Researchers put a new spin on atomic musical chairs

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

Dec 02, 2009 | 5 / 5 (4) | 0

Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Naval Research Laboratory have developed a new way to introduce magnetic impurities in a semiconductor crystal by prodding it with ...

An easy way to see the world's thinnest material

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

Dec 23, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (12) | 1

It's been used to dye the Chicago River green on St. Patrick's Day. It's been used to find latent blood stains at crime scenes. And now researchers at Northwestern University have used it to examine the thinnest material ...

Nanoparticles go platinum: NCEM instruments provide key images

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

Dec 21, 2009 | 4.7 / 5 (3) | 0

At Berkeley Lab's National Center for Electron Microscopy it was revealed that single-stranded DNA can disperse bundles of single-walled carbon nanotubes into individual tubes and serve as guideposts for synthesizing ...

All decked out: Networks of chitin filaments are integral components of diatom silica shells

Chemistry / Biochemistry

Dec 01, 2009 | 5 / 5 (1) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- A whole microcosm of various bizarrely shaped life forms opens up when you look at diatoms, the primary component of ocean plankton, under a microscope. The regularly structured silica shells of these tiny ...

New Study of Meteorite Provides More Evidence for Ancient Life on Mars

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 17, 2009 | 4.9 / 5 (44) | 19

(PhysOrg.com) -- In 1996, when scientists examined a meteorite from Mars previously uncovered in Antarctica, they were intrigued by what looked like microscopic fossils of ancient Martian life forms. Now, ...