Origami is capable of turning a simple sheet of paper into a pretty paper crane, but the principles behind the paper-folding art can also be applied to making a microfluidic device for a blood test, or for storing a satellite's solar panel in a rocket's cargo bay.
Dec 11th, 2014
Read moreScientists have found a way of targeting hard-to-reach cancers and degenerative diseases using nanoparticles, but without causing the damaging side effects the treatment normally brings.
Dec 11th, 2014
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Researchers have found that stacking materials that are only one atom thick can create semiconductor junctions that transfer charge efficiently, regardless of whether the crystalline structure of the materials is mismatched - lowering the manufacturing cost for a wide variety of semiconductor devices such as solar cells, lasers and LEDs.
Dec 11th, 2014
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Scientists use liquid-cell electron microscopy to investigate galvanic replacement reactions between silver nanoparticle templates and aqueous palladium salt solutions.
Dec 11th, 2014
Read moreA walking molecule, so small that it cannot be observed directly with a microscope, has been recorded taking its first nanometre-sized steps.
Dec 11th, 2014
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Bismuth nanowires have intriguing electronic and energy-harvesting application possibilities. However, fabricating these materials with high quality and in large quantities is challenging. Researchers have now demonstrated a new technique to produce single- crystal nanowires atop arbitrary substrates, including glass, silicon, and metal, when an intermediate layer of vanadium is present.
Dec 11th, 2014
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Scientists describe a novel protocol to obtain different types of nanostructures from a single helical polymer and certain metal salts. An outstanding characteristic of these macromolecules is that their helicity can be tuned by the action of diverse external stimuli such as temperature, polarity or metal ions. Consequently, these polymers act as sensors.
Dec 11th, 2014
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The LICARA guidelines are geared towards small and medium-sized enterprises from all branches of industry, and help weigh up the pros and cons of nanomaterials and make decisions on their use. The guidelines also do their bit towards efficient communication in the value added chain.
Dec 11th, 2014
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By switching from silicon to an organic, or carbon-based, design, researchers were able to create a device that could ultimately be thin, cheap and flexible enough to be slapped on like a Band-Aid.
Dec 10th, 2014
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Engineers have demonstrated a new and more efficient way to trap light, using a phenomenon called bound states in the continuum that was first proposed in the early days of quantum wave mechanics.
Dec 10th, 2014
Read moreScientists have developed a new 'high-entropy' metal alloy that has a higher strength-to-weight ratio than any other existing metal material.
Dec 10th, 2014
Read moreResearchers describe the successful implementation of imaging techniques that will allow scientists to identify molecules and map their locations to areas smaller than a micron. The team demonstrated the technique with natural samples, including a sample from the Murchison meteorite and a cometary dust grain (Iris) from NASA's Stardust mission.
Dec 10th, 2014
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For the first time, scientists report the development of a stretchable 'electronic skin' closely modeled after our own that can detect not just pressure, but also what direction it's coming from.
Dec 10th, 2014
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Scientists have devised the first detailed model to quantify what they believe was the last unknown characteristic of film formation through deposition by vacuum sublimation and chemical vapor deposition.
Dec 10th, 2014
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The Structure of Paramagnetic Aggregates from Colloidal Emulsions (InSPACE) series of experiments on the International Space Station explored nanoparticles suspended in Magnetorheolocial (MR) fluids - a type of smart fluid that tends to self-assemble into shapes in the presence of a magnetic field.
Dec 10th, 2014
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As part of a project demonstrating new 3-D printing techniques, researchers have embedded tiny light-emitting diodes into a standard contact lens, allowing the device to project beams of colored light.
Dec 10th, 2014
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