Nanotechnology News

RSS

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Chevron Sign Fuel Research Agreement

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has signed a research agreement with Chevron to develop the next generation of catalysts for production of clean, more efficient fuels from crude oil. The research will focus on...

13 Jan 2009

The Use of Nanotechnology in Environmental Remediation

In October 2008, the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) released a fact sheet providing an overview on the use of nanotechnology in environmental remediation (US EPA Fact Sheet, 2008). Because of their increased...

13 Jan 2009

Experiments Show Absence of Thermoelectric Effect in Metallic Carbon Nanotubes

Metallic carbon nanotubes have been proposed as interconnects in future electronic devices packed with high-density nanoscale circuits. Recent experiments have shown the absence of the thermoelectric effect in metallic carbon nanotubes. Building upon earlier theoretical work, researchers at the University of Illinois say they can explain this peculiar behavior, and put it to good use.

13 Jan 2009

Recipe for Turning Ultracold Atoms into a Supersolid

Physicists at the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI) of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Maryland have proposed a recipe for turning ultracold "boson" atoms-the ingredients of Bose-Einstein condensates-into a "supersolid," an exotic state of matter that behaves simultaneously as a solid and a friction-free superfluid.

13 Jan 2009

Report Highlights FDA’s Regulatory Challenges Posed by Nanomaterials

The ability of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to regulate the safety of dietary supplements using nanomaterials is severely limited by lack of information, lack of resources and the agency's lack of statutory authority in certain critical areas, according to a new expert report released by the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (PEN).

13 Jan 2009

Flexible Light-Sensitive Nanomaterial Could Help Sharpen Photos

Distorted cell-phone photos and big, clunky telephoto lenses could be things of the past. University of Wisconsin-Madison Electrical and Computer Engineering Associate Professor Zhenqiang (Jack) Ma and colleagues hav...

13 Jan 2009

Microscopic, Chemically Triggered Robotic "Hands" that can Pick Up and Move Small Objects

In a finding straight out of science fiction, chemical and biomolecular engineers in Maryland are describing development of microscopic, chemically triggered robotic "hands" that can pick up and move small objects. They could be used in laboratory-on-a-chip applications, reconfigurable microfluidic systems, and micromanufacturing, the researchers say

13 Jan 2009

Discovery Could Improve Methods of Creating Stable Crystalline Films Widely Used in Electronics

While exploring the properties of polymer formation, a team of scientists at the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) has made a fundamental discovery about these materials that could improve methods of creating the stable crystalline films that are widely used in electronics applications-and also offer insight into a range of other phenomena.

13 Jan 2009

Voluntary Approach Captures Only a Thin Slice of Nanomaterials in Use or Development in the U.S.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has acknowledged that its voluntary approach to reporting has yielded only limited information on a small fraction of the hundreds of potentially toxic nanomaterials already...

13 Jan 2009

NIST Researchers Develop New Technique to Form Nanotubes for Gas Sensing Applications

In a recent paper,* researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) described a new method for creating gas detectors so sensitive that some day they may be able to register these tiny emissions from a single cell, providing a new way to determine if drugs or nanoparticles harm cells or to study how cells communicate with one another.

13 Jan 2009