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Archive for the ‘nanotechnology’ category: Page 235

Apr 5, 2016

Nano-technology patch could help manage diabetes, treat allergies

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, nanotechnology

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BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) – The number of people being diagnosed with diabetes is growing. Every third American adult will develop type 2 diabetes within the next 35 years. But there may be a new way to manage the illness.

A new device might make managing your insulin levels or even treating allergies virtually painless. We know Western New York is becoming a hub for nano-medicine. Now a local organization is on the front lines of whats called nano- patch technology.

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Apr 5, 2016

Say Goodbye to Washing Machines

Posted by in categories: materials, nanotechnology

New nanostructure material that self cleans. No more need for washing clothes and other fabrics.


A spot of sunshine is all it could take to get your washing done, thanks to pioneering nano research into self-cleaning textiles.

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Apr 4, 2016

Nanoparticles can grow in cubic shape

Posted by in categories: energy, nanotechnology

The efficiency of many applications deriving from natural sciences depends dramatically on a finite-size property of nanoparticles, so-called surface-to-volume ratio. The larger the surface of nanoparticles for the same volume is achieved, the more efficiently nanoparticles can interact with the surrounding substance. However, thermodynamic equilibrium forces nanostructures to minimize open surface driven by energy minimization principle. This basic principle predicts that the only shape of nanoparticles can be spherical or close-to-spherical ones.

Nature, however, does not always follow the simple principles. An intensive collaboration between University of Helsinki, Finland, and Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Japan, showed that in some condition iron nanoparticles can grow in cubic shape. The scientists also succeeded in disclosing the mechanisms behind this.

“Now we have a recipe how to synthesize cubic shapes with high surface-to-volume ratio which opens the door for practical applications”, says Dr. Flyura Djurabekova from the University of Helsinki.

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Mar 29, 2016

Could nanobots make your electronics last FOREVER?

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, nanotechnology, robotics/AI, wearables

Nanoengineers at the University of California San Diego have developed tiny molecular robots (pictured) that could help to extend the life of delicate circuits and wearable technology.

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Mar 29, 2016

New plasma printing technique can deposit nanomaterials on flexible, 3D substrates

Posted by in categories: computing, electronics, nanotechnology, wearables

A new nanomaterial printing method could make it both easier and cheaper to create devices such as wearable chemical and biological sensors, data storage and integrated circuits — even on flexible surfaces such as paper or cloth. The secret? Plamsa.

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Mar 29, 2016

Researchers Found a Way to Shrink a Supercomputer to the Size of a Laptop

Posted by in categories: energy, nanotechnology, supercomputing

Scientists at the University of Lund in Sweden have found a way to use “biological motors” for parallel computing. The findings could mean vastly more powerful and energy efficient computers in a decade’s time.

Nanotechnologists at Lund University in Sweden have discovered a way to miniaturize the processing power that is found today only in the largest and most unwieldy of supercomputers. Their findings, which were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, point the way to a future when our laptops and other personal, handheld computing devices pack the computational heft of a Cray Titan or IBM Blue Gene/Q.

But the solution may be a little surprising.

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Mar 29, 2016

Magic Microbes: The Navy’s Next Defense?

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, computing, materials, nanotechnology, neuroscience, robotics/AI

Synthetic biology involves creating or re-engineering microbes or other organisms to perform specific tasks, like fighting obesity, monitoring chemical threats or creating biofuels. Essentially, biologists program single-celled organisms like bacteria and yeast much the same way one would program and control a robot.

But 10 years ago, it was extremely challenging to take a DNA sequence designed on a computer and turn it into a polymer that could implement its task in a specific host, say a mouse or human cell. Now, thanks to a multitude of innovations across computing, engineering, biology and other fields, researchers can type out any DNA sequence they want, email it to a synthesis company, and receive their completed DNA construct in a week. You can build entire chromosomes and entire genomes of bacteria in this way.

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Mar 28, 2016

Nature-Inspired Nanotubes That Assemble Themselves, With Precision

Posted by in category: nanotechnology

Scientists discover a family of nature-inspired polymers that, when placed in water, spontaneously assemble into nanotubes.

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Mar 28, 2016

Silicon ‘nano-balls’ have wiped out metastatic breast cancer in mice

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

Despite all our advances in cancer research, our best strategy of fighting the disease is still brute force, with only a fraction of the drugs administered actually reaching the tumour cells, and most being absorbed into healthy tissue. When cancer spreads, the likelihood of medication reaching it gets even lower, which is why secondary, or metastatic, tumours can be so deadly.

But now, researchers have used cancer’s own tricks against it, by developing dissolvable nanoparticles that target the heart of metastatic tumours directly. And they’ve already seen unprecedented success in mouse studies, with 40–50 percent of the animals being “functionally cured”, and tumour-free after eight months — the equivalent of about 24 years for a human patient. The team is so excited by these results, they hope to fast-track the research and begin human trails in 2017.

“I would never want to overpromise to the thousands of cancer patients looking for a cure, but the data is astounding,” said one of the researchers, Mauro Ferrari, from the Houston Methodist Research Institute. “We’re talking about changing the landscape of curing metastatic disease, so it’s no longer a death sentence.”

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Mar 25, 2016

Thanks to NASA, We Can Now Use Plasma to Print Nanoelectronics

Posted by in category: nanotechnology

A team of researchers has developed a plasma-based, nozzle technique for printing nanomaterials. It’s cheaper and easier than previous methods, and means that soft, delicate substrates can now be nano-printed.

A new printing technique, developed by research teams from the NASA Ames Research Center and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, makes it possible to print miniature devices and nanoelectronics onto objects normally too delicate to survive the printing process.

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