Nanotechnology News – Latest Headlines

Physicists develop single-photon emitting light source

Tiny components with the ability to emit single particles of light are important for various technological innovations. Physicists now have made significant progress in the fabrication of such structures.

January 26, 2012 Read more

Scientists create first free-standing 3-D cloak

Researchers in the US have, for the first time, cloaked a three-dimensional object standing in free space, bringing the much-talked-about invisibility cloak one step closer to reality. Whilst previous studies have either been theoretical in nature or limited to the cloaking of two-dimensional objects, this study shows how ordinary objects can be cloaked in their natural environment in all directions and from all of an observer's positions.

January 26, 2012 Read more

Solving energy problems, one molecule at a time

Materials scientist explores new possibilities in topics from molecules to rooftop solar panels.

January 26, 2012 Read more

The first atomic X-ray laser

Using neon atoms, researchers generated ultra-short X-ray bursts of unique color purity. In many cases, this allows a sharper look into the nano world.

January 25, 2012 Read more

Chemists synthesize artificial cell membrane

Chemists have taken an important step in making artificial life forms from scratch. Using a novel chemical reaction, they have created self-assembling cell membranes, the structural envelopes that contain and support the reactions required for life.

January 25, 2012 Read more

Guinness World Record: X-ray laser FLASH shoots fastest movie

It's official: The world's fastest movie was shot by DESY's X-ray laser FLASH in Hamburg. In its 2012 edition, the famous Guinness Book of World Records lists an interval of a mere 50 femtoseconds between two frames for FLASH.

January 25, 2012 Read more

Protein folding game Foldit functionally remodels enzyme

Foldit, which was initially funded by DARPA, is a game with an online community of 240,000 players that allows non-experts and experts alike to collaborate and solve protein folding puzzles. Solutions to these puzzles are sent to biochemistry researchers to analyze for advances in protein design prediction.

January 25, 2012 Read more

National Research Council issues new nanotechnology risk report

Despite extensive investment in nanotechnology and increasing commercialization over the last decade, insufficient understanding remains about the environmental, health, and safety aspects of nanomaterials. Without a coordinated research plan to help guide efforts to manage and avoid potential risks, the future of safe and sustainable nanotechnology is uncertain, says a new report from the National Research Council.

January 25, 2012 Read more

Managing research information: one size does not fit all

Research councils, publishing houses, libraries and learned societies need to tailor their efforts to help physical scientists gather, manage and share research information.

January 25, 2012 Read more

Jupiter's Trojans on an atomic scale

The planet Jupiter keeps asteroids on stable orbits - and in a similar way, electrons can be stabilized in their orbit around the atomic nucleus. Calculations carried out at the Vienna University of Technology have now been verified in an experiment.

January 25, 2012 Read more

Ein Schritt zur Spintronik: Elektronen-Autobahn

An der Oberflaeche von topologischen Isolatoren mit Germanium, Zinn oder Blei fliesst Strom sehr geordnet .

January 25, 2012 Read more

Hacking the SEM: Crystal phase detection for nanoscale samples

Custom modifications of equipment are an honored tradition of the research lab. In a recent paper, two materials scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) describe how a relatively simple mod of a standard scanning electron microscope (SEM) enables a roughly 10-fold improvement in its ability to measure the crystal structure of nanoparticles and extremely thin films.

January 25, 2012 Read more

Cool nanoscale loudspeakers could makes for better MRIs, quantum computers

A team of physicists from the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI), the Neils Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Harvard University has developed a theory describing how to both detect weak electrical signals and cool electrical circuits using light and something very like a nanosized loudspeaker.

January 25, 2012 Read more

Crystallizing the future of oxide materials

A University of Arkansas physicist and his colleagues have examined the challenges facing scientists building the next generation of materials and innovative electronic devices and identified opportunities for taking the rational material design in new directions.

January 25, 2012 Read more

Under the electron microscope - a 3D image of an individual protein

At the Molecular Foundry, Berkeley Lab's acclaimed nanotechnology research center, Ren has pushed his Zeiss Libra 120 Cryo-Tem microscope to resolutions never envisioned by its German manufacturers, producing detailed snapshots of individual molecules. Today, he and his colleague Lei Zhang are reporting the first 3-D images of an individual protein ever obtained with enough clarity to determine its structure.