Feature Channels: Nanotechnology

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Scientists identified defects responsible for detrimental blinking that limits nanoparticle use in LEDs, solar cells, and lasers.

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Nanotextures inspired by cone-shaped structures found on the surface of cicada wings could inform new designs for materials prone to fogging, such as car and aircraft windshields.

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Rapid prototyping aids small manufacturer; accelerated method could separate CO2 from flue gases; EBM technique controls microstructure, locates properties in 3-D printed parts; open-source, user-friendly software monitors, controls energy use; drones to aid electric utilities to enhance safety, system reliability; ORNL cyberspace conf.

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Summary (1-3 sentences): Certain materials can be swayed by their neighbors to become magnetic, according to a new Argonne study.

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University of Minnesota researchers have discovered a groundbreaking process to successfully rewarm large-scale animal heart valves and blood vessels preserved at very low temperatures. The discovery is a major step forward in establishment of tissue and organ banks.

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A research collaboration designed and built special spectacles, or corrective phase plates, for use at light sources that use high-intensity X-rays to probe matter in fine detail. Nature Communications published the details of the method, developed in part by researchers at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

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Georgia Institute of Technology researchers have demonstrated an optical metamaterial whose chiroptical properties in the nonlinear regime produce a significant spectral shift with power levels in the milliwatt range.

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Clinicians and researchers from the GW Department of Dermatology will present on a variety of topics, including nanotechnology, fungal infections of the skin, cannabis for autoimmune diseases, contact dermatitis, and public health threats at the 75th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology.

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Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENG) convert mechanical energy harvested from the environment to electricity for powering small devices such as sensors or for recharging consumer electronics. Now, researchers have harnessed these devices to improve the charging of molecules in a way that dramatically boosts the sensitivity of a widely-used chemical analysis technique.

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Using a needle far thinner than a human hair, scientists reversibly changed a material’s hardness by up to 30 percent promises new functionalities for microphones and sensors.

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Cutting-edge research and development can help solve some of the challenges associated with drug delivery.

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Lawrence Livermore scientists have collaborated with an interdisciplinary team of researchers including colleagues from Sandia National Laboratories to develop an efficient hydrogen storage system that could be a boon for hydrogen powered vehicles.

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First Time Nanotechnology Leveraged to Increase Rainfall, Would Support Greater Water Security in the UAE.

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For the first time, scientists have measured quantum criticality by developing a thin membrane suspended in air by very narrow bridges, thereby forming a "nano-trampoline". This enabled specific heat measurements of thin films through a quantum phase transition from a superconducting state to an electrically insulating state close to absolute zero temperatures.

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Northwestern University’s International Institute for Nanotechnology (IIN) is now accepting nominations for two prestigious international prizes: the $250,000 Kabiller Prize in Nanoscience and Nanomedicine and the $10,000 Kabiller Young Investigator Award in Nanoscience and Nanomedicine.The deadline for nominations is May 15, 2017.

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Northwestern University biomedical engineers have developed imaging technology that is the first to see DNA “blink,” or fluoresce. The tool enables researchers to study individual biomolecules (DNA, chromatin, proteins) as well as important global patterns of gene expression, which could yield insights into cancer. Vadim Backman will discuss the technology and its applications -- including the new concept of macrogenomics, a technology aiming to regulate the global patterns of gene expression without gene editing -- at the 2017 AAAS annual meeting.

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The Clean Energy Institute (CEI), a research unit at the University of Washington (UW), has opened the Washington Clean Energy Testbeds to increase the rate at which breakthrough science and engineering discoveries turn into market-adopted clean energy technologies.

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Two researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Sergei Kalinin and Mariappan Parans Paranthaman, have been elected fellows of the Materials Research Society.

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For use in quantum sensing, the bulk nanodiamond crystal surrounding the point defect must be highly perfect. Any deviation from perfection will adversely affect the quantum behavior of the material. Highly perfect nanodiamonds are also quite expensive and difficult to make. A cheaper alternative, say researchers, is to take defect-ridden, low-quality, commercially manufactured diamonds, and then “heal” them. In APL Materials, they describe a method to heal diamond nanocrystals under high-temperature conditions.

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Researchers have witnessed - for the first time - cancer cells being targeted and destroyed from the inside, by an organo-metal compound discovered by the University of Warwick.

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It’s all about the layers! Encapsulating a drug in corn protein nanoparticles and then covering with them milk protein can make children’s medications better tasting and safer.

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A research team of physicists from Harvard University has developed new hand-held spectrometers capable of the same performance as large, benchtop instruments. The researchers’ innovation, explained this week in APL Photonics, derives from their groundbreaking work in meta-lenses. The hand-held spectrometers offer real promise for applications ranging from health care diagnostics to environmental and food monitoring.

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Seeding x-ray free electron lasers with customized electron beams produces incredibly stable laser pulses that could enable new scientific discoveries.

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Using tiny snippets of DNA as “barcodes,” researchers have developed a new technique for rapidly screening the ability of nanoparticles to selectively deliver therapeutic genes to specific organs of the body. The technique could accelerate the development and use of gene therapies for such killers as heart disease, cancer and Parkinson’s disease.

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Fermilab’s accelerator is now delivering more neutrinos to experiments than ever before. On Jan. 24, the laboratory’s flagship particle accelerator delivered a 700-kilowatt proton beam over one hour at an energy of 120 billion electronvolts.

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Researchers working with magnetic nanoparticles approached computational scientists at DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory to help solve a unique problem: to model magnetism at the atomic level using experimental data from a real nanoparticle.

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There is something very noble about Xiaohu Xia's research. He wants to use palladium, platinum, ruthenium and other corrosion-resistant metals to refine tests to detect biomarkers for cancer and infectious diseases. To do so, he plans to use nanostructures made of these noble metals that mimic natural enzymes.

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Scientists used one of the world’s most powerful electron microscopes to map the precise location and chemical type of 23,000 atoms in an extremely small particle made of iron and platinum. Insights gained from the particle’s structure could lead to new ways to improve its magnetic performance for use in high-density, next-generation hard drives.

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As interest and demand for nanotechnology continues to rise, so will the need for nanoscale printing and spraying, which relies on depositing tiny drops of liquid onto a surface. Now researchers from Tsinghua University in Beijing have developed a new theory that describes how such a nanosized droplet deforms and breaks up when it strikes a surface.

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University of Washington engineers have discovered an important first step towards building electrically pumped nanolasers, which are critical in the development of integrated photonic based short-distance optical interconnects and sensors.

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Biomedical engineers at Johns Hopkins report they have worked out a noninvasive way to release and deliver concentrated amounts of a drug to the brain of rats in a temporary, localized manner using ultrasound.

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Click here to go directly to the Physics News Source Sponsored by AIP.

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A simple technique for producing oxide nanowires directly from bulk materials could dramatically lower the cost of producing the one-dimensional (1D) nanostructures. That could open the door for a broad range of uses in lightweight structural composites, advanced sensors, electronic devices – and thermally-stable and strong battery membranes able to withstand temperatures of more than 1,000 degrees Celsius.

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A team of chemists led by Northwestern University’s William Dichtel has cooked up something big: The scientists created an entirely new type of nanomaterial and watched it form in real time — a chemistry first.“Our work sets the stage for researchers interested in studying the fundamental properties of interesting materials and applied systems, such as solar cells, batteries, sensors, paints and drug delivery systems,” said Dichtel, the Robert L.

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Chad A. Mirkin, the George B. Rathmann Professor of Chemistry in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and director of the International Institute for Nanotechnology at Northwestern University, has been awarded the 2016 Dickson Prize in Science.The prize is awarded annually by Carnegie Mellon University to an individual in the U.

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An international collaboration among physicists at the University of Chicago, Argonne National Laboratory, McGill University and the University of Konstanz recently demonstrated a new framework for faster control of a quantum bit—the basic unit of information in yet-to-be created quantum computers—in findings published online Nov. 28 in Nature Physics. Their experiments on a single electron in a diamond chip could create quantum devices less prone to errors when operated at high speeds.

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While scientists have used light to sculpt tiny crystals to do big jobs since 2001, they haven't been able to apply the process to gold—until now. Scientists created a strategy that enables synthesis of desirable gold crystals with potential for industry or medical uses.

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Inspired by micro-scale motions of nature, a group of researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras and the Institute of Mathematical Sciences, in Chennai, India, has developed a new design for transporting colloidal particles, tiny cargo suspended in substances such as fluids or gels, more rapidly than is currently possible by diffusion.

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Shrinking the investigation of objects to the nanometer scale often reveals new properties of matter that have no equivalent for their bulk analysis. This phenomenon is motivating studies of nanomaterials which can reveal fascinating new phenomena. It inspired researchers to explore the extent of knowledge about fundamental properties of fluids, which demands reconsideration with the increasing use of fluids in the decreasing sizes of new devices, where their flow is confined into ever-smaller capillary tubes.

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A new material, called "rewritable magnetic charge ice," has an unprecedented degree of control over local magnetic fields. This material has write-read-erase capabilities at room temperature, which may have implications for new computing technologies.

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New catalytically active coatings eliminate the need for environmentally hazardous anti-wear additives used commonly in lubricating oils for engines

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A new approach offers a path to synthesize materials with superior mechanical and optical properties. This design approach replaces trial-and-error in nanomanufacturing for materials and structures.

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A novel method of using DNA as linkers of and cages redefines the rules for connecting nanoparticles and opens exciting prospects for creating complex materials with yet undiscovered properties for use in energy storage, among others.

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Thin layers of a new material could lead to smaller hard drives and other high-density memory devices with greater stability when exposed to heat.

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Winter cold snaps often bring tragic stories of Americans killed by carbon monoxide from gas-powered generators. While we currently rely on carbon monoxide detectors, new research points the way to a new approach: direct elimination of the gas.

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New research impacts an ongoing debate about how platinum catalysts create carbon dioxide. The debate influences a wide array of technologies, from automobile exhaust control systems to hydrogen fuel cells.

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Scientists discovered a new kind of water molecule whose shape has been altered to conform to the symmetry of the environment in which it is trapped.

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In a microscopic feat that resembled a high-wire circus act, Johns Hopkins researchers have coaxed DNA nanotubes to assemble themselves into bridge-like structures arched between two molecular landmarks on the surface of a lab dish.

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Engineers at Washington University in St. Louis develop new nanoparticle technology that eliminates the need for cold storage in some medical diagnostic tests.

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In a new study from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, researchers used extremely high magnetic fields – equivalent to those found in the center of neutron stars – to alter electronic behavior. By observing the change in the behavior of these electrons, scientists may be able to gain an enriched understanding of material behavior.