University of California, Los Angeles
Researchers develop new method of controlling nanodevices
February 25, 2013 9:46 am | by Bill Kisliuk, UCLA | News | Comments
Electromagnetic devices, from power drills to smart-phones, require an electric current to create the magnetic fields that allow them to function. But researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles have developed a method for switching tiny magnetic fields on and off with an electric field—a sharp departure from the traditional approach of running a current through a wire. The new composite can control magneto-electric activity at a scale of just 10 nm.
Scientists find way to monitor elusive collisions in space
April 24, 2013 9:10 am | News | Comments
Many collisions occur between asteroids and other objects in our solar system, but...
Researchers capture wasted heat, use it to power devices
April 23, 2013 11:37 am | by Matthew Chin and Bill Kisliuk, UCLA | News | Comments
Excess heat, like that generated by extended use of a computer or other device,...
Imaging in 3D reveals never-before-seen defects in platinum nanoparticle
March 28, 2013 12:49 am | News | Comments
A team of scientists in the United States has combine three different imaging methods...
Bacteria organize according to "rich-get-richer" principle
May 10, 2013 11:16 am | News | CommentsBacteria on a surface wander around and often organize into highly resilient communities known as biofilms. It turns out that they organize in a rich-get-richer pattern similar to the distribution of wealth in the U.S. economy, according to a new study.
Bioengineers simplify fluid flows by removing complex math
May 8, 2013 8:42 am | News | CommentsA research team led by UCLA bioengineers has developed a way to program and control the shape of fluids flowing through pipes or conduits without the need to solve complex and time-consuming fluid-motion equations. This strategy could allow researchers to tap the vast, unrealized potential of fluid-flow applications.
Study shows that individual brain cells track where we are, how we move
May 3, 2013 9:36 am | News | CommentsLeaving the house in the morning may seem simple, but with every move we make, our brains are working to create maps of the outside world that allow us to navigate and remember where we are. Ultimately, the brain constructs its own pinpoint geographical chart that is far more precise than anything you'd find on Google Maps. But just how neurons make these maps of space has fascinated scientists for decades. Until now.
Nanodiamonds could improve effectiveness of breast cancer treatment
April 16, 2013 7:50 am | News | CommentsDoctors have begun to categorize breast cancers into four main groups according to the genetic makeup of the cancer cells. Which category a cancer falls into generally determines the best method of treatment. But cancers in one of the four groups—called "basal-like" or "triple-negative" breast cancer (TNBC)—have been particularly tricky to treat. Researchers have developed a potential treatment for TNBC that uses nanodiamonds.
Engineers craft material for high-performance supercapacitor
April 15, 2013 8:01 am | News | CommentsTaking a significant step toward improving the power delivery of systems ranging from urban electrical grids to regenerative braking in hybrid vehicles, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles have synthesized a material that shows high capability for both the rapid storage and release of energy.
Scientists map elusive 3D structure of telomerase enzyme
April 12, 2013 9:30 am | News | CommentsLike finally seeing all the gears of a watch and how they work together, researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of California, Berkeley have, for the first time ever, solved the puzzle of how the various components of an entire telomerase enzyme complex fit together and function in a 3D structure.
Technique developed to scale up production of graphene microsupercapacitors
February 20, 2013 8:34 am | News | CommentsWhile the demand for ever-smaller electronic devices has spurred the miniaturization of a variety of technologies, one area has lagged behind in this downsizing revolution: energy storage units, such as batteries and capacitors. Now, a team from University of California, Los Angeles may have changed the game by developing a groundbreaking technique that uses a DVD burner to fabricate microscale graphene-based supercapacitors.
Nanoscale vehicle battles cancer
February 6, 2013 3:38 pm | News | CommentsA tiny capsule invented at a University of California, Los Angeles laboratory could go a long way toward improving cancer treatment. Devising a method for more precise and less invasive treatment of cancer tumors, the team has developed a degradable nanoscale shell to carry proteins to cancer cells and stunt the growth of tumors without damaging healthy cells.
Nanolens microscopes can detect viruses at nanoscale
January 21, 2013 7:35 am | News | CommentsBy using tiny liquid lenses that self-assemble around microscopic objects, a team from University of California, Los Angeles has created an optical microscopy method that allows users to directly see objects more than 1,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair.
Scientists capture, preserve cancer cells circulating in blood
December 17, 2012 3:11 pm | News | CommentsResearchers in Japan and California have built a nanoscale Velcro-like device that captures and releases tumor cells that have broken away from primary tumors and are circulating in the bloodstream. This new nanotechnology could be used for cancer diagnosis and give insight into the mechanisms of how cancer spreads throughout the body.
Engineers develop energy-efficient memory using magnetic materials
December 17, 2012 8:03 am | News | CommentsBy using electric voltage instead of a flowing electric current, researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles have made major improvements to an ultrafast, high-capacity class of computer memory known as magnetoresistive random access memory, or MRAM. The team's improved memory, which they call MeRAM for magnetoelectric random access memory, has great potential to be used in future memory chips for almost all electronic applications.
Got food allergies? Test your meal on the spot
December 14, 2012 9:48 am | News | CommentsAre you allergic to peanuts and worried there might be some in that cookie? Now you can find out using a rather unlikely source: your cell phone. A team of researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles has developed a lightweight device called the iTube, which attaches to a common cell phone to detect allergens in food samples.
Comet collisions every six seconds explain 17-year-old stellar mystery
November 9, 2012 1:04 pm | News | CommentsEvery six seconds, for millions of years, comets have been colliding with one another near a star in the constellation Cetus called 49 CETI, which is visible to the naked eye. Over the past three decades, astronomers have discovered hundreds of dusty disks around stars, but only two—49 CETI is one—have been found that also have large amounts of gas orbiting them. Until now, the answer was unclear as to why.
Engineers control thousands of cells simultaneously using magnetic nanoparticles
October 16, 2012 8:57 am | News | CommentsUsing clusters of tiny magnetic particles about 1,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair, researchers from University of California, Los Angeles have shown that they can manipulate how thousands of cells divide, morph, and develop finger-like extensions. The tool can be used in developmental biology to understand how tissues develop.
Scientists uncover virus with potential to stop pimples
September 26, 2012 6:18 am | News | CommentsWatch out, acne. Doctors soon may have a new weapon against zits: A harmless virus living on our skin that naturally seeks out and kills the bacteria that cause pimples. In the new findings, scientists looked at two little microbes that share a big name: Propionibacterium acnes , a bacterium thriving in our pores that can trigger acne, and P. acnes phages, a family of viruses that live on human skin.
Microscopy technique tracks thousands of cells with precision
September 21, 2012 6:37 am | News | CommentsResearchers have developed a new way to observe and track large numbers of rapidly moving objects under a microscope, capturing precise motion paths in three dimensions. The research, conducted on human sperm cells, used a lens-free, holographic microscopy technique developed over the last several years. When used with a new software algorithm, the approach revealed previously unknown statistical pathways for the cells.
Researchers develop novel 'stamping' process to pattern biomolecules
September 21, 2012 4:05 am | News | CommentsFabricating precise biomolecular structures at extremely small scales is critical to the progress of nanotechnology. Traditionally this has been accomplished through the use of rubber stamps with tiny features which are covered with molecular inks and then stamped onto substrate surfaces, creating molecular patterns. However, when using this technique at the nanoscale, molecules tend to diffuse on the surface both during and after stamping, blurring the patterns. Now, a team of researchers have turned this "soft lithography" process on its head.
Molecules sense curvature at the nanoscale
September 20, 2012 9:47 am | News | CommentsA team of researchers have used surface photochemical reactions to probe the critical role of substrate morphology on self-assembly and ligand environment, determining that molecules on curved surfaces have a greater range of orientations and, as a result, react more slowly than do molecules on flat surfaces.
Scientist discovers plate tectonics on Mars
August 10, 2012 7:19 am | News | CommentsFor years, many scientists had thought that plate tectonics existed nowhere in our solar system but on Earth. Now, a University of California, Los Angeles scientist has discovered that the geological phenomenon, which involves the movement of huge crustal plates beneath a planet's surface, also exists on Mars.
Prozac could be an effective anti-viral
July 30, 2012 4:15 am | News | CommentsResearchers have come across an unexpected potential use for fluoxetine—commonly known as Prozac—which shows promise as an antiviral agent. Using molecular screening, a California research team found that fluoxetine was a potent inhibitor of replication in viruses found in the gastrointestinal tract. The discovery could provide another tool in treating human enteroviruses that sicken and kill people in the U.S. and around the world.
Transparent solar cells for windows generate electricity
July 20, 2012 9:00 am | by Jennifer Marcus | News | CommentsResearchers in California have recently described a new kind of polymer solar cell that produces energy by absorbing mainly infrared light, not visible light, making the cells nearly 70% transparent to the human eye. The device was made from a photoactive plastic that converts infrared light into an electrical current.
Bioengineers find objects moving in a stream create constructive wakes
July 18, 2012 5:57 am | News | CommentsFrom driftwood traveling down a river to a blood cell flowing through your artery, objects moving in a stream of fluid are mostly thought to passively go with the flow but not disturb it in controllable ways. Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles have recently found that objects within a confined stream create controllable disturbances that can be used to move mass or heat at high rates, potentially providing simple solutions to performing chemical reactions on particles or cooling microelectronic chips.
World’s fastest camera use to detect rogue cancer cells
July 6, 2012 8:37 am | News | CommentsThe ability to distinguish and isolate rare cells from among a large population of assorted cells has become increasingly important for the early detection of disease and for monitoring disease treatments. A new optical microscope could make the tough task a whole lot easier. It uses photonic time-stretch camera technology and is the world's fastest continuous-running camera.
Team develops world's most powerful nanoscale microwave oscillators
June 26, 2012 4:02 am | News | CommentsA team of University of California, Los Angeles researchers has created the most powerful high-performance nanoscale microwave oscillators in the world, a development that could lead to cheaper, more energy-efficient mobile communication devices that deliver much better signal quality.
Mercury rising
June 22, 2012 10:58 am | News | CommentsA groundbreaking new study led by University of California, Los Angeles climate expert Alex Hall shows that climate change will cause temperatures in the Los Angeles region to rise by an average of 4 to 5 F by the middle of this century, tripling the number of extremely hot days in the downtown area and quadrupling the number in the valleys and at high elevations.
