Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: nanotechnology – Page 4

Quantum dots reveal entropy production, a key measure of nanoscale energy dissipation

In order to build the computers and devices of tomorrow, we have to understand how they use energy today. That’s harder than it sounds. Memory storage, information processing, and energy use in these technologies involve constant energy flow—systems never settle into thermodynamic balance. To complicate things further, one of the most precise ways to study these processes starts at the smallest scale: the quantum domain.

New Stanford research published in Nature Physics combines theory, experimentation, and machine learning to quantify energy costs during a non-equilibrium process with ultrahigh sensitivity. Researchers used extremely small nanocrystals called quantum dots, which have unique light-emitting properties that arise from quantum effects at the nanoscale.

They measured the entropy production of quantum dots—a quantity that describes how reversible a microscopic process is, and encodes information about memory, information loss, and energy costs. Such measurements can determine the ultimate speed limits for a device or how efficient it can be.

Understanding the physics at the anode of sodium-ion batteries

Sodium-ion batteries (NIBs) are gaining traction as a next-generation technology to complement the widely used lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). NIBs offer clear advantages versus LIBs in terms of sustainability and cost, as they rely on sodium—an element that, unlike lithium, is abundant almost everywhere on Earth. However, for NIBs to achieve widespread adoption, they must reach energy densities comparable to LIBs.

State-of-the-art NIB designs use hard carbon (HC), a porous and amorphous type of carbon, as an anode material. Scientists believe that sodium ions aggregate into tiny quasi-metallic clusters within HC nano-pores, and this “pore filling” process remains as the main mechanism contributing to the extended reversible capacity of the HC anode.

Despite some computational studies on this topic, the fundamental processes governing sodium storage and transport in HC remain unclear. Specifically, researchers have struggled to explain how sodium ions can gather to form clusters inside HC pores at operational temperatures, and why the overall movement of sodium ions through the material is sluggish.

Enhanced Selenium Supplement Extends Lifespan and Delays Multi‐Organs Aging by Regulating the Sik1 Pathway Through Maintaining Calcium Homeostasis

In healthy aging strategies, nutritional supplements synergize with optimized dietary and lifestyle interventions by modulating aging-related molecular pathways.[ 8, 9 ] Notably, NMN exerts multi-organ anti-aging effects by elevating NAD+ levels to activate the SIRT1 pathway, thereby significantly enhancing mitochondrial function while reducing oxidative stress and DNA damage.[ 10 ] Similarly, curcumin delays aging and related diseases through pleiotropic mechanisms involving oxidative stress regulation, anti-inflammatory actions, telomere maintenance, and sirtuin protein modulation.[ 11 ] However, practical applications face significant challenges: bioactive compounds like resveratrol and curcumin suffer from limited bioavailability due to poor aqueous solubility and first-pass metabolism, while excessive supplementation of antioxidants such as vitamins C/E may disrupt reactive oxygen species (ROS) signaling homeostasis, potentially inducing cellular toxicity or even increasing hemorrhagic risk.[ 12-14 ] Future development of anti-aging supplements should focus on: 1) innovative formulation strategies to enhance bioavailability; 2) optimized dosing regimens to minimize toxicity; and 3) long-term clinical studies to validate efficacy.

Selenium, an essential trace element with diverse biological activities, plays a critical role in healthy aging.[ 15-17 ] ≈1 billion people worldwide are affected by selenium deficiency, which is closely linked to neurological disorders, cardiovascular abnormalities, malignancies, and immune dysfunction.[ 18-20 ] Substantial evidence supports the anti-aging effects of selenium through multiple mechanisms: 1) Selenomethionine (SeMet) effectively suppresses Fe2+/H2O2- or Aβ-induced free radical generation, demonstrating therapeutic potential for Alzheimer’s disease characterized by oxidative stress;[ 21 ] 2) Selenium supplementation elevates serum GPx3 levels, a selenoprotein predominantly localized in the basement membrane of renal proximal tubules, modulating mitochondrial quality control pathways to mitigate heavy metal-induced renal aging;[ 22 ] and 3) Our recent findings reveal that selenium supplementation significantly attenuates age-related muscle atrophy by preserving redox homeostasis and regulating muscle protein metabolism.[ 23 ] Recent clinical trials in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) demonstrated that oral administration of selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) as a dietary supplement (200 µg day−1) in combination with Bev+AP chemotherapy significantly enhanced therapeutic outcomes compared to chemotherapy alone. The SeNPs combination group showed remarkable tumor regression, with progression disease rates decreasing dramatically from 50% to 0% and partial response rates increasing to 83.3%, along with significantly improved objective response rate and disease control rate.[ 24 ] Importantly, this regimen maintained excellent safety profiles without triggering fluctuations in pro-inflammatory or immunosuppressive cytokines. These compelling findings not only establish SeNPs as a safe and effective adjuvant therapy for advanced NSCLC but also provide valuable clinical translation data for nano-selenium formulations in oncology. Despite selenium’s proven benefits in reducing oxidative damage, maintaining genomic stability, and delaying telomere shortening, its narrow therapeutic window, limited bioavailability, and specific mechanisms in multi-organ protection during natural aging require further investigation.

Nanodelivery carriers have emerged as a next-generation platform for gene and drug delivery, offering tunable physicochemical properties such as size, composition, and surface modifications.[ 25 ] Our team has developed organically-bridged mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) by incorporating functional diselenide bonds into the silica framework at the molecular level, addressing the critical challenge of poor biodegradability in conventional silica materials.[ 26 ] This nanocarrier exhibits unique dual redox-responsive properties, allowing for more precise maintenance of redox homeostasis compared to traditional antioxidants, aligning with the core goal of preserving organismal homeostasis in anti-aging research. Building on this breakthrough, a comprehensive research framework was established: first, this study constructed a natural aging mouse model with MSNs, disulfide-bridged MSNs (SMSNs), commercially available SeMet as controls and then compared the effects of diselenide-bridged MSNs (SeMSNs) on lifespan extension, frailty delay, and multi-organ anti-aging. Next, key pathways and targets were identified through multi-organ transcriptome sequencing, followed by in-depth mechanistic studies. Finally, clinical translation was integrated by analyzing the correlation between serum selenium levels and aging biomarkers in the elderly, and validating the clinical effects of SeMSNs using primary adipose precursor cells (APCs) models. This systematic approach provides a solid theoretical foundation and clinical evidence for the application of nano-selenium in anti-aging research.

Quantum defects in carbon nanotubes as single-photon sources

This Review surveys progress in the development of carbon nanotubes as single-photon sources for emerging quantum technologies, with a focus on chemical synthesis and quantum defect engineering, computational studies of structure-property relationships, and experimental investigations of quantum optical properties.

Scientists use RNA nanotechnology to program living cells, opening a new path for cancer cure

Scientists at Rutgers University–Newark have developed a first-of-its-kind RNA-based nanotechnology that assembles itself inside living human cells and can be programmed to stop propagation of harmful cells. The findings, recently published in Nature Communications, represent a major breakthrough in biomedical research. The researchers are now in the midst of testing the technology on human cancer cells as a potential cure for the disease but have not yet finished the study or published results.

This nanostructure technology, which was tested in human cell cultures, can be used as a molecular tool for biomedical research and therapeutics. Because it can be customized, it has the versatility to target multiple detrimental genes and proteins simultaneously.

The work was led by Professor Fei Zhang of the Rutgers-Newark Department of Chemistry and Professor Jean-Pierre Etchegaray of the Department of Biological Sciences at Rutgers-Newark, along with an interdisciplinary team of researchers.

Tailoring Mesoporous Silica-Coated Silver Nanoparticles and Polyurethane-Doped Films for Enhanced Antimicrobial Applications

Can surface charge reversal boost AgNP efficacy? 🧫Functionalizing silica-coated silver nanoparticles with amine groups significantly enhances activity against Salmonella and E. coli in polyurethane films.

Read more.

The global increase in multidrug-resistant bacteria poses a challenge to public health and requires the development of new antibacterial materials.

Physicists push thousands of atoms to a ‘Schrödinger’s cat’ state — bringing the quantum world closer to reality than ever before

Researchers have demonstrated that a nanoparticle of 7,000 sodium atoms can act as a wave, creating a record-setting superposition.

Live-cell tracking reveals dynamic interaction between protein folding helpers and newly produced proteins

Proteins are the molecular machines of cells. They are produced in protein factories called ribosomes based on their blueprint—the genetic information. Here, the basic building blocks of proteins, amino acids, are assembled into long protein chains. Like the building blocks of a machine, individual proteins must have a specific three-dimensional structure to properly fulfill their functions.

To achieve this, the newly produced protein chains in human cells are folded into their stable and functional form with the help of various protein folding helper proteins, known as chaperones, such as TRiC/PFD, or HSP70/40. The protein folding helpers isolate the amino acid chains, which have different chemical properties depending on the amino acid, from the cellular environment. This prevents the newly produced protein chains from clumping together and causing disease.

F.-Ulrich Hartl, a director at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, has spent decades studying the mechanisms of protein folding. Niko Dalheimer, a scientist in Hartl’s department and one of the two lead authors of a new study published in Nature, explains: Much of what we know about protein folding has been learned from studies conducted in test tubes. However, it is virtually impossible to faithfully replicate the cellular environment in vitro.

/* */