NanoWiki

Do Scientists and Engineers Understand the Public?

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 08:25:26 GMT

Scientific advances often provoke deep concern on the part of the public, especially when these advances challenge strongly held political or moral perspectives. An American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ project on Improving the Scientific Community’s Understanding of Public Concerns about Science and Technology examined the ways in which scientists engage with the public, and how their mutual understanding could be improved. Several common themes emerged:

* Scientists and the public both share a responsibility for the divide. Scientists and technical experts sometimes take for granted that their work will be viewed as ultimately serving the public good. Members of the public can react viscerally and along ideological lines, but they can also raise important issues that deserve consideration.

* Scientific issues require an “anticipatory approach.” A diverse group of stakeholders — research scientists, social scientists, public engagement experts, and skilled communicators — should collaborate early to identify potential scientific controversies and the best method to address resulting public concerns.

* Communications solutions differ significantly depending on whether a scientific issue has been around for a long time (e.g., how to dispose of nuclear waste) or is relatively new (e.g., the spread of personal genetic information). In the case of longstanding controversies, social scientists may have had the opportunity to conduct research on public views that can inform communication strategies. For emerging technologies, there will be less reliable analysis available of public attitudes.

In Do Scientists Understand the Public?, a new paper based on the Academy study, science journalist Chris Mooney reviews the workshop findings and recommendations. According to Mooney, Scientists and the public often have “very different perceptions of risk, and very different ways of bestowing their trust and judging the credibility of information sources. Perhaps scientists are misunderstanding the public…due to their own quirks, assumptions, and patterns of behavior,” says Mooney. Laypeople, meanwhile, tend to “strain their responses to scientific controversies through their ethical or value systems, as well as through their political or ideological outlooks.”

Complimenting this study, the American Academy will soon release a new volume, Science and the Media. The collection of essays will discuss the roles of scientists, journalists, and public information officers in communicating about science and technology. Source: Do Scientists and Engineers Understand the Public?

Related news list by date, most recent first: public opinion concerns city
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Citizen Alliance on the ChallEnges of Nanotechnologies

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 22:02:00 GMT

A citizen-based, and collaborative website on societal issues raised by nanotechnology research and developments! The Citizen Alliance on the ChallEnges of Nanotechnologies (CACEN) (in French “Alliance Citoyenne sur les Enjeux des Nanotechnologies”: ACEN) has just opened a new website nano.acen-cacen.org where citizens can find and share information, questions, and analyses about societal issues raised by nanotechnologies.

Information on challenges raised by nanotechnologies. Private investments and public funding for nanotechnologies have been dramatically increasing in the last decade, giving rise to the presence of nanomaterials in many products on the market. Meanwhile uncertainties and controversies have arisen about the definition, the usefulness, the purposes, and the risks of nanotechnologies and nanomaterials. Many stakeholders and citizens have therefore been asking for more information on societal issues raised by nanotechnologies. In response to this need, we have created this website to:

* share information with all of you who are frustrated by the low visibility of current debates, discussions and lack of accessible information on these topics .
* develop perspectives and analyses of challenges raised by nanotechnology, be they health, environment, economical and geopolitical, ethical or democratic ones.

All of this information will be presented in a clear and understandable way.

A global and pluralistic approach. This website will be a place where we will gather questions and concerns about nanotechnologies that citizens and civil society want to raise, and collectively debate and resolve, even while some continue to argue that no regulation or control are possible — because of lack of data (often protected by industry trade secrets) and/or scientific debates about definitions of “nanoparticle” and ”nanomaterial,” and scientific uncertainties on how to assess their toxicity, and how to adequately detect and monitor them. The website offers a global approach on nanotechnologies, presenting the context in which they are developed, funded, and regulated (or not), by whom, and where. It will open up the “black box” where decisions are being made, to empower civil society by offering resources on current and forthcoming actions, consultations and decision making processes.

Overall, the pluralistic approach of this website makes it unique and original: people involved in a range of environmental, health, and human rights NGOs are contributing.

We would like this website to be accessible not only to French speakers but also English, Spanish, Portuguese people. We would very much appreciate financial or technical support to help us complete, update, and translate this website! If you have human, financial, or technical resources that could help us, please let us know! More information: http://nano.acen-cacen.org and contact[at]acen-cacen[dot]org. Source: AceNano: Communique Presse Lancement Site EN

Related news list by date, most recent first: public opinion concerns city
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tracking nanotechnology. august, 2010

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 14:59:00 GMT

26 August 2010
Nano Letters: The Next Ten Years
"The journal has been responsible for publishing some of the most important advances in nanoscience and nanotechnology"
tags: dissemination

23 August 2010
Turn windows into power generators
Photovoltaics are a key power generating method as part of a low carbon economy and the new technology will bring that a stage closer
tags: energy nanoparticles architecture video

19 August 2010
Liquid Publications: new paradigm for scientific publication and peer review
Promoting a radically new way to share scientific knowledge
tags: dissemination open

16 August 2010
Ask a Nobel Laureate, Sir Harry Kroto
The Nobelprize.org YouTube channel is currently dedicated to questions and answers series
tags: dissemination fullerene astronomy video

13 August 2010
Next Solar Impulse aircraft and nanotechnology
Could increase battery performance and improve the strength of structural components
tags: nanomaterial carbon nanotubes energy video

9 August 2010
Open Source Aerogel
Aerogels are the world's lightest solid materials, composed of up to 99.98% air by volume
tags: open nanomaterial air nanomanufacturing astronomy

6 August 2010
Beam-pen lithography could lead to a desktop printer for nanofabrication
Could lead to the development of a desktop printer of sorts for nanofabrication
tags: nanomachinery nanomanufacturing nanoelectronics

2 August 2010
What If Your Contact Lens Could Show You Images
Displaying info and building systems that can continuously monitor the person's health
tags: self-assembly nanoelectronics nanomedicine video

tracking nanotechnology. july, 2010

Nano Letters: The Next Ten Years

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 09:38:00 GMT

This year, Nano Letters celebrates its 10th anniversary. During its 10-year history, the journal has been responsible for publishing some of the most important advances in nanoscience and nanotechnology. Moreover, its rapid publication of brief reports has helped accelerate the pace of new discoveries and innovations around the world. As evidence of its value to research, Nano Letters is ranked #2 in impact, with a 10.371 ISI Impact Factor. It is ranked #1 in citations, with 37,089 cites, out of 50 journals in the category of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, according to the 2008 Journal Citation Reports®.

To commemorate this landmark year for the journal, we have created a special 10th anniversary Nano Letters website which can be found from the journal homepage at pubs.acs.org/NanoLett. The website features the journal’s 10 most-cited articles, leading you to some of the most groundbreaking findings in nanoscience and nanotechnology. There are also thought-provoking Editorials and Perspectives and information on prolific authors. In addition, you will find details on the 10th anniversary Nano Letters Symposium, “Nano Letters: The Next Ten Years,” which take place, along with a special reception, at the 240th ACS National Meeting & Exposition. Source: Nano Letters Marks 10 Years at the Leading Edge of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology

Nano Letters reports on fundamental research in all branches of the theory and practice of nanoscience and nanotechnology, providing rapid disclosure of the key elements of a study, publishing preliminary, experimental, and theoretical results on the physical, chemical, and biological phenomena, along with processes and applications of structures within the nanoscale range.

The Nano Letters manuscript submission process is fully electronic, to ensure the rapid publication of results. Manuscripts should be submitted via our secure Web site. Manuscripts submitted by hardcopy mail or by e-mail will not be processed. Introduction Nano Letters invites original reports of fundamental research in all branches of the theory and practice of nanoscience and nanotechnology.

Co-Editors-in-Chief: A. Paul Alivisatos & Charles M. Lieber
University of California, Berkeley & Harvard University, Cambridge
Print Edition ISSN: 1530-6984
Web Edition ISSN: 1530-6992
2009 Impact Factor: 9.991
2009 Total Citations: 46,238
Indexed/Abstracted in: CAS, SCOPUS, EBSCOhost, British Library, PubMed, and Web of Science. Source: From About the Journal

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Turn windows into power generators

Sun, 22 Aug 2010 22:29:00 GMT

An international team of scientists and industrialists is to meet at the University of Leicester to develop a revolutionary new technique for harnessing green energy. Norwegian company EnSol AS has patented a ground breaking, novel thin film solar cell technology which they seek to develop commercially by 2016. The company is now working with experts in the University of Leicester Department of Physics and Astronomy to develop the revolutionary new type of solar cell material that could be coated as a thin film on, for example, windows in buildings to produce power on a large scale.

Professor of Nanotechnology at the University of Leicester, Professor Chris Binns, said the collaboration offered a tremendous opportunity to develop a new method for harnessing solar energy: “The material has been designed by EnSol AS and is based on nanoparticles that can be synthesised in Leicester. In fact, following some initial investment by the company, the equipment we have here at the University of Leicester is uniquely suited in the world to produce small amounts of the material for prototypes. The work is important since the solar cells are based on a new operating principle and different to Si solar cells. One of the key advantages is that it is a transparent thin film that can be coated onto window glass so that windows in buildings can also become power generators. Obviously some light has to be absorbed in order to generate power but the windows would just have a slight tinting (though a transmission of only 8-10% is common place for windows in the “sun belt” areas of the world) . Conversely the structural material of the building can also be coated with a higher degree of absorption. This could be side panels of the building itself, or even in the form of “clip-together” solar roof tiles. Also since it is a thin film that can be coated onto large areas it could become very much cheaper than conventional devices. Photovoltaics are destined to form a key power generating method as part of a low carbon economy and the new technology will bring that a stage closer.”

The material is composed of metal nanoparticles (diameters ~ 10 nm) embedded in a transparent composite matrix.

A spokesperson for EnSol AS said: “The basic cell concept has been demonstrated, and it will be the objective of this research and development project to systematically refine this PV cell technology to achieve a cell efficiency of 20% or greater. A thin film deposition system with nanoparticle source, will be designed and constructed in collaboration with the University of Leicester for the fabrication of prototype cells based on this design. This experimental facility will be designed to produce PV cells with an active area in excess of 16 cm2 (40 mm x 40 mm) deposited onto standard glass substrates. These prototype cells will subsequently be characterised and tested in collaboration with our academic partners. EnSol’s next generation PV cell technology has tremendous potential for industrial scale, low environmental impact, cost effective production via standard “spray on” techniques.” Source: New technique announced to turn windows into power generators. Norwegian company EnSol AS to develop unique patented technology in collaboration with University of Leicester

Related news list by date, most recent first: energy nanoparticles architecture video
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Liquid Publications: new paradigm for scientific publication and peer review

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 09:21:00 GMT

Scientific knowledge has been shared in the same way for centuries. A European research project advocates replacing papers and peer reviews with a new process inspired by the social Web.

Scientists spend too much of their time publishing papers and ploughing through the mountains of papers produced by their colleagues, and not enough time doing science. That’s the observation – and frustration – that spurred Fabio Casati and his collaborators to launch LiquidPublication, an EU-financed research project that seeks to revolutionise how scientists share their work and evaluate the contributions of their peers. “The more papers you produce, the more brownie points you get,” says Casati. “So most of your time is spent writing papers instead of thinking or doing science.”

Besides wasting untold hours, Casati says, the current scientific publication paradigm produces other toxic fallout including an unduly heavy load for peer reviewers and too many papers that recycle already published research or dribble out results a bit at a time. “The current system generates a tremendous amount of noise,” he says. “It’s hard to find interesting new knowledge because there’s so much to see.”

Casati and his colleagues are developing and promoting a radically new way to share scientific knowledge, which they call “liquid publication”. They want to tap the power of the Web – including its ability to speed communication, facilitate data storage, search and retrieval, and foster communities of interest – to replace traditional peer reviews and paper publications with a faster, fairer and more flexible process. “If we can make scientists’ work even ten percent more efficiently, it will give a great benefit to the community,” Casati says.

Don’t print it; post it. Following the lead of physicists and mathematicians who for years have been posting early versions of their papers on a website called arXiv.com for quick dissemination and peer critiques, Casati and his colleagues propose that all scientists jumpstart the dissemination of their findings by posting them online.

Don’t review it; use it. This radical new approach to scientific publication offers an equally radical alternative to the peer review process. For the past 300 years, Casati argues, printing and publishing a scientific paper was a costly process. Because of this, gatekeepers were needed to judge which contributions were worth publishing; hence peer reviews. Since liquid publications cost nothing, he says, a major justification for those gatekeepers vanishes. Source: From New paradigm for scientific publication and peer review

The world of scientific publications has been largely oblivious to the advent of the Web and to advances in ICT. Even more surprisingly, this is the case even for research in the ICT area: ICT researchers have been able to exploit the Web to improve the (production) process in almost all areas, but not their own. We are producing scientific knowledge (and publications in particular) essentially following the very same approach we followed before the Web. Scientific knowledge dissemination is still based on the traditional notion of “paper” publication and on peer review as quality assessment method. The current approach encourages authors to write many (possibly incremental) papers to get more “tokens of credit”, generating often unnecessary dissemination overhead for themselves and for the community of reviewers. Furthermore, it does not encourage or support reuse and evolution of publications: whenever a (possibly small) progress is made on a certain subject, a new paper is written, reviewed, and published, often after several months. The situation is analogous if not worse for textbooks.

The LiquidPub project proposes a paradigm shift in the way scientific knowledge is created, disseminated, evaluated and maintained. This shift is enabled by the notion of Liquid Publications, which are evolutionary, collaborative, and composable scientific contributions. Many Liquid Publication concepts are based on a parallel between scientific knowledge artifacts and software artifacts, and hence on lessons learned in (agile, collaborative, open source) software development, as well as on lessons learned from Web 2.0 in terms of collaborative evaluation of knowledge artifacts. Source: Liquid Publications: Scientific Publications meet the Web — LiquidPub Project

Related news list by date, most recent first: dissemination open
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Ask a Nobel Laureate, Sir Harry Kroto

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 13:14:00 GMT

"The Nobelprize.org YouTube channel is currently dedicated to questions and answers series called "Ask a Nobel Laureate."

Our fourth Nobel Laureate to participate is Harry Kroto, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry 1996 awarded together with Robert F. Curl Jr. and Richard E. Smalley "for their discovery of fullerenes", called C60, a remarkable molecule composed of 60 carbon atoms arranged in a soccer-ball-like pattern. Ask as many questions as you like and don't forget to vote for your favorite question to get answered. Deadline for submission is 4 September 2010." Source: Ask a Nobel Laureate, Sir Harry Kroto

Related news list by date, most recent first: dissemination fullerene astronomy video

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Next Solar Impulse aircraft and nanotechnology

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 22:17:00 GMT

The Solar Impulse aircraft, which is powered only by solar energy, has triumphantly completed its first night flight. The ultralight aircraft was airborne for a total of 26 hours – from 7 am on July 7 until 9 am the following day (Central European Time) – before finally landing as planned at Payerne airbase in Switzerland. It is now officially the first manned aircraft capable of flying day and night without fuel, powered entirely by solar energy.

“We extend our sincere congratulations to Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg of Solar Impulse, and are delighted to be part of this terrific achievement,” says Patrick Thomas, CEO of Bayer MaterialScience. “This is a further milestone on the way to the first solar-powered circumnavigation of the globe. We are proud to be an official partner of the Solar Impulse project and to make a further positive contribution to climate-friendly mobility with our innovative materials.”

In 2013 a second prototype is scheduled to fly right round the world in five stages, each lasting five days, traveling at an average speed of 70 km/h. Source: BAYNEWS - The Bayer Press Server - Solar Impulse aircraft successfully completes its first night flight. Bayer MaterialScience contributes innovative materials to long-range solar-powered aircraft

Bayer MaterialScience has become an official partner of the Solar Impulse project. Its founders Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg are developing the first manned aircraft aiming to fly around the world day and night without fuel, propelled by solar energy only. The latest cutting-edge technology is incorporated into the prototype airplane, which has the wingspan of a large airliner (63.40 meters) and the weight of a midsize car (1.600 kilograms). Some 12,000 solar cells cover its surface to run 4 electrical engines and store the solar energy for the night in 400 kilograms of lithium batteries.

Bayer MaterialScience will support the Swiss-based Solar Impulse initiative with technical expertise, high-tech polymer materials and energy-saving lightweight products. Baytubes® carbon nanotubes from Bayer MaterialScience, for example, could increase battery performance and improve the strength of structural components while keeping their weight to a minimum. Other potential applications include innovative adhesives, polyurethane rigid foams for paneling in the cockpit and engine, and extremely thin yet break-resistant polycarbonate films and sheet for the cockpit glazing.

Bertrand Piccard, Initiator of Solar Impulse, says support from Bayer MaterialScience is a significant boost for the project. “I've always been fascinated by nanotechnology. Now, with Bayer MaterialScience as an official partner, we will be able to make our airplane even lighter and more efficient. We look forward with great enthusiasm to being able to tap into the company’s renowned expertise and innovative materials.” Source: Bayer MaterialScience becomes official partner for Solar Impulse

Related news list by date, most recent first: nanomaterial carbon nanotubes energy video
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Open Source Aerogel

Sun, 08 Aug 2010 22:05:00 GMT

"What, you may ask, is aerogel? Aerogels are the world's lightest solid materials, composed of up to 99.98% air by volume. Aerogels are a diverse class of amazing materials with properties unlike anything else. Transparent superinsulating silica aerogels exhibit the lowest thermal conductivity of any solid known. Ultrahigh surface area carbon aerogels power today's fast-charging supercapacitors. And ultrastrong, bendable x-aerogels are the lowest-density structural materials ever developed. Welcome to Aerogel.org. Here you will find an encyclopedic reference about aerogels, how-to guides for making aerogels and building a do-it-yourself supercritical dryer, the world's most comprehensive aerogel image gallery, a podcast with the world's leading aerogel scientists, and more. Aerogel's not just for NASA anymore. Welcome to open-source nanotech.

"We’ve got a lot of work to do on this planet.

"And it’s not gonna get done waiting around for somebody else to do it. We’ve got to take matters into our own hands. And it’s gonna take time, steady effort, and the willingness to take on hard problems. And it’s gonna take a lot of scientists, engineers, and creative brains.

"Welcome to Aerogel.org, an open source nanotech initiative.

The mission of Aerogel.org is to empower, inspire, and motivate people to pursue nanotechnology using open source methodology and to catalyze the discovery of new technological possibilities for aerogel materials in the process.

"Aerogel.org is based on the principle that making straightforward information about exciting science available to everyone is the best way to stimulate people to pursue science, engineering, and other creative endeavors.

"On Aerogel.org you will find an encyclopedic reference about aerogels, an extensive photo gallery, interviews with aerogel scientists, and how-to guides for how to make aerogels of your very own. You’ll find forums where you can interact with others interested in making aerogels and discover user-generated recipes for making aerogels of all sorts.

"We’ve gone to great lengths to try to make everything on Aerogel.org understandable with a minimal level of technical inclination but at the same time serve as a valuable resource for even university-level researchers. Even if you find some of the articles to be a bit on the technical side, we’re confident with a little bit of patience and interest you can figure it out.

"Aerogel’s not just for NASA anymore. Welcome to open source nanotech–get involved!" Source: From Aerogel.org by Stephen Steiner and Will Walker

Related news list by date, most recent first: open-source nanomaterial air nanomanufacturing astronomy

Beam-pen lithography could lead to a desktop printer for nanofabrication

Thu, 05 Aug 2010 22:08:00 GMT

One Chicago skyline is dazzling enough. Now imagine 15,000 of them. A Northwestern University research team has done just that — drawing 15,000 identical skylines with tiny beams of light using an innovative nanofabrication technology called beam-pen lithography (BPL). The new method could do for nanofabrication what the desktop printer has done for printing and information transfer. The Northwestern technology offers a means to rapidly and inexpensively make and prototype circuits, optoelectronics and medical diagnostics and promises many other applications in the electronics, photonics and life sciences industries.

"It's all about miniaturization," said Chad A. Mirkin, George B. Rathmann Professor of Chemistry in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and director of Northwestern's International Institute for Nanotechnology. "Rapid and large-scale transfer of information drives the world. But conventional micro- and nanofabrication tools for making structures are very expensive. We are trying to change that with this new approach to photolithography and nanopatterning."

Beam-pen lithography is the third type of "pen" in Mirkin's nanofabrication arsenal. He developed polymer-pen lithography (PPL) in 2008 and Dip-Pen Nanolithography (DPN) in 1999, both of which deliver chemical materials to a surface and have since been commercialized into research-grade nanofabrication tools that are now used in 23 countries around the world. Like PPL, beam-pen lithography uses an array of tiny pens made of a polymer to print patterns over large areas with nanoscopic through macroscopic resolution. But instead of using an "ink" of molecules, BPL draws patterns using light on a light-sensitive material.

Beam-pen lithography could lead to the development of a desktop printer of sorts for nanofabrication, giving individual researchers a great deal of control of their work. "Such an instrument would allow researchers at universities and in the electronics industry around the world to rapidly prototype — and possibly produce — high-resolution electronic devices and systems right in the lab," Mirkin said. "They want to test their patterns immediately, not have to wait for a third-party to produce prototypes, which is what happens now." Source: From 15,000 beams of light. This work is detailed in the paper Beam-pen Nanolithography by Fengwei Huo, Gengfeng Zheng, Xing Liao, Louise R. Giam, Jinan Chai, Xiaodong Chen and Wooyoung Shim & Chad A. Mirkin

Related news list by date, most recent first: nanomachinery nanomanufacturing nanoelectronics video

What If Your Contact Lens Could Show You Images

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 08:16:00 GMT

Millions of people wear contact lenses everyday to improve their vision and quality of life. Recent advances in nanotechnology and building small devices have opened new possibilities in converting contact lenses into systems that can perform various tasks. The research group at the University of Washington has worked in the past few years on building small optical, electronic, and biosensing devices, and on integrating these devices into contact lenses. This presentation provides an overview of the progress to this date on building contact lenses for two main application areas: for displaying information to the user and for building systems that can continuously monitor the person's health through assessing the biochemistry of the eye surface.

Imagine your contact lenses being able to improve your vision and tell your temperature. At NASA, Professor Babak Parviz, from the University of Washington presents, "What If Your Contact Lens Could Show You Images...". Parviz will provide an overview of the process it took to build contact lenses to display and monitor information about a person's health.

Through advancements in nanotechnology, Parviz will explain the how contact lenses have been converted into systems that can complete extraordinary tasks.

Researchers at the University of Washington are working on integrating small optical, electronic and biosensing devices into contact lenses. The lenses are designed to display information to the user and to continuously monitor the person's health through the biochemistry of the eye surface.

Parviz' research at the University of Washington includes nanotechnology, bionanotechnolgy and microsystems. His work was chosen by Time magazine as one of the top inventions of the year in 2008 and is on display at the London Museum of Science.

Parviz attended the University of Michigan, earning graduate degrees in physics and electrical engineering and studied chemistry and chemical biology at Harvard University. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Review selected Parviz as one of the top innovators under the age of 35 in 2007. He is also the recipient of the National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Award for his exceptional integration of education and research. Source: From NASA Talk is High Tech Prescription for Contact Lenses

Related news list by date, most recent first: self-assembly nanoelectronics nanomedicine video

tracking nanotechnology. july, 2010

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 09:56:00 GMT

tracking nanotechnology. august, 2010

27 July 2010
NASA telescope finds elusive buckyballs
Astronomers have discovered buckyballs in space for the first time
tags: astronomy fullerene video

23 July 2010
SXM Project: An Open-Source Scanning Tunneling Microscope
To give everybody an opportunity to make his own "hands on" experience with the Nanoworld
tags: educational open microscope images

21 July 2010
Artificial cells capable of self-organizing, performing tasks, and transporting cargo
Interact by secreting nanoparticles in a way similar to that used by biological cells
tags: nanoparticles

18 July 2010
Crystal Sponges to Capture CO2
Researching how nanoporous materials can (help to) save the world
tags: nanomaterial climate energy

15 July 2010
Microscopy: molecules into view
Optical microscopy with resolutions as small as 0.5 nanometers
tags: milestone microscope images

14 July 2010
A way to predict the organization of nanoparticles
Nanoscience shifting from synthesis of individual nanoparticles to larger structures
tags: self-assembly nanoparticles

11 July 2010
'Molecular Glass Fibre'
Photosynthesis system of bacteria can be used to transport light
tags: nanophotonics energy

8 July 2010
World's first nanoparticle-based cancer treatment to come to market
Regulatory approval for medical use throughout the European Union
tags: milestone nanomedicine nano-oncology nanoparticles

3 July 2010
Self-assembling nanodevices that move and change shape on demand
Nanodevices made of DNA that self-assemble and can be programmed
tags: nanodevice nanomedicine self-assembly dna nanotechnology architecture

1 July 2010
In response to the Gulf oil spill
Filter successfully cleans water, recovers oil in Gulf of Mexico tests
tags: water waste nanoremediation video

NASA telescope finds elusive buckyballs

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 22:06:00 GMT

Astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have discovered carbon molecules, known as "buckyballs," in space for the first time.

"We found what are now the largest molecules known to exist in space," says astronomer Jan Cami of The University of Western Ontario and the SETI Institute in Mountain View, Calif. "We are particularly excited because they have unique properties that make them important players for all sorts of physical and chemical processes going on in space."

The Cami team unexpectedly found the carbon balls in a planetary nebula named Tc 1. Planetary nebulas are the remains of stars, like the sun, that shed their outer layers of gas and dust as they age. A compact, hot star, or white dwarf, at the center of the nebula illuminates and heats these clouds of material that has been shed.

In 1970, Japanese professor Eiji Osawa predicted the existence of buckyballs, but they were not observed until lab experiments in 1985. Researchers simulated conditions in the atmospheres of aging, carbon-rich giant stars, in which chains of carbon had been detected. Surprisingly, these experiments resulted in the formation of large quantities of buckminsterfullerenes. The molecules have since been found on Earth in candle soot, layers of rock and meteorites. Sir Harry Kroto, who shared the 1996 Nobel Prize in chemistry with Bob Curl and Rick Smalley for the discovery of buckyballs, said, "This most exciting breakthrough provides convincing evidence that the buckyball has, as I long suspected, existed since time immemorial in the dark recesses of our galaxy."

Previous searches for buckyballs in space, in particular around carbon-rich stars, proved unsuccessful. Source: From NASA telescope finds elusive buckyballs by Heather Travis. This work is detailed in the paper Detection of C60 and C70 in a Young Planetary Nebula by Jan Cami, Jeronimo Bernard-Salas, Els Peeters, Sarah Elizabeth Malek.

Related news list by date, most recent first: astronomy fullerene video

SXM Project: An Open-Source Scanning Tunneling Microscope

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 22:06:00 GMT

The emerging Nanotechnology is expected to change our world to a comparable extent as Microtechnology has (introducing integrated circuits, microsurgery and spacecrafts).

To give everybody an opportunity to make his own "hands on" experience with the Nanoworld we provide all information to build up and use some of the standard equipment of this fascinating field of science, starting with the Nobel-Prize-Winner of 1986: the Scanning-Tunneling-Microscope (STM).

Scanning tunneling microscopy, developed by Binnig and Rohrer in the early eighties, allows the investigation of molecular and also atomic structures. It is the only technique with such a high resolution, that even works in air and in liquid.

The STM consists of a very fine, electrically conducting tip, which is guided over a sample surface at an extremely small distance. Owing to an applied voltage a current flows between tip and sample, where the variation of the current reveals information about the electronic structure of the surface and can also render a height relief. A computer is used to collect single scan points and calculates a detailed map of the sample surface.

Today tunneling microscopy is a standard technique in nanoscience, which is not only used to investigate samples at the atomic scale, but can be employed to construct structures atom by atom as well.

We hope you enjoy the content of the following pages and have fun constructing our scanning tunneling microscope! Source: From SXM Project. Scanning Probe Microscope construction kit by the Interface Physics Group at the University of Münster

Related news list by date, most recent first: educational open microscope images nanomanufacturing

Artificial cells capable of self-organizing, performing tasks, and transporting cargo

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 10:01:00 GMT

Researchers develop first models for producing polymer-based artificial cells capable of self-organizing, performing tasks, and transporting “cargo,” from chemicals to medicine. Inspired by the social interactions of ants and slime molds, University of Pittsburgh engineers have designed artificial cells capable of self-organizing into independent groups that can communicate and cooperate. The research is a significant step toward producing synthetic cells that behave like natural organisms and could perform important, microscale functions in fields ranging from the chemical industry to medicine.

The team presents computational models that provide a blueprint for developing artificial cells—or microcapsules—that can communicate, move independently, and transport “cargo” such as chemicals needed for reactions. Most importantly, the “biologically inspired” devices function entirely through simple physical and chemical processes, behaving like complex natural organisms but without the complicated internal biochemistry, said the researcher Anna Balazs, Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering in Pitt’s Swanson School of Engineering.

The Pitt group’s microcapsules interact by secreting nanoparticles in a way similar to that used by biological cells signal to communicate and assemble into groups. And with a nod to ants, the cells leave chemical trails as they travel, prompting fellow microcapsules to follow. Balazs worked with German Kolmakov and Victor Yashin, both postdoctoral researchers in Pitt’s Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, who produced the cell models; and with Pitt professor of electrical and computer engineering Steven Levitan, who devised the ant-like trailing ability.

The researchers write that communication hinges on the interaction between microcapsules exchanging two different types of nanoparticles. The “signaling” cell secretes nanoparticles known as agonists that prompt the second “target” microcapsule to emit nanoparticles known as antagonists. Video of this interaction is available on Pitt’s Web site, one of several videos of the artificial cells Pitt has provided.

Locomotion results as the released nanoparticles alter the surface underneath the microcapsules. The cell’s polymer-based walls begin to push on the fluid surrounding the capsule and the fluid pushes back even harder, moving the capsule. At the same time, the nanoparticles from the signaling cell pull it toward the target cells. Groups of capsules begin to form as the signaling cell rolls along, picking up target cells. In practical use, Balazs said, the signaling cell could transport target cells loaded with cargo; the team’s next step is to control the order in which target cells are collected and dropped off.

The researchers adjusted the particle output of the signaling cell to create various cell formations, some of which are shown in the videos available on Pitt’s Web site. Source: Pitt Team Designs Artificial Cells That Communicate and Cooperate Like Biological Cells, Follow Each Other Like Ants. This work is detailed in the paper Designing communicating colonies of biomimetic microcapsules by German V. Kolmakov, Victor V. Yashin, Steven P. Levitan, and Anna C. Balazs.

Related news list by date, most recent first: nanoparticles

Crystal Sponges to Capture CO2

Sun, 18 Jul 2010 17:45:00 GMT

Chemists from UCLA and South Korea report the "ultimate porosity of a nano-material," achieving world records for both porosity and carbon dioxide storage capacity in an important class of materials known as MOFs, or metal–organic frameworks.

MOFs, sometimes described as crystal sponges, have pores — openings on the nanoscale which can store gases that are usually difficult to store and transport. Porosity is crucial for compacting large amounts of gases into small volumes and is an essential property for capturing carbon dioxide.

The research could lead to cleaner energy and the ability to capture heat-trapping carbon dioxide emissions before they reach the atmosphere and contribute to global warming, rising sea levels and the increased acidity of oceans.

"We are reporting the ultimate porosity of a nano-material; we believe this to be the upper limit or very near the upper limit for porosity in materials," said the paper's senior author, Omar Yaghi, a UCLA professor of chemistry and biochemistry and a member of both the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) at UCLA and the UCLA–Department of Energy Institute of Genomics and Proteomics.

With lead author Hiroyasu (Hiro) Furukawa, co-author Jaheon Kim and colleagues, Yaghi reports on two materials that not only break the porosity record, but do so by an extremely large margin. The materials are MOF-200, made at UCLA by Furukawa, a postdoctoral scholar in Yaghi's laboratory, and MOF-210, made at Seoul's Soongsil University in South Korea by Kim, a chemistry professor and former graduate student in Yaghi's laboratory, and colleagues.

Invented by Yaghi the early 1990s, MOFs are like scaffolds made of linked rods, with nanoscale pores that are the right size to trap carbon dioxide. The components of MOFs can be changed nearly at will, and Yaghi's laboratory has made several hundred MOFs, with a variety of properties and structures.

Since 1999, MOFs have held the record for having the highest porosity of any material. MOFs can be made from low-cost ingredients, such as zinc oxide, a common ingredient in sunscreen, and terephthalate, which is found in plastic soda bottles."If I take a gram of MOF-200 and unravel it, it will cover many football fields, and that is the space you have for gases to assemble," Yaghi said. "It's like magic. Forty tons of MOFs is equal to the entire surface area of California."

Yaghi, Furukawa and Kim also report a record for carbon dioxide storage capacity. MOF-200 and MOF-210 take up the highest amount of hydrogen, methane and carbon dioxide, by weight, ever achieved. Source: World records by UCLA chemists, Korean colleagues enhance ability to capture CO2 by Stuart Wolpert. This work is detailed in the paper Ultra-High Porosity in Metal-Organic Frameworks by Hiroyasu Furukawa, Nakeun Ko, Yong Bok Go, Naoki Aratani, Sang Beom Choi, Eunwoo Choi, A. Özgür Yazaydin, Randall Q. Snurr, Michael O’Keeffe, Jaheon Kim, Omar M. Yaghi

Related news list by date, most recent first: nanomaterial climate energy

Microscopy: molecules into view

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 07:55:00 GMT

Conventional wisdom holds that optical microscopy can't be used to "see" something as small as an individual molecule. But as it is wont, clever science has once again overturned conventional wisdom. Secretary of Energy, Nobel laureate and former director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) Steven Chu led the development of a technique that enables the use of optical microscopy to image objects or the distance between them with resolutions as small as 0.5 nanometers - one-half of one billionth of a meter, or an order of magnitude smaller than the previous best.

"The ability to get sub-nanometer resolution in biologically relevant aqueous environments has the potential to revolutionize biology, particularly structural biology," says Secretary Chu. "One of the motivations for this work, for example, was to measure distances between proteins that form multi-domain, highly complex structures, such as the protein assembly that forms the human RNA polymerase II system, which initiates DNA transcription."

Pertsinidis is continuing to work with Chu and others in the group on the further development and application of this super-resolution technique. In addition to the human RNA polymerase II system, he and the group are using it to determine the structure of the Epithelial cadherin molecules that are responsible for the cell-to-cell adhesion that holds tissue and other biological materials together. Pertsinidis, Zhang, and another postdoc in Chu’s research group, Sang Ryul Park, are also using this technique to create 3D measurements of the molecular organization inside brain cells.

In a collaboration with Joe Gray, Berkeley Lab’s Associate Director for Life Sciences and a leading cancer researcher, postdocs in Chu’s research group are also using the super-resolution technique to study the attachment of signaling molecules on the RAS protein, which has been linked to a number of cancers, including those of the breast, pancreas, lung and colon. This research could help explain why cancer therapies that perform well on some patients are ineffective on others.

In addition to its biological applications, Pertsinidis, Zhang and Chu say their super-resolution technique should also prove valuable to characterize and design precision photometric imaging systems in atomic physics or astronomy, and allow for new tools in optical lithography and nanometrology. Source: Correcting a trick of the light brings molecules into view by Lynn Yarris. This work is detailed in the paper Subnanometre single-molecule localization, registration and distance measurements by Alexandros Pertsinidis, Yunxiang Zhang & Steven Chu

Related news list by date, most recent first: milestone microscope images

A way to predict the organization of nanoparticles

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 10:58:00 GMT

A team of scientists led by Eugenia Kumacheva of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Toronto has discovered a way to predict the organization of nanoparticles in larger forms by treating them much the same as ensembles of molecules formed from standard chemical reactions.

"Currently, no model exists describing the organization of nanoparticles," says Kumacheva . "Our work paves the way for the prediction of the properties of nanoparticle ensembles and for the development of new design rules for such structures."

The focus of nanoscience is gradually shifting from the synthesis of individual nanoparticles to their organization in larger structures. In order to use nanoparticle ensembles in functional devices such as memory storage devices or optical waveguides, it is important to achieve control of their structure.

According to the researchers' observations, the self-organization of nanoparticles is an efficient strategy for producing nanostructures with complex, hierarchical architectures. "The past decade has witnessed great progress in nanoscience - particularly nanoparticle self-assembly - yet the quantitative prediction of the architecture of nanoparticle ensembles and of the kinetics of their formation remains a challenge," she continues. "We report on the remarkable similarity between the self-assembly of metal nanoparticles and chemical reactions leading to the formation of polymer molecules. The nanoparticles act as multifunctional single units, which form reversible, noncovalent bonds at specific bond angles and organize themselves into a highly ordered polymer."

"We developed a new approach that enables a quantitative prediction of the architecture of linear, branched, and cyclic self-assembled nanostructures, their aggregation numbers and size distribution, and the formation of structural isomers."

"We treated them as molecules, not particles, which in a process resembling a polymerization reaction, organize themselves into polymer-like assemblies," says Kumacheva. "Using this analogy, we used the theory of polymerization and predicted the architecture of the so-called 'molecules' and also found other, unexpected features that can find interesting applications." Source: Chemists make breakthrough in nanoscience research. This work is detailed in the paper Step-Growth Polymerization of Inorganic Nanoparticles by Kun Liu, Zhihong Nie, Nana Zhao, Wei Li, Michael Rubinstein, Eugenia Kumacheva

Related news list by date, most recent first: self-assembly nanoparticles

'Molecular Glass Fibre'

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 17:19:00 GMT

Nanotechnologists have discovered that the photosynthesis system of bacteria can be used to transport light over relatively long distances. They have developed a type of 'molecular glass fibre', a thousand times thinner than a human hair.

All plants and some bacteria use photosynthesis to store energy from the sun. Researchers from the MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology of the University of Twente have now discovered how parts of the photosynthesis system of bacteria can be used to transport light. In their experiments the researchers used isolated proteins from the so-called Light Harvesting Complex (LHC). These proteins transport the sunlight in the cells of plants and bacteria to a place in the cell where the solar energy is stored. The researchers built a type of 'molecular glass fibre' from the LHC proteins that is a thousand times thinner than a human hair.

In the experiment the researchers fastened the proteins onto a fixed background. They positioned them in a line, and in this way formed a thread. They then shone laser light to one point in the thread, and observed where the light went to. The line with the LHC proteins did not only transport the light, but transported it over much longer distances than the researchers had initially expected. Distances of around 50 nanometres are normally bridged in the bacteria from which the LHC proteins were isolated. In the researchers' experiments the light covered distances at least thirty times greater.

According to Cees Otto, one of the researchers involved, we can learn a lot from nature in experiments such as this. "The LHC proteins are the building blocks that nature gives us, and using then we can learn more about natural processes such as the transport of light in photosynthesis. When we understand how nature works, we can then imitate it. In time we will be able to use this principle in, for example, solar panels."

The research was carried out in partnership with the University of Sheffield, and fully financed by NanoNed. Source: MESA+/University of Twente nanotechnologists create ‘molecular glass fibres’. This work is detailed in the paper Long-Range Energy Propagation in Nanometre Arrays of Light Harvesting Antenna Complexes by Maryana Escalante, Aufried Lenferink, Yiping Zhao, Niels Tas, Jurriaan Huskens, Neil Hunter, Vinod Subramaniam and Cees Otto. "Here we report the first observation of long-range transport of excitation energy within a biomimetic molecular nanoarray constructed from LH2 antenna complexes from Rhodobacter sphaeroides."

Related news list by date, most recent first: nanophotonics energy

World's first nanoparticle-based cancer treatment to come to market

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 22:02:00 GMT

Following more than 20 years of research and development efforts, MagForce Nanotechnologies AG, a majority-owned subsidiary of Nanostart AG, has received regulatory approval for medical use of its Nano-Cancer® therapy throughout the European Union. This momentous event marks the world’s first nanoparticle-based cancer treatment to come to market.

Approval was granted for the treatment of brain tumors.

This novel therapy involves the instillation directly into the tumor of a fluid containing special iron oxide nanoparticles. These magnetic nanoparticles are then subjected to a controlled magnetic field so that they oscillate and generate heat. The elevated temperature within the tumor causes the cancer cells to be damaged or destroyed.

This approval follows successful completion of the conformity evaluation procedure of the company’s NanoTherm® magnetic fluid by Medcert GmbH and of its NanoActivator® magnetic field applicator by Berlin Cert GmbH. Both of these medical certification and testing companies are officially authorized centers for the conformity evaluation of medical devices.

“With regulatory approval now received, our company has entered a new phase. MagForce is transforming itself from a medical R&D company to a commercial provider of medical technology,” said Dr. Peter Heinrich, CEO of MagForce Nanotechnologies.

MagForce founder and CSO Dr. Andreas Jordan added, “After research and development efforts spanning more than 20 years, we now have regulatory approval in hand. This is a historic moment for us.”

This regulatory approval gives the green light for the company to proceed with its planned market launch of Nano-Cancer® therapy, which will commence in the coming weeks.

Nanostart CEO Marco Beckmann underscored that “regulatory approval was granted not just for glioblastoma but for the treatment of all brain tumors, thus opening enormous market potential for the new therapy. We congratulate the management team and entire staff at MagForce on this tremendous success.”

The regulatory approval was received based on the results of a clinical study in patients suffering from recurrent glioblastoma, a particularly aggressive and deadly form of brain tumor. In these clinical trials, the new therapy was able to demonstrate its remarkable effectiveness, with median patient survival time increased from 6.2 months using conventional therapies to 13.4 months using Nano-Cancer® therapy in combination with radiotherapy. Median patient survival following diagnosis of the recurrence was thus more than doubled. Furthermore, compared to existing conventional treatments, the side effects and patient discomfort associated with the new therapy are minimal. Source: Nanostart subsidiary MagForce Nanotechnologies receives EU regulatory approval for its Nano-Cancer® therapy

Related news list by date, most recent first: milestone nanomedicine nano-oncology nanoparticles