Nanotechnology News – Latest Headlines

Researchers are upgrading an element by stretching it

In a project, researchers are exploring if there is a way to fine-tune germanium's physical properties, and thus improve its optoelectronic characteristics (how well it interfaces between electronics and light).

Oct 24th, 2016

Disrupting the research process: changing materials science with robotics, AI and autonomy

The AFRL Materials and Manufacturing Directorate's Autonomous Research System, or ARES, can design, conduct and evaluate experimental data without human intervention, revolutionizing the materials research process as it is today.

Oct 24th, 2016

Measuring the forces of biology

Biology, at the nitty-gritty level of motor proteins, DNA, and microtubules, takes its cue from physics. While much is known about the biological components that form the mitotic spindle, researchers are only beginning to explore the physical forces between those components.

Oct 24th, 2016

Nano-decoy lures human Influenza A virus to Its doom

To infect its victims, influenza A heads for the lungs, where it latches onto sialic acid on the surface of cells. So researchers created the perfect decoy: A carefully constructed spherical nanoparticle coated in sialic acid lures the influenza A virus to its doom. When misted into the lungs, the nanoparticle traps influenza A, holding it until the virus self-destructs.

Oct 24th, 2016

Creeping gel

Photosensitive self-oscillating gel to model biological crawling motions.

Oct 24th, 2016

The quantum sniffer dog

A laser and detector in one: a microscopic sensor has been developed by researchers, which can be used to identify different gases simultaneously.

Oct 24th, 2016

How to peel a bug: Engineering fast and effective antimicrobial killers

Scientists have engineered a new way to kill bacteria, and subsequently visualised in real time how the bacteria under attack were stripped of their protective membranes and died. These findings could provide a physical basis for designing more-effective antibiotics.

Oct 24th, 2016

Quantum-dot solar windows evolve with 'doctor-blade' spreading

A research team demonstrates an important step in taking quantum dot, solar-powered windows from the laboratory to the construction site.

Oct 24th, 2016

Talking speckles

The amount of light, passing through an opaque layer, can be enhanced using smart techniques. At the same time, the amount of reflected light diminishes, researchers now show. It's as if light speckles have a conversation of their own.

Oct 24th, 2016

New materials with photonic crystals that filter radiation

Researchers have proposed various designs of materials of a photonic crystal type that can be used to filter radiation. Specifically, the focus has been to develop a coating comprising dielectric spheres which if applied to a window, for example, would prevent the outside heat entering in the summer and the indoor heat from escaping in winter.

Oct 24th, 2016