Material Science
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Mar 19 | News
A carbon-nanotube-infused ink for ink-jet printers first developed in the Rice Univ. lab of James Tour has been used to make thin-film transistors in radio-frequency identification tags that can be printed on paper or plastic. The transmitter can be invisibly embedded in packaging, instantly sharing far more information than a bar code.
Mar 19 | News
Scientists already know that some types of bacteria can alter uranium (VI)—a radioactive, toxic, and water-soluble relic of the Cold War era—into uranium (IV)—insoluble, stationary, and less harmful. Argonne Lab studies are beginning to unlock this pathway, but because bacteria interact with so many other elements, harnessing their abilities will prove difficult.
Mar 18 | News
In findings that took the experimenters three years to believe, Univ. of Michigan engineers and their collaborators have demonstrated that light itself can twist ribbons of nanoparticles.
Mar 18 | News
A team of McGill Chemistry Department researchers led by Dr. Hanadi Sleiman has achieved a breakthrough in the development of nanotubes—tiny "magic bullets" that could one day deliver drugs to specific diseased cells.
Mar 18 | News
Graphene—carbon formed into sheets a single atom thick—now appears to be a promising base material for capturing hydrogen, according to recent research at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Univ. of Pennsylvania. The findings suggest stacks of graphene layers could potentially store hydrogen safely for use in fuel cells and other applications.
Mar 17 | News
Karl A. Gschneidner Jr., a senior metallurgist at Ames Lab, spoke before a House Subcommittee this week, cautioning them that rare-earth R&D in America is “virtually zero”. He went on to say that expertise in rare-earth alloying is crucial to economic performance and that the U.S. has given up much ground to other countries in this area.
Mar 17 | News
With inspiration from a semi-tropical frog that makes its own long-lived foam, engineers from the University of Cincinnati have blended plant, bacterial, frog and fungal enzymes to create foam that captures energy, converts to sugar, and removes excess carbon dioxide from the air.
Mar 16 | News
Metallic glasses are emerging as potentially useful materials at the frontier of materials science research. They combine the advantages and avoid many of the problems of normal metals and glasses, two classes of materials with a very wide range of applications.
Mar 16 | News
The film "Avatar" isn't the only 3-D blockbuster making a splash this winter. A team of scientists from Houston's Texas Medical Center this week unveiled a new technique for growing 3-D cell cultures, a technological leap from the flat petri dish that could save millions of dollars in drug-testing costs.
Mar 15 | RDBlog
The recent review of the past 10 years of the National Nanotechnology Initiative--as presented by the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology--suggested the rise of nanomanufacturing as the near future of nanotechnology. But the actual proposed funding reflects a cautious approach, even about nanotech in general.