Nanotechnology News Archive

8/8/2019 Nanotechnology News Archive

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Nanotechnology News ArchiveThe Ancient Swords of Damascus - Enhanced with Nanotubes? Nov. 21, 2006

Think carbon nanotubes are a new invention? Think again!When the Crusaders fought against the Muslims in ancienthistory, they may have felt the might of their distinctive,patterned Damascus blades. Sabres from Damascus, strong andsharp and made from a type of steel called wootz, date back as

far as 900 AD. Legend has it that these sharp patterned bladescould cut a piece of silk in half as it falls to ground and stillmaintain the sharpness of its edge after cleaving through stone,metal, and even other swords

The secret of the swords' manufacture was lost in theeighteenth century, but researchers at Dresden University,Germany, have electron-microscope pictures of the swords that


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show microstructures of nanometer-sized tubes. These tubeswere only revealed after a part of the sword was dissolved inhydrochloric acid to remove another microsctructure -cementite nanowires. It is possible that these carbon nanotubesrunning through the blade's steel make it much more resilient.

Perhaps there is some truth in the myth after all?

Source: Sharpest cut from nanotube sword

A Wanna-be Rocker Fantasy Come True Nov. 20, 2006Attention! All wanna-be rock stars! Australian scientistshave developed a high-tech T-shirt that turns the strummingon an air guitar into music. The T-shitr is equiped with built-in motion sensors in the elbows that detect arm movementsand relay them wirelessly to a computer that interprets them

as guitar riffs. The sensors on one arm interprets the chord-picking, while the other detects strumming. This wearableshirt is adaptable to both right and left-handed would-berock stars.

"It's an easy-to-use, virtual instrument that allows real-timemusic making - even by players without significant musicalor computing skills. It allows you to jump around and thesuond generated is just like an original mp3." -- Dr. RichardHelmer

This high-tech shirt represents a collaboration betweenCSIRO researchers in computing, chemistry, electronics,music composition, and textile manufacture. Some otherapplications include using the feedback from these sensorsfor better computer graphic simulations or sportingtechnique improvements.

Source:Every wanna-be rocker's fantasy come true (Mediarelease)

Nanotechnology-based Hair Dye - an ancient Egyptian recipe Oct. 30, 2006

How old is nanotechnology in human history? 10 years? 100years? No, it's over 4000 years old. Back in ancient Egyptiantimes, people used nanotechnology for cosmetics and hair dyes.In the Greco-Roman period, organic hair dyes from plants,such as henna, were commonly used for human hair, and havebeen used up to modern times. However, some unusualformulas using lead compounds were also used to dye hair and


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wool black.

Recently, studies on the use of lead salts for hair darkeninghave shown that lead sulfide nanocrystals form inside a hairduring the dyeing procedure. The picture on the left shows

some blonde hair being treated with the ancient hairdye recipeand the progression of darkening. These lead sulfide crystalsthat form are 5 nanometers in diameter and appaear to be verysimilar to the lead sulfide quantum dots that are beingsynthesized by modern scientists. However, unlike moderntechnology, the dyeing process uses basic chemistry methodsand low-cost natural materials. By studying this process ofsynthetic nanoscale biomineralization in hair, scientists canbetter understand how to grow and organize nanoparticles forother uses.

Source:Nanotechnology in Cosmetics - 2000 Years Ago...

Raindrops Falling on my... NanoNuno Sept. 27, 2006Have you ever set a wet umbrella in a corner after some heavy rain...only to find that later puddles of dirty rainwater have pooled around andgetting your floor/carpet wet and muddy? Well, worry no more! TheNanoNuno umbrella cleans and dries with just a good shake. What'sthe secret? - Innovative nanotechnology by modeling the umbrella fabricafter a natural phenomenon - the lotus leaf.

In nature, rough nanostructures on the leaves of the lotus plant allow dirtand moisture to simply roll off due to smaller surface areas thatwater/dirt can stick. This is why the lotus flower can emerge frommuddy waters unblemished and untouched by pollution. TheNanoNuno was developed in Switzerland during many years ofresearch based nature's ability to self-clean. Due to absence of dirt andwater, the manufacturer claims that the umbrella will look brand-neweven after years of use.

Source:NanoNuno Umbrella - Always Dry

Nanotechnology Catches Fish! Sept. 27, 2006Ahoy! All ye fisherman who like over-priced shiny lures... InOctober, the shiniest lure of them all is coming to market,created by the major vacuum equipment manufacturer Ulvac.Using nanotechnology, the "Strom" lure is covered with aspecial optical nanocoating that makes it reflective and shinyfrom any viewing angle. And, what do fish like best? Shiny


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things! Selling at $25 a piece, Ulvac claims that these snazzylures are proven to attract four times more fish.

Source:Nanotechnology Strom Fishing Lures Catches MoreFish

Light-Emitting Shirts Sept. 7, 2006Although the technology is fairly new, Philips Research has made amazing progress inintegrating Lumalive fabrics into garments that can be worn by people. Lumalive fabrics aremade of flexible arrays of colored light-emitting diodes (LEDs) integrated into the fabric so thatthe fabric remains soft and flexible. With these fabrics, it's possible to create clothing that carrydynamic messages, graphics, or multicolored surfaces. These fabrics can even be used in drapes,cushions, or sofa coverings!

Jackets, featuring 200 mm x 200 mm panels of Lumalive fabrics, are comfortable to wear and

can light up to display vivid colored patterns, logos, short text messages, or even full coloranimations. For the parts that can't be easily washed - such as the batteries and controlelectronics, Philips Research has designed a simple disconnect-reconnect socket into thegarment. Even the light emitting layer of the jacket can be easily removed and refitted.

Click on the movie screen on the right to watch a Youtube clip of these amazing LED shirts!

Source: Philips illuminates IFA 2006 with production-ready Lumalive textile garments

Nanowire Paper Sept. 4, 2006

Like your everyday notebook paper, this new type of nanowire-paper can be folded, cut, bent, and used as a filter. But unlikenormal paper, it is chemically inert, robust, and can be heatedup to 700 degrees Celsius. Researchers at the University ofArkansas have created long nanowires out of titanium dioxideconnected by free-standing membranes. The resulting materialis white, resembles regular paper, and has a variety of potentialapplications, such as armor, flame-retardant fabric, bacteriafilters, controlled drug release, decomposition of pollutants,and chemical warfare agents.

Source:Nanowire-Paper Offers Strength, Flexibility

Climb Like A Gecko Sept. 4, 2006


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Geckos have remarkable hairs on their feet that allow them tohang single-toed from sheer walls and scamper along ceilings.Researchers and engineers at the University of California,Berkeley have created an array of synthetic microfibers tomimic this natural phenomenon. Made of high-friction

materials that prevent sliding under high loads, thesepolypropylene fibers can hold a quarter to a glass slide that istilted at an 80 degree angle. These fibers are highly packed,with approximately 42 million fibers per square centimeter,each fiber measuring 20 micrometers in length and 0.6micrometers in diameter. One micron is one-thousandth of amillimeter. However, these fibers do not exhibit adhesion,which means that even if they make micro-fiber suits, peopleshouldn't try any Spiderman stunts!

Source:Engineers create gecko-inspired, high-friction micro-

fibers

The Sharpest Tip Sept. 3, 2006

Forget the popular phrase, "sharp as a tack." Researchers at theUniversity of Alberta have revised the expression to be, "sharp as asingle atom tip formed by chemically assisted spatially controlled fieldevaporation." It might not roll off the tongue as easily, but it would befar more accurate. Scientists at theNational Institute ofNanotechnology (NINT) at the University of Alberta have used aunique process to make a small sharp pyramid of tungsten atomscovered with a one-atom-thick coating of nitrogen, stable enough to

withstand about 900 degrees Celsius. These super-sharp tips arenecessary for making contacts with metals orsemiconductors.Ultrafine tips are also useful in helping researchers manipulate andexamine atoms, molecules, and other small particles. These tips, inparticular, are so sharp that they work as excellent emitter of electronbeams, and can potentially be used to improve the current electronmicroscopes

Source:University of Alberta Nanotechnology Researchers CreateSharpest Tip Ever Known

Nanotube Printer Ink Sept. 3, 2006


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The picture on the right of Albert Einstein may not look remarkable, butit's actually an electrically conductive image printed on regular printerpaper with carbon nanotube ink. Using an off-the-shelf inkjet printer,scientists have developed an easy technique to print patterns of carbonnanotubes on paper and plastic surfaces. Carbon nanotubes have

fascinated researchers with their high strength, low weight, and excellentconductivity since their discovery in 1991. Most current techniques forpatterning nanotubes have required the use of expensive equipment, butthis new inkjet printer technique may allow nanotubes to be easilydeposited on various surfaces. Since nanotubes are good conductors, theprinted images are able to conduct electricity, which opens up newpossibilities in the field of flexible electronics. Some scientists arethinking of printing electronics onto cloth, allowing people to actually"wear" a battery or a cell phone!

Source:Nanotube ink: Desktop printing of carbon nanotube patterns

Tiny Bacteria-Powered Motors Sept. 3, 2006

So, you've probably seen horses pulling carraiges or dogs haulinga sled through snow, but have you ever seen motors run bybacteria? This newest use of animal power requires a microscopeto see the little critters in action. Researchers in Japan have founda way to use crawling bacteria to power a rotating micromotor.The rotor is made of silicon dioxide and powered by a strain ofbacteria calledMycoplasma mobile, which are pear-shaped andjust 1 micrometer long. When placed on a mat made of certainproteins, these bacteria crawl around. Scientists coat the groove

underneath the rotor with a special protien that attracts thebacteria and then cover the rotor with another type of protein. Thebacteria is coated with a substance that is attracted to the proteinon the rotor and let loose into the grooves. The bacteria areencoraged to move in just one direction around the circle, andtheir movements cause them to brush against the rotor, causing itto turn. The bacteria movement is slow and the rotor spins onlytwice as fast as the second hand on a watch. However, with morebacteria, the rotor might be able to spin 100 times faster. Usingbacteria to power machines has great potential in the future of"living machines" since bacteria run on simple sugars for fuel and

can easily replicate and repair themselves.

Source:Bacteria Power a Tiny Motor

Nano Bed Sheets Aug. 29, 2006At your local JC Penny store, you can now purchase wrinkle-free 100% cotton performance sheets that make use of


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nanotechnology to engineer materials to perform specialfunctions. Traditional coatings on bed sheets make them feelstuff and clog the weave of the fabric, making it harder for theskin to breath at night.Nano-Tex's Coolest Comfort fabric usesnano-sized treatments that are small enough to attach to the

fabric fibers without clogging the weave. As a result, the fabricis able to draw moisure away from the skin and help balancebody temperature so that you can snuggle up and get a goodnight's sleep!

Source:U.S. Department Store Chain Now Offers Nano BedSheets in Hundreds of Locations

Tour de France la Carbon Nanotubes Jul. 23, 2006

If Floyd Landis, leader of the Phonak team, wins thethree-week Tour de France, a popular bike race, it will

be a victory for nanotechnology too! For the race,Landis is riding a bike that has been enhanced withcarbon nanotubes. Since carbon nanotubes sprinkledinto materials can help reduce weight and provideadditional strength, the bikes ridden by the Phonakteam have nanotubes swirled into the frame. As aresult, the frame of the BMC Pro Machine SLC 01weighs less than a kilogram (that's 2.2 pounds!),making it one of the lightest frames in the race.Nanotubes were developed in the early '90s, and areessentially cylinders of carbon atoms arranged in

hexagons that look like spools of chicken wire under amicroscope. Their unique structure gives the tubesspecial properties. For example, nanotubes are severaltimes stronger than steel and much, much lighter.Nanotubes can also conduct electricity, act asinsulators, and transfer light signals. But currently, themain use of carbon nanotubes is to strengthen andreduce weight in retail items, such as cars, golf clubs,tennis rackets, and bikes!

Source:Carbon nanotubes enter Tour de France

Carbon Nanotubes: A Blast From The Past Jul. 9, 2006In early 1993, single-wall carbonnanotubes (SWNT) were independentlydiscovered by scientists at IBMAlmaden Research CenterandNEC inJapan. Made from transition metals


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mixed with carbon to catalyze thereaction, these early nanotubeformations had diameters ofapproximately 1 nanometer. At IBM,cobalt metal was used. These carbon

nanotubes behave like metals andsemiconductors, but can conductelectricity better than copper andtransmit heat better than diamond.Carbon nanotubes rank among thestrongest materials known to man.

Source:The Discovery of Single-WallCarbon Nanotubes at IBM

Photolithography - Smaller and Smaller Jul. 9, 2006

Earlier this year, researchers at IBM created the smallest, high-quality features ever made with the main-linephotolithographytechnique - 193nm deep UV illumination. This technology iscurrently used to "print" circuits onto semiconductorchips.Similar to silk-screening, except using light instead of paint orink, photolithography can transfer various designs and patternsonto a silicon wafer by shining laser light through a shadowmask onto a photosensitivephotoresist material that coats thesilicon wafer. As shown in the picture on the left, the ridgesformed by this technique are only 29.9 nanometers wide, whichis less than one-third the size of the current 90-nanometer

features (on the right) that are currently used in massproduction. Over the years, improvements in thephotolithography process have led to the continual shrinking ofcircuits and semiconductorchips, which in turn leads to smaller,faster, and cheaper electronics.

Source:IBM Research demonstrates path for extending currentchip-making technique

Liquid Armor Jun. 23, 2006Led by researchers at the University of Delaware and at the U.S. ArmyResearch Lab, a new "liquid armor" is being developed to protect againstlife-threatening injuries. The liquid is made up of a mixture of hardnanoparticles that flows under normal conditions, but stiffens and behaveslike a solid under impact. The impact causes the nanoparticles to form tinyclusters inside to fluid to prevent things from penetrating through thearmor. By treating fabrics with this liquid, a body armor could bedeveloped to prevent bullets, knife stabs, or shrapnel from harming the


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body. There are also a number of civilian applications, such as protectionagainst car crashes or making tires sturdier.

Source:Liquid Armor

Nano Corks for Nano Test Tubes May 25, 2006Though chemotherapy works against many cancers, the sideeffects, such as nausea, temporary hair loss, and blood disease,can be huge. Looking to deliver cancer drugs only to cancercells, scientists from the University of Florida have found away to fill tiny carbon nanotubes with drugs and "cork" thetubes. After injection into the body, these tiny test tubes willseek out diseased cells, uncork, and deliver the drugs to theright place. Each tube is about 80 nanometers in diameter andcan hold 5 million drug molecules, which definitely packs apunch.

Source:World's tiniest test tubes get teensiest corks

Nano Paint May 15, 2006Well we have all been places where the cell phone dontwork. What a pain!. But maybe there are times whenpeople shouldn't be allowed to use their cell phones, forexample, at the movie theatres or during class lectures.NaturalNano, a Rochester, N.Y. based company, isdeveloping high-tech paint that can effectively block out

unwanted cell phone signals. Based on nanotechnology,the paint uses particles of copper inserted into"nanotubes", which are then blended into the paint todeflect radio signals. The company claims that it canfilter out unwanted signals, while allowing certaintransmissions, such as the emergency notification ofsurgery for a brain surgeon, to proceed as normal.

Source:Nano Paint blocks wireless signals

Human Duracells Apr. 18, 2006

Tired of having to carry batteries around with you for allyour devices? Scientists at the Georgia Institute ofTechnology are looking to change all of that by usingnanotechnology to turn you into a battery. Zinc oxidenanowires, which are non-toxic and safe for humans,would be implanted into the body. The bending andrelaxing of those wires would create electricity. That


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means that we would be creating electricity just by movingor flexing our muscles. These nanowires are so small theywould not impede or constrain people. A nanometer is justone billionth of a meter. A human hair is about 100,000nanometers thick.

Source:Nanogenerators could turn you into a battery

Tiny Microphones Made From Locust Eardrumst Apr. 18, 2006Ever wanted to know how the world sounds through the ears ofan insect? A team of scientists at the University of Bristol havebeen exploring the eardrums of locusts and mosquitoes bystudying how they respond to different noises. Insects eardrumsvibrate by only a few nanometers when they detect extremelyfaint sounds. By using nanotechnology to study how insects

hear, we can develop microphones to detect noises that thehuman ear and modern instruments are not able to sense.

Source:How a locusts eardrum could lead to tiny microphones

Walking Musclebots Apr. 14, 2006

Youve probably heard of robots. But, have you heard ofmusclebots? Scientists at UCLA have made miniature walkingmachines out of rat heart muscles. Each time the musclecontracts and relaxes, the musclebot takes a step. To make thistiny muscle machines, scientists grow a thin film of heartmuscle right on the nanobot using nanotechnology fabricationtechniques. In the future, these musclebots could be used todeliver drugs or building other tuny machines.

Micro Musclebot: Wee walker moves by heart cells' beats

Nano-Enhanced Washing Machines Apr. 2, 2006If youve ever walked down the clothing detergent aisle at the supermarket,you may have had a hard time deciding which brand of detergent would kill

the most bacteria or give you the cleanest clothes. Now, Samsung hasdeveloped a new washing machine called the Silver Nano Health Systemswhich shoots nano-sized silver ions into the water. The designers at Samsungclaim that this new technology will kill 99.9% of odor-causing bacteria. Thesilver ions will attack and destroy the cell walls of bacteria, and coats theclothing so that any bacteria coming into contact with the ions will stopreproducing for up to 30 days!


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Source:Nano washing machine heading to the U.K.

Self replicating machines?

So the only things that can more of themselves are living right?Not really. Scientists at Cornell University have created robotsthat can pick up parts and make more of themselves. It is aprocess called self-replication and the blocks look like Legosexcept that one set will pick up individual blocks and make acopy of itself. The robots are pretty simple and do make more ofthemselves really fast "The four-module robot was able toconstruct a replica in 2.5 minutes by lifting and assemblingcubes from the feeding locations," said Hod Lipson, the scientist who headed the team. But itshows it can be done and imagine the possibilities.

Source:Self-replicating robot created

DNA machines

Ever think about taking your DNA out for a walk? Well not exactly takingYOUR DNA out for a walk but scientists have made DNA molecules thatcan walk. It turns out that DNA is a pretty interesting molecule and youcan make all sorts of shapes. You can make circles, you can also makeDNA that is shaped like a Y. But you can also make DNA that will move

from one place to another by designing the sequence so that it grabs on toone strand of DNA and then another. Kind of like climbing hand over handon a set of monkey bars, except these walkers are only a few nanometers insize. There are lots of tiny machines found in nature, machines that helpmove stuff around inside of a cell. They are all pretty simple and thechallenge for nanotechnology is make machines that can do some seriouswork.

Source:DNA machines take a walk

Can scientists read your mind?

No, not yet -- don't worry! But they're working on it -- anda recent study showed that they can tell at least some things by


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reading your brain waves. They gave a group of study subjects two different colored patterns tolook at, and used a technique called MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) to take a sort of pictureof brain activity when the subjects looked at the red and the blue patterns. They discovered thatonce they had a picture of brain activity for a particular color, they could then use thatinformation to "guess" which color a person was looking at without knowing beforehand. What

this shows is that it is possible to get at least some small picture of what someone is thinking,ust by studying their brain waves. It's a long way away from having any kind of machine thatcan read all of your thoughts, but maybe someday it won't be unusual at all!

Source:Thoughts read' via brain scans

Nanoparticles can make paper waterproof

Have you ever put a piece of paper in water and let it sit? It doesn'tlast long! Well, a company called Ecology Coatings hasaccidentally hit upon a way to make paper waterproof -- and still

writeable! The company makes a special kind of paper coatingenhanced with nanoparticles, that helps paper dry faster whenexposed to ultraviolet light. One day the researchers discoveredthat by embedding the coating actually inside the paper instead of

surrounding it on the outside, the paper became waterproof -- but without changing the textureof it and amking it difficult to write on, as other waterproofing methods usually do. This paperand its special nanoparticle secret sauce could eventually be used to make shipping labels andother paper products that need to be protected from the weather. You could let this paper soak inwater all night long, and still be able to write on it in the morning!

Source:Making paper waterproof--and writable

Bacteria can grow nanowires that carry electricity

When you turn on a light at home, the bulb lights up because anelectric current has travelled from the breaker box in yourhome's electrical system to the outlet the lamp is plugged into,and on through the power cord to provide electrical power to thelight so it can glow. If you can imagine this process happeningon a very tiny scale, you'll have some idea about why scientistsare excited to discover there is a strain of bacteria that canactually make extremely small wires that conduct electricity.

This Geobacter bacteria has been shown to be useful at cleaning up toxic spills, and veryrecently has been shown to create long, thin nanowires that can send electricity back and forth.This could find lots of applications in engineering and systems biology, but more importantly --it's really cool!

Source:Bacteria grow conductive wires

HiRise camera will take high quality photographs of Mars


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Have you ever dreams of going into space? How about to hopover to Mars and see what it's like? Well, even if you don't getthere yourself you can at least have the next best thing prettysoon -- the most high quality images of the red planet ever takenwill be beamed back down to Earth in the coming months. To

get them, NASA is sending the largest camera ever sent out ofEarth's orbit. It's called HiRise, and it takes images that are sohigh quality that just one of them would take 1,200 regularcomputer monitors to displau the whole thing! Even though thecamera will be in orbit about 300 kilometers above Mars's

surface, it will be able to identify and photograph objects as small as a coffee table on theplanet's surface. So, if you can't get into orbit yourself, at least we have HiRise to let us knowwhat it would look like!

Source: High-Resolution Camera to Survey Mars

The SAUVIM underwater vehicle pilots itself

You've probably seen all kinds of robots -- some that look likecars, some that look like lots of metal and wires, and some thateven look like people. This robot is called the SAUVIM robot, andit's the first robot that's designed to travel by itself underwater. It'sabout the size of an SUV and can dive up to 4 miles beneath theocean. Its computer brain can control an attached 150-poundrobotic arm that can pick up objects on the sea floor -- and

someday, maybe even fix things like underwater pipes or otherstructures built beneath the ocean surface.

Source:The Hawaiian Autonomous Undersea Robot

Nanotechnology for drummers

Have you ever been to a concert where one of the performers isa live drummer? Maybe you've seen all the microphones

attached to the different pieces of drum kit. Drummers need touse these microphones to amplify their sound, so that theirvolume can be loud enough to balance the volume of the otherplayers in the group. But placing all of those microphones isvery complicated and often takes a lot of time to set up. Acompany called B-Band has made a new device based onnanotechnology that would let drummers use a permanently installed piece of equipment calleda pickup instead of using microphones. It's not a pickup like a truck -- it's a pickup that takes the


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vibrations from hitting a drum and converts them to an electronic signal that can be amplified oreven recorded. Drummers would install this pickup, made of a very special plastic made up oftiny elastic fibers, and could get a much louder sound from their drums without having to useany microphones. It already takes a lot of time just to set up the drum kit alone, so these pickupscould save time and make a lot of drummers very happy!

Source:Nanotech gives drumkits a makeover

Robots could work with humans on space missions

Sending people into space can not only be very risky, but also veryexpensive. Human missions need a lot of support from teams on theground. One way of keeping costs lower would be to use robots inplace of at least some of the human astronauts on space missions. Butthe trouble is, these robots would have to be very smart in order to beuseful. Scientists at the University of Liverpool are working with

NASA to develop software for robots that would help them actintelligently, to "think" and make decisions on their own. These smartrobots would be able to help humans on space missions by carryingout complex tasks -- or even someday explore space on their own,with help from humans on the ground. Can you imagine a group ofrobots exploring the moon?

Source: Liverpool scientists to develop space robots with NASA

The race of the driverless cars

Would you ride in a robotic vehicle that drives itself? If you canbelieve it, there's a whole contest where a bunch of driverless carswill try to beat each other to the finish line in a 200 mile race. Therace, called the Grand Challengeis sponsored by the DefenseAdvanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and many teamsare working on building robot cars to compete in the event. The

race will be October 8, and the track is located in the MojaveDesert -- can you imagine a fleet of 20 robot vehicles racing eachother across the desert?

Source:Sandstorm robot makes unprecedented 200-mile autonomous run

Join your favorite TV game show from your phone


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Have you ever seen a game show on TV? How would you liketo be a part of the show, without ever having to leave your ownhouse? In fact, could you imagine being on the game show bysending in videos of yourself taken from a cellphone? Maybeyou don't have a cellphone yet, but your parents do. In the

United States, more and more cellphones are able to takepictures and even record videos, right on the phone. Then, youcan send the photos and videos wirelessly, through the air, to

your friends or to a special address that can publish your videos on the web. In Europe, they'vebeen testing a system where people can send in videos of themselves to a live TV game show,and have their video clip incorporated right into the TV show they're watching. Can you imaginebeing a part of your favorite TV show someday?

Source: Videophoning: Live on Television from Your Living Room

Nanowires can help scientists watch single brain cells

If you were a scientist studying the brain, you would want to getas many details as you could about how even the smallest part ofthe brain works. A single brain cell, called a neuron, is verydifficult to observe in its natural state, because it's on the insideof you! It's also very small, so doctors and scientists need to findother ways to look at brain cells besides viewing them directly.One new idea is to use very tiny wires called nanowires -- 100times thinner than a human hair -- to guide through the bloodsystem and into the brain. Because the wires are so small, scientists could guide them tolocations where they touch a single nerve cell and monitor its electrical activity. This would give

them a much closer picture of how these brain cells are working, closer than the techniques theyuse now which tell them things about small regions of brain tissue made up of many, many braincells. This technique hasn't yet been tried on human beings, but a successful test of the nanowiretechnique was run on tissue samples in laboratory. Maybe someday you'll even be able to watchyour own neurons as they work inside your brain!

Source: Wiring the Brain at the Nanoscale

Tiny nanotubes could help heal broken bones

So we've been talking a little bit about carbon nanotubes in some of the

stories below. If you remember, scientists are finding lots of differentways these nanotubes can be useful, because they are very light but alsovery strong. One more way scientists have found to use carbon nanotubesis in healing broken bones. Doctors often use something called a scaffoldto help the body's natural healing process when a bone is broken, becausethe scaffold helps provide a strong support to make sure the new bonetissue grows in correctly. The trouble is, keeping these scaffolds in placecan often involve the patient needing to wear complicated and


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uncomfortable supports while the bone is healing. Now, scientists are hopeful that carbonnanotubes can be used in place of these mechanical scaffolds. They've shown that nanotubes doa very good job acting like collagen, which is one of the most important materials in your bones.Instead of needing to implant synthetic scaffolds, scientists may one day be able to inject a smallamount of the nanotubes into a broken bone and simply wait for it to heal. This would make

healing a broken bone a lot easier for both the patient and for doctors, but it won't makebreaking a bone hurt any less!

Source:Nanotubes inspire new technique for healing broken bones

Would you eat meat grown in a laboratory?

Who would want to grow meat in a lab? Well, astronauts on long spaceflights might be interested, because regular meat would take up a lot of

space in a small spacecraft. NASA has shown that just such a thing canbe done on a small scale -- but maybe we could find some benefits fromproducing meat on a large scale, large enough that you could buy it atthe supermarket. The industry that produces meat from livestock likecows and chickens is very hard on the environment, because it causespollution. There are also drugs that are given to animals raised for meatthat can cause health problems. Also, if we could make our meat in alaboratory, we could replace some of the bad fats that cause cholesterol with healthier kinds offats. So you see, there are some good reasons that scientists are looking at ways of growingchicken nuggets without the chicken!

Source: Growing Nuggets Without the Chicken? Paper Says Edible Meat Can Be Grown in aLab

This spacesuit turns you into a geologist

How'd you like to put on a spacesuit? Better yet -- how'd you like to puton a spacesuit that will give you skills that would help you look for lifeon other planets? That's exactly what researchers in Spain have built.Geology is the study of rocks -- by looking at what makes up the rocks,

we can learn a lot about the history of our own planet as well as otherplanets. The spacesuit the Spanish scientists have built has a built-incomputer system that can help analyze ancient rocks on other planets,and tell astronauts whether or not those rocks contain any signs of wateror life. In fact, the suit can even tell you which rocks you'd need to

examine more closely, by using a special video camera to scan the landscape. When thecomputer finds a rock formation that might be interesting, it will send an alert right to a displayinside your helmet. Maybe someday if you're lucky enough to be an astronaut, this kind of


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spacesuit can turn you into an instant geologist, too!

Source: Space suits with geology skills built in

Nanotech bikes used in the Tour de France

You know about carbon nanotubes, right? They're very, verytiny tubes made only of carbon, and they're very, very strong.They're also very light, which makes them good for buildingthings that need to be both strong and light. Do you know whatthe Tour de France is? It's a very famous bike race that happensevery year. This year will be the first time that some of theracers will be using bikes that are built with carbon nanotubes.These bikes are lighter that many other bikes because of thecarbon nanotubes, and will help racers travel faster with less effort. They're also tough so they

won't break easily. We'll have to wait and see if one of the nanotube bikes helps someone winthe race!

Source:Nanotube bikes to be used in the Tour de France

Nanoparticles can help solve crimes

Maybe you've heard of DNA tests being used to help solve crimes. Afew flakes of skin or a hair found at the scene of a crime can be used by

scientists to make a kind of genetic fingerprint that can help identifywhether a particular person was the criminal or not. This is because ourDNA is very unique -- so unique that no one else will have DNA that isquite like yours. Scientists use a special method called PCR, orpolymerase chain reaction, to take the DNA from a very small samplelike a hair and make lots and lots of copies of it -- which makes theDNA easier to look at and analyze. It turns out that very tiny particles

of gold can help this PCR process work a lot better, and generate even more copies from theoriginal amount of DNA. This means that gold nanoparticles could be considered the world'ssmallest crimefighters!

Source: Gold nanoparticles improve sensitivity and specificityof genetic analysis and diagnosis

Could computers be made out of light?

You might know that computers today use electrons to passsignals back and forth on silicon chips. But scientists are alwayslooking for better and faster ways to send and store information,


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and are dreaming about what computers of the future would look like. One idea is thatcomputers can be made smaller -- much, much, smaller -- only the size of a handful of atoms!This idea of very, very small computers is called quantum computing. Quantum computing isstill a long way away, but scientists are hopeful that it could completely change the way we usecomputers. One group of scientists thinks we could make optical quantum computers: computers

that use light to communicate. Light is made up of tiny particles called photons, and thesephotons could take the place of electrons to send signals back and forth inside the computer.What do you think a computer made out of light would look like?

Source: HP researchers propose new path to optical quantum computing

Would you eat Nanofood?

You may already know that the food you eat is made upof lots of tiny particles that your body breaks down anddigests to give you energy. But what if our food had other

kinds of particles in it, say, very small nanoparticles thatcould change the color of your soda, for example?Scientists are looking at the idea of putting just thosekinds of particles into our food for a number of reasons:to make it easier to take medicines, better delivernutrients, and yes -- even to change the flavor or texture

of what you're eating as you eat it! It's still a long way off until we'd be able to buy anything likethis in a grocery store, but imagine that someday companies might sell a kind of candy thatwould let you decide for yourself what flavor and color it would be. Now that's some fun food!

Source: Are you ready for Nanofood?

Nanoparticles help treat cancer

When someone has cancer, doctors often treat themwith a number of different drugs that help to kill thecancer cells. The problem is, sometimes healthy cellsget harmed by the very powerful drugs that doctorsonly want to work on the bad cells. Now scientistshave found a way to use very tiny nanoparticles to

help solve the problem of the drugs hurting the goodcells. They take a small particle that looks almost likea very tiny tree, and attach the anti-cancer drug tosome of the tree's branches. They also attach anotherchemical called folic acid to some of the otherbranches. Cancer cells are very, very hungry for folicacid, so they gobble up the nanoparticles with the folicacid attached faster than normal, healthy cells do. This means the powerful anti-cancer drugs


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can act on mostly the bad cancer cells without harming the good, non-cancer cells.This makesthose tiny nanoparticles very useful trees, indeed!

Source:Nanoparticles transport cancer-killing drug into tumor cells to increase efficacy, lowerdrug toxicity in mice

The Bugbot can see inside you

How would you feel about a robot bug crawling inside of you?At Carnegie Mellon Univeristy, scientists are making a medicalrobot that can do just that, but it's not just to gross you out! TheBugbot is a very tiny robot with six legs and a camera that cantravel in your digestive system and take pictures. Doctors will beable to use the Bugbot to deliver drugs to very specific places in

your body, which means you would feel less of the side effectsof some of the powerful drugs used to treat diseases. The Bugbotcan also help doctors catch diseases much earlier, so that you

could be treated and prevent a lot of the damage the disease might cause to your body. Someday,the robot bug could even help doctors perform surgeries. Maybe it sounds a little bit creepy totalk about a robot performing surgery, but it could actually make the process a lot less painful!

Source:The 'Bugbot,' a Robot with Six Legs and a Camera

Nanotechnology can light up your brain

Our brain cells are changing all the t ime. They're full ofchemicals that send messages from one cell to another, butthey're much faster than the telephone! If scientists had a way oflooking at those chemicals in our brains as they change, itwould help them find out more about how our brains work, andhelp figure out how to treat diseases in our brains when they'renot working properly. Now nanotechnology gives scientists away to do that, by using very tiny molecules that change colorwhen they meet up with the chemicals in our brian cells. We say

that these tiny molecules are fluorescent, because they give off aspecial kind of light. Do you know what a black light is? Haveyou ever seen your white t-shirt glowing under a black light?That glow is also a kind of fluorescence. Imagine that scientists can hold up a black light to ourbrain cells and see how much of a certain chemical is present by how much it glows. Bywatching how the glow changes over time, they can get a better idea of what a healthy brainlooks like as compared to a diseased brain. This will help them make better drugs for treatingdiseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease, and help us keep our brains healthy longer!


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Source:Revolutionary nanotechnology illuminates brain cells at work

How Small Can a Brush

Be??

Nanotech Scientists have builta very small brush withbristles just 30 nm(nanometers) across and about100nm long. This brush ismade out of nanotubes, tinystraw-like molecules,extraordinarily small just 30billionth of a meter across.

The new nanobrush could beused to brush off small dustparticles, to clean water oreven to paint very smallsurfaces.


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What is nanotechnology?

To understand nanotechnology, first you should knowits a big word for some mighty small stuff. In fact,"small" as we know it doesnt even come close to beingsmall enough.

Lets learn some things about the first part of the word."Nano" comes from the Greek word for dwarf. Today,scientists use nano as a measure for something thatrequires special microscopes for them to see. Grab a

ruler, and flip to the centimeter side. See how long 1 centimeter is? Now imagine if youcould fit 10 million points between 0 and 1. The space between two of those points is ananometer. Do you only have inches on your ruler? Well, imagine 25 million points


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crammed inside of one inch. Dont try it. Just trust us!

So, now were talking tiny. Something smaller than a cell in your body. Way smaller thanthe head of a pin or thinner than a hair on your head though people who know nano sayhairs can be very different so well stay away from that. Either way, its definitely too small

to see.

As for technology, you may know that factories make bigthings like cars. When it comes to nanotechnology, scientistswork in factories, too. But they are called fabricationfacilities, or fabs for short. Its here where the technologypart comes in: scientists use machines that take things onlynanometers big, move and mix them with other ingredients,and turn them into materials that help make car partsstronger and lighter. Pants and shirts that keep stains away.Or sunscreens and medicines that work better.

Nanotechnology could even help clean up polluted water orland.

Of course, scientists dont even know everything about nanotechnology. Students andteachers in colleges all over the world use those super-powerful microscopes and othermachines to learn how nanometer size things work. Like all chemicals and materials, theyhave to be sure they know what they are doing before they use them. And they have to bevery careful that they are using them right.

Youll be hearing a lot more about nanotechnology in the years ahead. It might even besomething youll want to study in high school or college. For now,Nanooze is here to help

you learn a little bit about this super small world and have some fun whiad you asked...Nanotechnology is the study and development of anything of molecular size. Nano-meaning tiny,or dwarf, refers to the size. Anything made on a molecular level is considered nanotechnic.

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