"Cyborg" Tissue Created

Researchers have grown rat neurons, heart cells and muscle cells on a three-dimensional scaffold of conductive nanowires and silicon sensors, creating viable tissues with embedded electronics that can provide real-time biometrics to monitor the health and activity of these tissues and possibly deliver commands or instructions.

Nanoparticles in Moon Dust

Researchers using a synchrotron-based nano tomograph have discovered glassy nanoparticles -- some no larger than individual molecules -- mixed in with lunar soil samples that explain many strange properties observed in lunar soil contrary to conventional soil behavior.

Piezoelectric Graphene Created

By doping a single layer of a graphene lattice with lithium, researchers have engineered full piezoelectric effects comparable to bulkier three-dimensional materials, opening up an unparalleled level of control for electrical, optical and mechanical nanoscale structures.

Single-Atom Transistor

Physicists have created a working transistor element from only a single phosphorus atom embedded in a silicon crystal, another large step in quantum computing toward engineering whole nanocomputers.

Channel-type Nanostructure Laser

Inspired by the structure of bright, iridescent bird feathers, researchers have constructed a new type of laser with a channel-type nanostructure that will allow them to self-assemble, making their fabrication easier, cheaper and faster.

Tiny Molecular Motor

Researchers have produced electrically driven motion from an atom of asymmetric butyl methyl sulphide, spinning about an anchor while a needle tip supplies a current, with its 1-nm rotation making it the smallest motor ever produced.

Plastic Antibodies Successful

Tests of a man-made plastic antibody, a custom-designed nanoparticle formed to latch onto a specific antigen and thus trigger the natural immunological response, have yielded significantly greater survival rates in laboratory animals injected with a toxin.

Molecular Transistor Created

Scientists have created the first transistor made from a single benzene molecule connected to two gold contacts, manipulating the molecule's energy states depending on the applied voltage to behave just like a silicon transistor.

New "Spin Battery" Developed

A new type of battery has been developed that holds a charge by not by chemical potential but applying a strong magnetic field to nano-magnets in what is known as a magnetic tunnel junction.

Targeted Nanospheres Used to Burn Away Melanoma Tumors

Researchers at the Department of Experimental Diagnostic Imaging at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center have developed a method to destroy melanoma using targeted gold nanospheres to burn away the tumor from the inside.

Injecting simple hollow gold nanospheres 40-50 nm in diameter causes them to accumulate in melanoma tumors because their small size allows them to penetrate the abnormally large pores of blood vessels that feed cancerous tumors. However, when filled with a peptide that binds to the melanocortin type 1 receptor abundant in melanoma cells, these nanoparticles are actively drawn into the cells via the cell membrane.

Once these nanoparticles are in place, the tumor is subjected to a process called photothermal ablation. A dose of near-infrared light is applied to the cancer, which penetrates deeper into tissue than visible or ultraviolet light. The energy is absorbed by the nanoparticles, causing them to heat up and destroy the surrounding tissue. At a dose merely 12% of the dose required without the nanoparticles, cancerous tumors are highly targeted and healthy tissue is spared.

The use of elemental gold has a long history of medical applications as it is safe and largely nonreactive to organic tissues. Experiments have been successful in laboratory and mouse models but still await human trials.

These results were published in the February 1st issue of Clinical Cancer Research.

Source: ScienceDaily; Photo: M.D. Anderson

Electronic Switch Formed from Single Gold Atoms

A scientist at the University of Groningen has developed a method for creating a nanoscale electronic switch composed of only two single gold atoms.

The process creates a so-called break junction, which involves bending a thin gold wire under very controlled conditions almost to the breaking point. Further bending moves the ends just apart, enough to separate the atoms but not enough to produce a permanent fracture; as the ends are moved back, the material connection reforms. By repeating this process many times, the atoms on each side of the gap reorganize themselves into a regular formation, much like "carefully stacked pyramids of billiard balls with a single atom at the apex." This manufacturing process produces a contact composed of two single gold atoms that can be broken by a 0.1-nm movement to separate them.

Current electronics technology is expected to approach a barrier to miniaturization within the next ten years, as the function of transistors reaches a fundamental physical limit. Atomic-scale nanotechnology is being examined as a method to further miniaturize electronic components by manipulating individual atoms.

These results are part of a doctoral thesis recently defended at the University of Groningen.

Source: ScienceDaily