Nanotechnology News - December 2008 Archives

Gold nanoparticles for controlled drug delivery (12/31/2008)

Using tiny gold particles and infrared light, MIT researchers have developed a drug-delivery system that allows multiple drugs to be released in a controlled fashion. ...> Full Article

Enhancing solar cells with nanoparticles (12/25/2008)

Deriving plentiful electricity from sunlight at a modest cost is a challenge with immense implications for energy, technology and climate policy. A paper in a special energy issue of Optics Express, the Optical Society's open-access journal, describes a relatively new approach to solar cells: lacing them with nanoscopic metal particles. ...> Full Article

Researchers make breakthrough in the production of double-walled carbon nanotubes (12/24/2008)

In recent years, the possible applications for double-walled carbon nanotubes have excited scientists and engineers, particularly those working on developing renewable energy technologies. These tiny tubes, just two carbon atoms thick, are thin enough to be transparent, yet can still conduct electricity. This combination makes them well-suited for advanced solar panels, sensors and a host of other applications ...> Full Article

Study on cytotoxicity of carbon nanotubes (12/23/2008)

Owing to the novel properties of carbon nanotubes, a series of problems associated with in vitro toxicity assessments of carbon nanotubes have appeared in a lot of literature. In order to properly evaluate the potential risk to human health, the cell toxicity assay of carbon nanotubes can not be conducted by traditional methods employed in common toxicology. ...> Full Article

New research to exploit world's thinnest material (12/19/2008)

The Universities of Exeter and Bath can today reveal their plans for a new world-leading research center to explore and exploit the properties of the thinnest material in nature. The two universities have won a £5 million ($7.6 million) Science and Innovation Award from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council to create the Center of Graphene Science. ...> Full Article

Researchers create non-toxic clean-up method for potentially toxic nano materials (12/18/2008)

Horseradish enzyme biodegrades carbon nanotubes increasingly used in products, from electronics to plastics ...> Full Article

Researchers print dense lattice of transparent nanotube transistors on flexible base (12/17/2008)

Low-temperature process produces both n-type and p-type transistors; allows embedding of LEDs ...> Full Article

Nature, nanotechnology fuse in electric yarn that detects blood (12/16/2008)

A carbon nanotube-coated "smart yarn" that conducts electricity could be woven into soft fabrics that detect blood and monitor health, engineers at the University of Michigan have demonstrated. ...> Full Article

Nanotubes sniff out cancer agents in living cells (12/16/2008)

Chemical engineers use carbon nanotubes to monitor chemotherapy, detect toxins at the single-molecule level ...> Full Article

Method sorts out double-walled carbon nanotube problem (12/15/2008)

It's hard to study something with any rigor if the subject can't be produced uniformly and efficiently. Researchers who study double-walled carbon nanotubes find themselves in just this predicament. The problem is that current techniques for synthesizing double-walled carbon nanotubes also produce unwanted single- and multi-walled nanotubes. Northwestern University researchers now offer a clever solution: They used a technique called density gradient ultracentrifugation to cleanly and easily separate the double-walled nanotubes from the undesirables. ...> Full Article

Panel blasts federal nanotech risk research strategy (12/14/2008)

Long-awaited report gives Obama administration direction for change ...> Full Article

People in the US and the UK show strong similarities in their attitudes toward nanotechnologies (12/13/2008)

The results of a new US-UK study published in this week's journal Nature Nanotechnology show that ordinary people in both countries hold very positive views of nanotechnologies and what the future of these technologies might bring. Participants in both countries indicated a significantly higher comfort level with energy applications of nanotechnologies than with applications used in health treatments. ...> Full Article

Nanotechnology 'culture war' possible, says study (12/12/2008)

Rather than infer that nanotechnology is safe, members of the public who learn about this novel science tend to become sharply polarized along cultural lines, according to a study conducted by the Cultural Cognition Project at Yale Law School in collaboration with the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies. The report is published online in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.These findings have important implications for garnering support of the new technology, say the researchers. ...> Full Article

For nano, religion in US dictates a wary view (12/11/2008)

When it comes to the world of the very, very small -- nanotechnology -- Americans have a big problem: nano and its capacity to alter the fundamentals of nature, it seems, are failing the moral litmus test of religion. ...> Full Article

Nanotech: To know it is not necessarily to love it (12/10/2008)

Research shows cultural biases most impact opinion on nanotech ...> Full Article

New hybrid nanostructures detect nanoscale magnetism (12/9/2008)

Research could pave way for new data storage devices, drug delivery systems ...> Full Article