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. 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 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 2009-11-10T11:08:34-07:00 (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 2009-11-10T08:10:01-07:00 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 2009-11-09T17:20:09-07:00 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 2009-11-09T13:19:47-07:00 Eric Shaqfeh studies blood at Stanford University, using computer models that simulate how the fluid and the cells it contains move around. On November 11 at a meeting of the scientific society AVS, he will present his latest unpublished findings from two studies. One shows how components in blood line up to prepare for healing; the other demonstrates the best shape to use for man-made nanoparticles that target cancers -- a surfboard. http://www.physorg.com/news176994180.html Nanotechnology 2009-11-09T13:03:40-07:00 (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 2009-11-08T13:22:11-07:00 (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 2009-11-06T08:58:32-07:00 (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 2009-11-06T04:03:35-07:00 (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 2009-11-05T16:20:02-07:00 (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 2009-11-05T14:00:03-07:00 Inside a cramped back room at Rushford Hypersonic, a start-up headquartered in southeastern Minnesota, sits a cube-like machine that throws a mean atomic fastball. At the push of a button, the reactor hurls atoms toward a substrate material at eight times faster than the speed of sound. http://www.physorg.com/news176637826.html Nanotechnology 2009-11-05T11:10:02-07:00 (PhysOrg.com) -- Computers of the future could be operating not on electrons, but on tiny waves traveling through an electron "fluid," if a new proposal is successful. The new circuit design, recently introduced by Dr. Héctor J. De Los Santos, CTO of NanoMEMS Research, LLC, in Irvine, California, may be a promising candidate to replace CMOS-based circuits, and ultimately continue the circuit density growth described by Moore's Law. http://www.physorg.com/news176635049.html Nanotechnology 2009-11-05T09:50:02-07:00 Collaborative users from the Advanced Photon Source at the Argonne National Laboratory, working with the Electronic & Magnetic Materials & Devices Group, have found a controllable way to modify the surfaces of pristine Nb-doped SrTiO3 (Nb:STO) at the nanoscale. http://www.physorg.com/news176573506.html Nanotechnology 2009-11-04T16:30:03-07:00 (PhysOrg.com) -- Cancer cells, like bacteria, can develop resistance to drug therapy, leading to relapse of disease. One approach showing promise in overcoming multidrug resistance in tumors is to combine two different anticancer agents in one nanoscale construct, providing a one-two punch that can prove lethal to such resistant cells. An example of this approach appears in the journal Small. http://www.physorg.com/news176541150.html Nanotechnology 2009-11-04T07:12:55-07:00 (PhysOrg.com) -- A team of investigators from the University of Toronto have used nanomaterials to develop an inexpensive microchip sensitive enough to quickly determine the type and severity of a patient's cancer so that the disease can be detected earlier for more effective treatment. Their work, reported in two papers published in the journals ACS Nano and Nature Nanotechnology, could herald an era when inexpensive yet sophisticated molecular diagnostics will become commonplace. http://www.physorg.com/news176464240.html Nanotechnology 2009-11-03T09:52:55-07:00 (PhysOrg.com) -- Rice University scientists today unveiled a method for the industrial-scale processing of pure carbon-nanotube fibers that could lead to revolutionary advances in materials science, power distribution and nanoelectronics. The result of a nine-year program, the method builds upon tried-and-true processes that chemical firms have used for decades to produce plastics. The research is available online in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. http://www.physorg.com/news176396559.html Nanotechnology 2009-11-02T15:04:34-07:00 Converting sunlight to electricity might no longer mean large panels of photovoltaic cells atop flat surfaces like roofs. http://www.physorg.com/news176389079.html Nanotechnology 2009-11-02T12:59:21-07:00 Tiny, engineered nanomaterials can already be found in many consumer products, and have been hailed as having widespread future uses in areas ranging from medicine to industrial processes. However, little is known about what happens if these nanomaterials get into your body - where do they go? NC State researchers are working to answer that question under a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). http://www.physorg.com/news176387909.html Nanotechnology 2009-11-02T12:50:04-07:00 Danish nanophysicists have developed a new method for manufacturing the cornerstone of nanotechnology research - nanowires. The discovery has great potential for the development of nanoelectronics and highly efficient solar cells. http://www.physorg.com/news176377185.html Nanotechnology 2009-11-02T09:50:01-07:00 In campy old movies, Lucretia Borgia swans around emptying powder from her ring into wine glasses carelessly left unattended. The poison ring is usually a confection of gold filigree holding a cabochon or faceted gemstone that can be broken to empty the ring's contents. It is invariably enormous - so large it is rather odd nobody seems to notice it. http://www.physorg.com/news176306859.html Nanotechnology 2009-11-01T14:08:21-07:00 (PhysOrg.com) -- Just a few decades ago, scientists believed that all ordered matter consists of self-repeating building blocks -- atoms, ions or molecules. In this view, the ordinary solids of everyday life are arranged in crystals of repeating, three -- dimensional patterns. http://www.physorg.com/news176214864.html Nanotechnology 2009-10-31T13:34:52-07:00 (PhysOrg.com) -- Going smaller could bring better results, especially when it comes to cancer-fighting drugs. http://www.physorg.com/news176196750.html Nanotechnology 2009-10-31T08:41:11-07:00 Colonoscopy represents one of the great weapons against cancer. In one step, a physician can find precancerous lesions in the colon and then cut them out, an on-the-spot intervention that prevents cancer from developing. Now, researchers at the Winthrop Rockefeller Cancer Institute and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences have developed another fiber optic technique that can detect lymph node metastases and destroy them on the spot, an action that could prevent the further spread of breast cancer, melanoma, or gastrointestinal cancer, all of which spread through the lymphatic system. http://www.physorg.com/news176116481.html Nanotechnology 2009-10-30T10:15:06-07:00 Many medical conditions, such as cancer, diabetes and chronic pain, require medications that cannot be taken orally, but must be dosed intermittently, on an as-needed basis, over a long period of time. A few delivery techniques have been developed, using an implanted heat source, an implanted electronic chip or other stimuli as an "on-off" switch to release the drugs into the body. But thus far, none of these methods can reliably do all that's needed: repeatedly turn dosing on and off, deliver consistent doses and adjust doses according to the patient's need. But now, a research team led by Daniel Kohane of Children's Hospital Boston has devised a solution that combines magnetism with nanotechnology. http://www.physorg.com/news176116233.html Nanotechnology 2009-10-30T10:11:06-07:00