By adding carbon nanotubes to catalytic nanowires, nanotechnology has produced simple nanomotors that can surpass biological motors (somewhat).
Forests of spiraling nanotrees made from lead sulfide nanowires may lead to new nanotech approaches for producing one-dimensional nanostructures based on designed dislocations rather than metal catalysts to control growth.
RNA interference (RNAi) is a way to decrease expression of a specific gene without otherwise affecting the cell, and it therefore could be a very promising treatment for a wide variety of diseases—if it could be reliably delivered into the diseased cell cytoplasm. One possible nanotech solution to this problem takes the form of a… Continue reading Nanotechnology encapsulation delivers RNA interference agents 10-fold more effectively
Nanotechnology has provided a fourth fundamental two-terminal passive element for electronic circuits.
A special issue of the International Journal of Nanomanufacturing presenting topics on manufacturing in 3D at the nanoscale (derived from the 4th International Symposium on Nanomanufacturing held at MIT in November 2006) contains a report of a nanomanipulator for the complex assembly of nanoparticles. Although the press release from Inderscience Publishers, via AAAS EurekAlert (“Are… Continue reading Will a "'proto-prototype' for a nanoassembler" lead to atomically precise manufacturing?
A new building block for structural DNA nanotechnology uses a 3-carbon glycerol molecule instead of the 5-carbon sugar deoxyribose found in DNA.
The nanotechnology of engineering atomic layer interfaces to produce desired properties—in this case, something called ‘improper ferroelectricity’—promises a technological revolution that may be comparable to the development of modern electronics. From a Stony Brook University news release via ScienceDaily: In the 10 April issue of Nature [abstract], a new artificial material is revealed that marks… Continue reading Nanotechnology engineers atomic layer interfaces to produce new electronic materials
To round out our week in nanotech on an upbeat note, we have Caltech professor Michael Roukes‘ podcast over at Earth & Sky: Forever Young. In addition to the podcast, and there’s more at the Power of Small television show on medical applications of nanotechnology, which also appears to use the title Forever Young. From… Continue reading Forever young with nanotechnology
The peptide nanostructure is activated by a protein-cutting enzyme found on certain cancer cells so that the activated peptide aligns the crown ethers to punch holes in the cancer cell membranes.
Two companies are applying nanotechnology to develop a really cheap method to sequence individual genomes to make possible individualized medicine.
