http://www.physorg.com/nanotech-news/ en-us Physorg.com provides the latest news on nanotechnology, nanoscience, nanoelectronics, science and technology. Updated Daily. (PhysOrg.com) -- "Carbon nanotubes are exciting for fundamental physics, and for potential technological applications," Nadya Mason tells PhysOrg.com. "However, we are generally limited in the way that we can study them. Many of these limitations have to do with controlling tunneling, or the way electrons move on and off the nanotube." In order to overcome this limitation, Mason, a scientist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, participated in an experiment using a superconducting tunnel probe in a carbon nanotube to observe spectroscopic features. http://www.physorg.com/news177934374.html Nanotechnology Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:13:55 EST news177934374 (PhysOrg.com) -- One of the great promises of nanotechnologies lies in its ability to create drug-containing nanoparticles decorated with targeting molecules that recognize and bind to cancer cells, providing drug delivery only at the site of the targeted cells. Such site-specific drug delivery would not only boost the cancer-killing activity of a drug payload but also reduce potential side effects by greatly restricting or even eliminating the amount of drug reaching healthy tissue. http://www.physorg.com/news177922936.html Nanotechnology Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:40:05 EST news177922936 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have developed a polymer-coated gold nanocage that not only opens in response to light to release a small amount of a drug payload, but then closes when the light is turned off, leaving this nanodevice ready to deliver another dose of drug on command. Releasing carefully titrated amounts of a drug only near the tissue that is the drug's intended target, this delivery system has the potential to maximize a drug's beneficial effects while minimizing its side effects. http://www.physorg.com/news177875527.html Nanotechnology Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:40:01 EST news177875527 Two-dimensional carbon layers, so-called graphenes, are regarded as a possible substitute for silicon in the semiconductor industry. The electronic properties of these layers can be varied by "building in" specific arrays of holes in their structure. Physicists at Empa, Switzerland, together with chemists from the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz, Germany, have, for the first time, succeeded in synthesizing a graphene-like porous polymer with atomic accuracy. http://www.physorg.com/news177871833.html Nanotechnology Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:53:34 EST news177871833 (PhysOrg.com) -- Most people would like to be able to charge their cell phones and other personal electronics quickly and not too often. A recent discovery made by UC San Diego engineers could lead to carbon nanotube-based supercapacitors that could do just this. http://www.physorg.com/news177865593.html Nanotechnology Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:07:50 EST news177865593 (PhysOrg.com) -- A team of Northwestern University researchers, using an extremely sensitive nanotechnology-based tool known as the biobarcode system, has detected previously undetectable levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in patients who have undergone radical prostatectomy. This new assay, just one of many being developed by investigators at the Nanomaterials for Cancer Diagnostics and Therapeutics Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence (Northwestern CCNE), is 300 times more sensitive than commercially available PSA tests. http://www.physorg.com/news177775224.html Nanotechnology Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:50:01 EST news177775224 If you're watching the complex processes in a living cell, it is easy to miss something important -especially if you are watching changes that take a long time to unfold and require high-spatial-resolution imaging. But new research makes it possible to scrutinize activities that occur over hours or even days inside cells, potentially solving many of the mysteries associated with molecular-scale events occurring in these tiny living things. http://www.physorg.com/news177763702.html Nanotechnology Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:00:03 EST news177763702 (PhysOrg.com) -- Searching for biomarkers that can warn of diseases such as cancer while they are still in their earliest stage is likely to become far easier thanks to an innovative biosensor chip developed by Stanford University researchers. The sensor is up to 1,000 times more sensitive than any technology now in clinical use, is accurate regardless of which bodily fluid is being analyzed, and can detect biomarker proteins over a range of concentrations three times broader than any existing method, the researchers say. http://www.physorg.com/news177705280.html Nanotechnology Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:38:02 EST news177705280 (PhysOrg.com) -- First, it was the soccer-ball-shaped molecules dubbed buckyballs. Then it was the cylindrically shaped nanotubes. Now, the hottest new material in physics and nanotechnology is graphene: a remarkably flat molecule made of carbon atoms arranged in hexagonal rings much like molecular chicken wire. http://www.physorg.com/news177689867.html Nanotechnology Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:22:12 EST news177689867 (PhysOrg.com) -- Engineering researchers have used a very tiny beam of light with as little as 1 milliwatt of power to move a silicon structure up to 12 nanometers. http://www.physorg.com/news177672319.html Nanotechnology Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:25:53 EST news177672319 (PhysOrg.com) -- The freezing of suspensions of particles is not always a uniform phenomenon; in certain conditions it leads to a modification of the redistribution of particles and the growth of crystals. http://www.physorg.com/news177618314.html Nanotechnology Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:26:05 EST news177618314 Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles, found in everything from cosmetics to sunscreen to paint to vitamins, caused systemic genetic damage in mice, according to a comprehensive study conducted by researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. http://www.physorg.com/news177608158.html Nanotechnology Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:36:25 EST news177608158 (PhysOrg.com) -- Novel nanomaterials developed at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute are scheduled to blast off into orbit on November 16 aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis. http://www.physorg.com/news177271030.html Nanotechnology Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:58:36 EST news177271030 Berkeley Lab researchers have engineered a new class of bowtie-shaped devices that capture, filter and steer light at the nanoscale. These "nano-colorsorter" devices act as antennae to focus and sort light in tiny spaces, a useful technique for harvesting broadband light for color-sensitive filters and detectors. http://www.physorg.com/news177251056.html Nanotechnology Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:25:15 EST news177251056 The performance of modern electronics increases steadily on a fast pace thanks to the ongoing miniaturization of the utilized components. However, se-vere problems arise due to quantum-mechanical phenomena when conven-tional structures are simply made smaller and reach the nanometer scale. Therefore current research focuses on the so-called bottom-up approach: the engineering of functional structures with the smallest possible building blocks - single atoms and molecules. http://www.physorg.com/news177249897.html Nanotechnology Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:09:44 EST news177249897 In the quest to make hydrogen as a clean alternative fuel source, researchers have been stymied about how to create usable hydrogen that is clean and sustainable without relying on an intensive, high-energy process that outweighs the benefits of not using petroleum to power vehicles. http://www.physorg.com/news177242747.html Nanotechnology Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:06:27 EST news177242747 Silicon nanowires are attracting significant attention from the electronics industry due to the drive for ever-smaller electronic devices, from cell phones to computers. The operation of these future devices, and a wide array of additional applications, will depend on the mechanical properties of these nanowires. New research from North Carolina State University shows that silicon nanowires are far more resilient than their larger counterparts, a finding that could pave the way for smaller, sturdier nanoelectronics, nanosensors, light-emitting diodes and other applications. http://www.physorg.com/news177171851.html Nanotechnology Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:24:43 EST news177171851 (PhysOrg.com) -- Electronic devices can't work well unless all of the transistors, or switches, within them allow electrical current to flow easily when they are turned on. A team of engineers has determined why some transistors made of organic crystals don't perform well, yielding ideas about how to make them work better. http://www.physorg.com/news177103252.html Nanotechnology Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:37:05 EST news177103252 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy`s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory have refined a technique to manufacture solar cells by creating tubes of semiconducting material and then "growing" polymers directly inside them. The method has the potential to be significantly cheaper than the process used to make today`s commercial solar cells. http://www.physorg.com/news177092235.html Nanotechnology Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:17:54 EST news177092235 (PhysOrg.com) -- When it comes to carbon nanotubes, the majority of research so far has focused on small-scale applications. But now, a team of researchers from Rice University has created carbon nanotubes that are hundreds of meters long, yet just 50 micrometers thick. The researchers say there is no limit to how long the nanotubes can be made, which opens the doors to large-scale applications including using nanotubes as electrical transmission lines and as the basis of structural materials. http://www.physorg.com/news177075782.html Nanotechnology Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:20:01 EST news177075782 In work that someday may lead to the development of novel types of nanoscale electronic devices, an interdisciplinary team of researchers at the California Institute of Technology has combined DNA's talent for self-assembly with the remarkable electronic properties of carbon nanotubes, thereby suggesting a solution to the long-standing problem of organizing carbon nanotubes into nanoscale electronic circuits. http://www.physorg.com/news177073039.html Nanotechnology Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:11:43 EST news177073039 Researchers at the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University have developed, characterized, and modeled a new kind of probe used in atomic force microscopy (AFM), which images, measures, and manipulates matter at the nanoscale. http://www.physorg.com/news177073639.html Nanotechnology Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:08:34 EST news177073639 (PhysOrg.com) -- A Cornell research team has invented a simple way to make graphene electrical devices by growing the graphene directly onto a silicon wafer. http://www.physorg.com/news177062908.html Nanotechnology Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:10:01 EST news177062908 (PhysOrg.com) -- The catalytic processes that facilitate the production of many chemicals and fuels could become much more environmentally friendly thanks to a breakthrough achieved by researchers from Lehigh and Rice Universities. http://www.physorg.com/news177006900.html Nanotechnology Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:20:09 EST news177006900 Johns Hopkins materials scientists have found a new use for a chemical compound that has traditionally been viewed as an electrical conductor, a substance that allows electricity to flow through it. By orienting the compound in a different way, the researchers have turned it into a thin film insulator, which instead blocks the flow of electricity, but can induce large electric currents elsewhere. The material, called solution-deposited beta-alumina, could have important applications in transistor technology and in devices such as electronic books. http://www.physorg.com/news176994899.html Nanotechnology Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:19:47 EST news176994899 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at Purdue University have discovered a new approach for repairing damaged nerve fibers in spinal cord injuries using nano-spheres that could be injected into the blood shortly after an accident. http://www.physorg.com/news176908863.html Nanotechnology Sun, 08 Nov 2009 13:22:11 EST news176908863 (PhysOrg.com) -- About five years ago, Professor Janet Sawicki at the Lankenau Institute in Pennsylvania read an article about nanoparticles developed by MIT's Robert Langer for gene therapy, the insertion of genes into living cells for the treatment of disease. Sawicki was working on treating ovarian cancer by delivering -- through viruses -- the gene for the diphtheria toxin, which kills tumor cells. http://www.physorg.com/news176720244.html Nanotechnology Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:58:32 EST news176720244 (PhysOrg.com) -- Whether it's magnetic nanoparticles (mNPs) giving an army of 'therapeutically armed' white blood cells direction to invade a deadly tumour's territory, or the use of mNPs to target specific nerve channels and induce nerve-led behaviour (such as the life-dependant thumping of our hearts), mNPs have come a long way in the past decade. http://www.physorg.com/news176702544.html Nanotechnology Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:03:35 EST news176702544 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have shown in the laboratory that metal nanoparticles damaged the DNA in cells on the other side of a cellular barrier. The research, by the University of Bristol, is published online this week in Nature Nanotechnology. http://www.physorg.com/news176657350.html Nanotechnology Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:20:02 EST news176657350 (PhysOrg.com) -- University of Utah chemists demonstrated the first conclusive link between the size of catalyst particles on a solid surface, their electronic properties and their ability to speed chemical reactions. The study is a step toward the goal of designing cheaper, more efficient catalysts to increase energy production, reduce Earth-warming gases and manufacture a wide variety of goods from medicines to gasoline. http://www.physorg.com/news176373205.html Nanotechnology Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:00:03 EST news176373205