Self-Assembling Highly Conductive Plastic Nanofibers

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Artist’s impression based on a real atomic force microscopy (AFM) image showing conductive supramolecular fibers trapped between two gold electrodes spaced 100 nm apart. Each plastic fiber is composed of several short fibers and is capable of transporting electrical charges with the same efficiency as a metal.

Researchers from CNRS and the Université de Strasbourg, headed by Nicolas Giuseppone (1) and Bernard Doudin (2), have succeeded in making highly conductive plastic fibers that are only several nanometers thick. These nanowires, for which CNRS has filed a patent, “self-assemble” when triggered by a flash of light. Inexpensive and easy to handle, unlike carbon nanotubes (3), they combine the advantages of the two materials currently used to conduct electric current: metals and plastic organic polymers (4). In fact, their remarkable electrical properties are similar to those of metals.

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Nanomagnets Help Guide Stem Cells To Damaged Tissue

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Microscopic image of a human cell (green cytoplasm, blue nucleus) loaded with mini-magnets (red).

Microscopic magnetic particles have been used to bring stem cells to sites of cardiovascular injury in a new method designed to increase the capacity of cells to repair damaged tissue, UCL scientists have announced. Continue reading… “Nanomagnets Help Guide Stem Cells To Damaged Tissue”

Robotic Hummingbird ‘Nano Air Vehicle’

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cov7-XWUa18&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Military-backed researchers have built a tiny drone that looks and flies like a hummingbird, flapping its little robotic wings to stay in the air. So far, the mock bird, built for Pentagon mad-science division Darpa, has only stayed aloft for 20 seconds at a time. But that short flight was enough to show the potential of a whole new class of miniature spies, inspired by nature. Darpa just handed AeroVironment, makers of the winged “nano air vehicle,” another $2.1 million to build a hummingbot 2.0.

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Light-Bending Nanoparticles Could Lead To Superlenses, Invisibility Cloaks

 Light-Bending Nanoparticles Could Lead To Superlenses, Invisibility Cloaks

Directional scattering of an incoming electromagnetic wave by oriented nanocups.

Researchers at Rice University have created a metamaterial that could light the way toward high-powered optics, ultra-efficient solar cells and even cloaking devices.

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Future of Computer Interface Will Revolve Around Touch

Future of Computer Interface Will Revolve Around Touch 

 Nano-Touch

Earlier this week, the humble computer mouse celebrated its 40th birthday. While surprisingly little has changed since Doug Engelbart, an engineer at Stanford Research Institute, in Palo Alto, CA, first demonstrated the mouse to a skeptical crowd in San Francisco, we may have already seen a few glimpses of the future of computer interfaces. If so, over the next few years, the future of the computer interface will likely revolve around touch.

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Nano-sized “Cargo Ships” Developed To Carry Anti-Cancer Drugs And Markers Through The Body

Nano-sized “Cargo Ships” Developed To Carry Anti-Cancer Drugs And Markers Through The Body 

 The nanometer-sized cargo ships look individually like a chocolate-covered nut cluster, in which a biocompatible lipid forms the chocolate shell and magnetic nanoparticles, quantum dots and the drug doxorubicin are the nuts.

Scientists have developed nanometer-sized ‘cargo ships’ that can sail throughout the body via the bloodstream without immediate detection from the body’s immune radar system and ferry their cargo of anti-cancer drugs and markers into tumors that might otherwise go untreated or undetected.

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Report Offers a Bird’s Eye View on Nanotechnology

Report Offers a Bird’s Eye View on Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology is a relatively new sector, and future growth is dependent largely on growing government support and heavy investments in R+D initiatives. Nanotechnology plays a central role is the development of desktop manufacturing, cellular repair, artificial intelligence, inexpensive space travel, clean + abundant energy, and environmental restoration. Global nanotechnology market is increasingly witnessing a move towards consolidation, as players reorient strategies and realign their businesses to better reflect the changing competitive dynamics, and remain viable and competitive in the maturing market. (Pics)

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Newly Developed Nanopaper Is Tougher Than Cast Iron

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Nano-thinking at work

The days of having to decide between paper, plastic or cast iron bags at the grocery store are numbered thanks to the development of a new type of extremely tough nanopaper. The paper is made from nanosized (oh I get it!) cellulose fibers making it both stronger and lighter than traditional papers.

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