Nanotechnology News – Latest Headlines

GreenDroid chip prototype leverages dark silicon to improve smartphone battery life

A new smartphone chip prototype under development at the University of California, San Diego will improve smartphone efficiency by making use of 'dark silicon' - the underused transistors in modern microprocessors.

September 2, 2010 Read more

NSF funds expedition into software for efficient computing in the age of nanoscale devices

A visionary team of computer scientists and electrical engineers from six universities is proposing to deal with the downside of nanoscale computer components by re-thinking and enhancing the role that software can play in a new class of computing machines that are adaptive and highly energy efficient.

September 2, 2010 Read more

Scientists discover proton diode

Biophysicists in Bochum have discovered a diode for protons: just like the electronic component determines the direction of flow of electric current, the 'proton diode' ensures that protons can only pass through a cell membrane in one direction. Water molecules play an important role here as active components of the diode.

September 2, 2010 Read more

Researchers illuminate operation of molecular gateway to the cell nucleus

QB3 biophysicists have traced with unprecedented resolution the paths of cargos moving through the nuclear pore complex (NPC), a selective nanoscale aperture that controls access to the cell's nucleus, and answered several key questions about its function.

September 2, 2010 Read more

Nanotechnology-enabled solar energy harvesting: Building the supply chain

The Technology Strategy Board and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council in the UK have jointly allocated up to GBP7m to invest in highly innovative, collaborative research projects looking at the use of novel nanoscale technologies to enable the next generation of solar energy harvesting.

September 2, 2010 Read more

Fraunhofer ITEM erforscht die Gesundheitsrisiken von carbon nanotubes

Um potenzielle Risiken fuer den Menschen auszuschliessen, foerdert das Bundesministerium fuer Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) den Forschungsverbund CarboTox fuer drei Jahre mit rund 1,25 Millionen Euro.

September 2, 2010 Read more

Experiment records ultrafast chemical reaction with vibrational echoes

To watch a magician transform a vase of flowers into a rabbit, it's best to have a front-row seat. Likewise, for chemical transformations in solution, the best view belongs to the molecular spectators closest to the action.

September 1, 2010 Read more

International Sunbelt Social Network Conference - The case of nanotechnology

The 30th International Sunbelt Social Network Conference (Sunbelt XXX) was held June 29 to July 4, 2010 in Trento, Italy. This is the official conference for the International Network for Social Network Analysis (INSNA).

September 1, 2010 Read more

Researchers develop new nanoscale piezoelectric logic devices

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a new class of electronic logic device in which current is switched by an electric field generated by the application of mechanical strain to zinc oxide nanowires.

September 1, 2010 Read more

New smart materials process promises to revolutionize manufacturing of products

A new 'smart materials' process - Multiple Memory Material Technology - developed by University of Waterloo engineering researchers promises to revolutionize the manufacture of diverse products such as medical devices, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), printers, hard drives, automotive components, valves and actuators.

September 1, 2010 Read more

A model system for group behavior of nanomachines

Probing for principles underlying flock patterns.

September 1, 2010 Read more

New pump created for microneedle drug-delivery patch

Purdue University researchers have developed a new type of pump for drug-delivery patches that might use arrays of microneedles to deliver a wider range of medications than now possible with conventional patches.

September 1, 2010 Read more

Researchers use small crystal of ions to detect forces at the yoctonewton scale

Measurements of slight forces - one yoctonewton is equivalent to the weight of a single copper atom on Earth - can be useful in force microscopy, nanoscale science, and tests of fundamental physics theories.

September 1, 2010 Read more

Researchers create 'quantum cats' made of light

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have created 'quantum cats' made of photons (particles of light), boosting prospects for manipulating light in new ways to enhance precision measurements as well as computing and communications based on quantum physics.

September 1, 2010 Read more

Novel nanotechnology collaboration leads to breakthrough in cancer research

Researchers clear hurdle on path toward gene-therapy treatment for disease.

September 1, 2010 Read more

Submarines could use new nanotube technology for sonar and stealth

Speakers made from carbon nanotube sheets that are a fraction of the width of a human hair can both generate sound and cancel out noise - properties ideal for submarine sonar to probe the ocean depths and make subs invisible to enemies.

September 1, 2010 Read more