http://www.physorg.com/nanotech-news/ en-us PhysOrg Team Physorg.com provides the latest news on nanotechnology, nanoscience, nanoelectronics, science and technology. Updated Daily. (PhysOrg.com) -- A new generation of ultrasmall transistors and more powerful computer chips using tiny structures called semiconducting nanowires are closer to reality after a key discovery by researchers at IBM, Purdue University and the University of California at Los Angeles. http://www.physorg.com/news178459486.html Nanotechnology 2009-11-26T14:00:05-07:00 (PhysOrg.com) -- Mention of arsenic poisoning usually brings to mind underhanded murder. However, the danger of arsenic poisoning from contaminated drinking water is far greater. Low concentrations of arsenic are found in nearly all soils and thus also in ground water. About 140 million people worldwide possibly drink water that contains arsenic concentrations above the WHO-recommended limit of 10 ppb (parts per billion). http://www.physorg.com/news178347619.html Nanotechnology 2009-11-25T05:02:58-07:00 Novel nanomaterials developed at Rensselaer were sent into orbit on Nov. 16 aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis. http://www.physorg.com/news178304620.html Nanotechnology 2009-11-24T17:04:10-07:00 You can think of it as origami - very high-tech origami. Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a technique for fabricating three-dimensional, single-crystalline silicon structures from thin films by coupling photolithography and a self-folding process driven by capillary interactions. http://www.physorg.com/news178212895.html Nanotechnology 2009-11-23T16:10:13-07:00 (PhysOrg.com) -- By producing some of the highest resolution images of peptides attaching to mineral surfaces, scientists have a deeper understanding how biomolecules manipulate the growth crystals. This research may lead to a new treatment for kidney stones using biomolecules. http://www.physorg.com/news178212559.html Nanotechnology 2009-11-23T15:29:56-07:00 (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 2009-11-20T10:13:55-07:00 (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 2009-11-20T07:40:05-07:00 (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 2009-11-19T18:40:01-07:00 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 2009-11-19T16:53:34-07:00 Vibrations in nanostructures offer applications in molecular-scale biological sensing and ultrasensitive mass detection. To approach single-atom sensing, it is necessary to reduce the dimensions of the structures to the nanometer scale while preserving long-lived vibrations. http://www.physorg.com/news177870451.html Nanotechnology 2009-11-19T16:28:18-07:00 (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 2009-11-19T15:07:50-07:00 (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 2009-11-18T14:50:01-07:00 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 2009-11-18T11:00:03-07:00 (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 2009-11-17T18:38:02-07:00 (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 2009-11-17T14:22:12-07:00 (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 2009-11-17T09:25:53-07:00 (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 2009-11-16T18:26:05-07:00 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 2009-11-16T15:36:25-07:00 (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 2009-11-12T17:58:36-07:00 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has exclusively licensed to Porifera Inc. of Hayward a carbon nanotube technology that can be used to desalinate water and can be applied to other liquid based separations. http://www.physorg.com/news177258803.html Nanotechnology 2009-11-12T16:40:01-07:00 The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (PEN) has developed findNano, an application for Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch that lets users discover and determine whether consumer products are nanotechnology-enabled. Nanotechnology, the emerging technology of using materials by engineering them at an incredibly small scale, has applications ranging from consumer electronics to improved drug delivery systems. http://www.physorg.com/news177249579.html Nanotechnology 2009-11-12T12:30:03-07:00 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 2009-11-12T12:25:15-07:00 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 2009-11-12T12:09:44-07:00 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 2009-11-12T10:06:27-07:00 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 2009-11-11T14:24:43-07:00 (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 2009-11-10T19:37:05-07:00 (PhysOrg.com) -- University of Toronto researchers continue to uncover the mysteries of space. But even the best astronauts in the world are stymied if the spaceship doesn't launch. When the countdown stops, it is often because a hydrogen leak has been detected. One small malfunction in the sensing device can mean millions of dollars lost. http://www.physorg.com/news177096977.html Nanotechnology 2009-11-10T19:10:02-07:00 (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 2009-11-10T16:17:54-07:00 (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 2009-11-10T12:20:01-07:00 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 2009-11-10T11:11:43-07:00