnology, wearables

Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a new technique that allows them to print circuits on flexible, stretchable substrates using silver nanowires. The advance makes it possible to integrate the material into a wide array of electronic devices.

Silver nanowires have drawn significant interest in recent years for use in many applications, ranging from prosthetic devices to wearable health sensors, due to their flexibility, stretchability and conductive properties. While proof-of-concept experiments have been promising, there have been significant challenges to printing highly integrated using silver nanowires.

Silver nanoparticles can be used to print circuits, but the nanoparticles produce circuits that are more brittle and less conductive than silver nanowires. But conventional techniques for printing circuits don’t work well with silver nanowires; the nanowires often clog the printing nozzles.

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Feb 26, 2018

Cancer-fighting nanorobots programmed to seek and destroy tumors

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, nanotechnology

In a major advancement in nanomedicine, Arizona State University (ASU) scientists, in collaboration with researchers from the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology (NCNST), of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, have successfully programmed nanorobots to shrink tumors by cutting off their blood supply.

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Feb 25, 2018

New ‘Metasurface’ Technology Can Turn Light Upside-Down

Posted by in category: nanotechnology

A new hyperbolic metasurface could completely change nanotechnology.

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Feb 24, 2018

Tiny Light-Activated Gold-Covered Nanowires Can Make Neurons Fire

Posted by in categories: genetics, nanotechnology, neuroscience, solar power, sustainability

Researchers at the University of Chicago have developed light-activated nanowires that can stimulate neurons to fire when they are exposed to light. The researchers hope that the nanowires could help in understanding complex brain circuitry, and they may also be useful in treating brain disorders.

Optogenetics, which involves genetically modifying neurons so that they are sensitive to a light stimulus, has attracted a lot of attention as a research tool and potential therapeutic approach. However, some researchers have misgivings about optogenetics, as it involves inserting a gene into cells, potentially opening the door to unforeseen effects and possibly permanently altering treated cells.

In an effort to develop an alternative, a research team at the University of Chicago has devised a new modality that can enable light activation of neurons without the need for genetic modification. Their technique involves nanowires that are so small that if they were laid side-by-side, hundreds of them would fit on the edge of a sheet of paper. Although initially designed for use in solar cells, their small size also makes them well suited to interacting with cells.

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Feb 20, 2018

Add-on clip turns smartphone into fully operational microscope

Posted by in categories: 3D printing, biotech/medical, mobile phones, nanotechnology

Australian researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale BioPhotonics (CNBP) have developed a 3D printable ‘clip-on’ that can turn any smartphone into a fully functional microscope.

Reported in the research journal Scientific Reports, the smartphone microscope is powerful enough to visualise specimens as small as 1/200th of a millimetre, including microscopic organisms, animal and plant cells, blood cells, cell nuclei and more.

The clip-on technology is unique in that it requires no external power or light source to work yet offers high-powered microscopic performance in a robust and mobile handheld package.

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Feb 19, 2018

In living color: Brightly-colored bacteria could be used to ‘grow’ paints and coatings

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, genetics, nanotechnology

Researchers have unlocked the genetic code behind some of the brightest and most vibrant colours in nature. The paper, published in the journal PNAS, is the first study of the genetics of structural colour — as seen in butterfly wings and peacock feathers — and paves the way for genetic research in a variety of structurally coloured organisms.

The study is a collaboration between the University of Cambridge and Dutch company Hoekmine BV and shows how genetics can change the colour, and appearance, of certain types of brightly-coloured . The results open up the possibility of harvesting these bacteria for the large-scale manufacturing of nanostructured materials: biodegradable, non-toxic paints could be ‘grown’ and not made, for example.

Flavobacterium is a type of bacteria that packs together in colonies that produce striking metallic colours, which come not from pigments, but from their internal structure, which reflects light at certain wavelengths. Scientists are still puzzled as to how these intricate structures are genetically engineered by nature, however.

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Feb 15, 2018

Graphene film makes dirty water drinkable in a single step

Posted by in categories: materials, nanotechnology

Every year, millions of people around the world die from drinking unclean water. Now, researchers have developed a process that can purify water, no matter how dirty it is, in a single step. Scientists from Australian research organization CSIRO have created a filtration technique using a graphene film with microscopic nano-channels that lets water pass through, but stops pollutants. The process, called “Graphair”, is so effective that water samples from Sydney Harbor were safe to drink after being treated.

And while the film hails from graphene, Graphair is comparatively cheaper, faster and more environmentally-friendly to make, as its primary component is renewable soybean oil, which also helps maximise the efficiency of the purifying technique’s filter counterpart. Over time, oil-based pollutants can impede water filters, so contaminants have to be removed before filtering can even begin, but using Graphair removes these pollutants faster than any other method.

Water purification usually involves a complex process of several steps, so this breakthrough could have a significant impact on the some 2.1 billion people who don’t have clean, safe drinking water. “All that’s needed is heat, our graphene, a membrane filter and a small water pump. We’re hoping to commence field trials in a developing world community next year,” said lead author Dr Dong Han Seo, who added that the team is looking for industry partners to help scale up the technology, and is also working on other applications for Graphair, such as seawater and industrial effluents.

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Feb 14, 2018

Four Ways We Can “Swallow the Doctor” (Nanodocs, the medical nanorobots)

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, nanotechnology, robotics/AI

Summary: Nanodocs are medical nanorobots that work from inside like a tiny doctor. The authors of a recent research study say we may be able to swallow the doctor sooner than we think. Once considered science fiction, the ability to “swallow the surgeon” – using medical nanobots to diagnose and treat disease from inside the body – is becoming a reality. The study authors highlight recent advances in nanotechnology tools, such as nanodrillers, microgrippers, and microbullets – and show how nanodocs have tremendous potential in the areas of precision surgery, detection, detoxification and targeted drug delivery. [Cover photo: The old way to swallow the surgeon. Credit: R. Collin Johnson / Attributed to Stanford University.]

Imagine that you need to repair a defective heart valve, a major surgery. Instead of ripping your chest cut open, a doctor merely injects you with a syringe full of medical nanorobots, called nanodocs for short. You emerge from the ‘surgery’ unscathed, and your only external wound is the puncture hole from the injection.

According to a recent study published by nanorobotic engineers at the University of California San Diego (UCSD), the concept of ‘swallow the doctor’ may be closer to reality than we think.

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