A new contact lens technology responds to UV light.
Transition lenses–which darken automatically in response to bright sunlight–have been available for eyeglasses for 40 years. But adapting this flexibility to contact lenses has proven challenging. Now researchers in Singapore have developed UV-responsive, or photochromic, lenses that darken when exposed to ultraviolet light, protecting the eyes against [...]

Scientists from Purdue University have prepared a new solid propellant with explosive results. The fuel, a combination of nanoaluminum and ice, is a new kind of environmentally friendly solid rocket fuel that could someday be used in missions to outer space. With the motive to minimize fuel consumption onboard, the fuel has been successfully field-tested [...]

Power that literally ROCKS!

Rochus Jacob designed and built the Murakami Chair. As the user rocks back and forth during the day, the chair charges a battery that powers the lamp. Jacob writes: I was looking for opportunities to generate energy through activities we naturally do. The final result is a rocking chair that enables the [...]

 
Tomato seeds exposed to nanoparticles in the form of carbon nanotubes that are only 1/50,000 the width of a human hair, sprouted sooner and grew faster in what researchers are describing as a step toward the “goals of nanoagriculture.”
 

Flexible dye-sensitized solar panels incorporated into this bag make it capable of recharging electronic gadgets.
The first commercial product to incorporate dye-sensitized thin-film solar cells will soon be on the market. Backpacks coated with the cheap, lightweight, and flexible solar cell, for on-the-go recharging of portable gadgets, were unveiled at the Hong Kong Electronics Fair last [...]

Dr. Ben Wang shows a model of an ‘unmanned aerial vehicle’
Nanotechnology has surprising applications in mundane materials like sunscreen and esoteric items like high-tech body armor for soldiers. But some fear scarier scenarios worthy of a science fiction novel.  At Florida State University, engineers are creating new body armor for American troops. It’s more durable, [...]

Section of a butterfly wing under a microscope
A team of researchers from the State University of Pennsylvania (USA) and the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM) have developed a technique to replicate biological structures, such as butterfly wings, on a nano scale. The resulting biomaterial could be used to make optically active structures, such as optical [...]

This scanning-electron-microscope image shows a stress-triggered transistor in cross section.
Nanoscale sensors have many potential applications, from detecting disease molecules in blood to sensing sound within an artificial ear. But nanosensors typically have to be integrated with bulky power sources and integrated circuits. Now researchers at Georgia Tech have demonstrated a nanoscale sensor that doesn’t need [...]

Researchers at Stanford have created a kind of inexpensive sensor based on carbon nanotubes (these things are so useful!) that can detect traces of TNT and the nerve agent Sarin in water. This can be useful to detect terrorist attacks on the water supply or leaching from munition making or storage facilities, but I bet [...]

The carbon nanotube at center is connected to several electrodes and acts as a superefficient photovoltaic cell.
Today’s solar cells lose much of the energy in light to heat. Now researchers at Cornell University have made a photovoltaic cell out of a single carbon nanotube that can take advantage of more of the energy in light [...]

Carbon nanotube-based photodiode
Cornell researchers fabricated, tested and measured a simple solar cell called a photodiode, formed from an individual carbon nanotube.  Using a carbon nanotube instead of traditional silicon, Cornell researchers have created the basic elements of a solar cell that hopefully will lead to much more efficient ways of converting light to electricity than [...]

Ferromagnetic graphone sheet
An international team of researchers has designed a new graphite-based, magnetic nano-material that acts as a semiconductor and could help material scientists create the next generation of electronic devices like microchips.
 

Six Millon Dollar Man here we come
A MONKEY sits on a bench, wires running from its head and wrist into a small box of electronics. At first the wrist lies limp, but within 10 minutes the monkey begins to flex its muscles and move its hand from side to side. The movements are clumsy, but [...]

Nano-ink could replace standard method of manufacturing solar cells
This is one powerful idea that would do away with massive solar panels. Solar cells could soon be spray painted onto the sides of buildings or rooftops with nanoparticles.
 

University of California Santa Barbara researcher Erkki Ruoslahti
Scientists at UC Santa Barbara have discovered a potential new drug delivery system. The finding is a biological mechanism for delivery of nanoparticles into tissue. The results are published in this week’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
 

Carbon nanowires coated with silicon (bottom) produces a material that can store six times as much charge
Lithium ion has become the battery of choice for electric vehicles, driving researchers to improve the technology’s performance, longevity, and reliability. A new type of nanowire electrode developed by materials science and engineering professor Yi Cui at Stanford is [...]

 
In 2003, Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach, then director of the National Cancer Institute outlined his goal to eliminate suffering and death from cancer by 2015. “This prediction does not mean that we will eliminate cancer by then,” he said, “I don’t know when that will happen. But the challenge is to understand the disease and [...]

International Business Machines Corp is looking to the building blocks of our bodies — DNA — to be the structure of next-generation microchips.
 

Researchers have created the tiniest laser since its invention nearly 50 years ago
Developed by a consortium of researchers, dubbed the “spaser”, it is the thinnest laser ever developed. About 44 nanometers in diameter and about 10 times smaller than the wavelength of light, the nanolaser could pave way for superfast computers, which use light to [...]

Impantable device monitors cancer
Surgical removal of a tissue sample is now the standard for diagnosing cancer. Such procedures, known as biopsies, are accurate but offer only a snapshot of the tumor at a single moment in time.
 

Material that repels hot water developed by scientists from University of Minnesota
In a breakthrough study, scientists from University of Minnesota in St Paul have developed a new material that can repel hot water.
 

 Nanomaterials may cause damage to the lungs
In 2006, The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars published a warning and a challenge to the scientific community about its responsible use and handling of nanomaterials, as they were known to cause damage to the lungs.  Now, research conducted at the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences in Beijing, [...]

Terminator like robots really could be on the horizon
Can we build a brain from the ground up, one neuron (or so) at a time? That’s the goal of neurobotics, a science that sits at the convergence of robotics, artificial intelligence, computer science, neuroscience, cognitive psychology, physiology, mathematics and several different engineering disciplines. Computationally demanding and [...]

 
MIT and Boston University engineers have designed cells that can count and “remember” cellular events, using simple circuits in which a series of genes are activated in a specific order.

 
Rubber-like OLED
Researchers have developed a stretchable OLED display that can be bent and deformed without breaking.  The rubber-like OLEDs are currently monochrome and each have just 256 pixel resolution; however the University of Tokyo team responsible for their development are now working on adding color and increasing resolution.