Category: Research

from the smaller-is-better-IF-its-stable dept.
Senior Associate GinaMiller points out an item from BBC News: "Scientists have created what they say are the narrowest, stable, carbon nanotubes. The tiny cylinders measure just 0.4 nanometres (0.4 billionths of a metre) in diameter. The structures are essentially tubular versions of buckminsterfullerene, the closed cages of carbon atoms that look like soccer balls. Carbon nanotubes have generated huge excitement because of their very interesting electrical and mechanical properties…Researchers believe the 0.4-nanometre-sized tubes mark a theoretical limit."

from the why-didn't-we-think-of-this-before dept.
Senior Associate Braun Brelin brings our attention to an item from Science Daily: " A team of North Carolina State University physicists has discovered a new method for measuring the molecular properties of materials, which could assist in the development of a wide variety of cutting-edge nanostructure technologies. The technique…measures the behavior of molecules, at a scale of one-billionth of a meter, by reflecting light off the material being studied…'we can look at nanostructures of all sorts: semiconductors, biological materials and nanofabricated structures…If you have something small, nanometers in size, and want to know how it fits together, this is the way to do it.'…Science policy experts say nanotechnology advances could result in a science and technology revolution. But first, they say, we have to understand the principles of structures at such tiny scales. The work of Hallen and his colleagues is an important step in that direction."

from the machines-the-size-of-molecules dept.
Mark Baltzegar writes "Chemists at the University of Illinois have added an important new dimension to vibrational spectroscopy: a spectroscopic technique that allows researchers to investigate vibrational energy redistribution in molecules with unprecedented detail. 'Our spectroscopic method allows us to monitor vibrational energy flow through a molecule on femtosecond time scales. We can therefore characterise the dynamic mechanical properties of molecules in real time — which is important in virtually every chemical process and of special interest in the field of nanotechnology, where machines will be the size of molecules.'" Emphasis added. –CP

from the first-the-Beatles-now-nanotech dept.
Bryan Hall points out that Environmental Network News is running a UPI story : With the flip of a gold molecular switch, scientists moved a step closer to bringing nanotechnology, with its promises of cell-sized robots, ultra-dense computer memories and other wonders, to the real world. The creation of a switch 1,000 times smaller than a red blood cell, described in the British journal Nature, goes to the heart of the electronic industry's drive toward faster, more efficient components…The ease of fabrication of these switches, which can be made to self-assemble, is crucial in nanotechnology, the scientists said. "It must be stressed that what we have done is to demonstrate a principle…Integration and communication to the external world will depend, in our view, on a confluence of technologies that is currently developing." The Nature journal article requires free registration.

from the why-did-this-take-so-long dept.
Bryan Hall brings to our attention an article at National Geographic News on the molecular motor found inside the cell's nucleus: Scientists have long pondered how, inside the nucleus of a cell, long stretches of DNA are moved through the huge enzyme factories that transcribe DNA's genetic information into messages made of RNA. Now, for the first time, a team of scientists from the University of Illinois at Chicago has demonstrated the presence of a "molecular motor" inside the nucleus, where it appears to be powering the assembly line that forges RNA messages off of the long DNA templates. The finding is reported in the Oct. 13 issue of the journal Science…Despite the fact that transcribing DNA is itself prodigious work, many scientists did not believe that myosin existed in the nucleus — indeed, no motor molecule had ever been found there. "We had an uphill battle to convince our colleagues," de Lanerolle said.