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Synthetic oscillating gel ‘acts alive’

A synthetic material rebuilds itself through chemical communication, similar to bacteria
January 15, 2013
Oscillating gel pieces will move back together after being sliced

Synthetic self-moving gels can “act alive” and mimic primitive biological communication, University of Pittsburgh researchers have found.

The synthetic system can reconfigure itself through a combination of chemical communication and interaction with light.

“This is the closest system to the ultimate self- recombining material, which can be divided into separated parts and the parts move autonomously to assemble into a structure resembling the original,… read more

Topics: Nanotech/Materials Science | Synthetic Biology

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Marine robots detect endangered whales

January 15, 2013

Two robots equipped with instruments designed to “listen” for the calls of baleen whales detected nine endangered North Atlantic right whales in the Gulf of Maine last month.

The team of researchers, led by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) scientists Mark Baumgartner and Dave Fratantoni, reported their sightings to NOAA, the federal agency responsible for enforcing the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

NOAA Fisheries Service,… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics | Environment/Climate

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Internet activist, a creator of RSS, is dead at 26, apparently a suicide

January 15, 2013

AaronSwartzPIPA

Aaron Swartz, a wizardly programmer who as a teenager helped develop code that delivered ever-changing Web content to users and who later became a steadfast crusader to make that information freely available, was found dead on Friday in his New York apartment, The New York Times reports.

At 14, Mr. Swartz helped create RSS, the nearly ubiquitous tool that allows users to subscribe to online information. He… read more

Topics: Internet/Telecom | Social/Ethical/Legal

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Flexible nanocircuits that can go on almost anything

Electronic chips in your clothes to monitor your vitals? A tablet that folds up and fits in your back pocket?
January 15, 2013

flex_circuits

Research scientists Stephen Bedell and Davood Shahrjerdi at IBM’s Thomas J Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York think that flexible nanoscale circuits can do just that, IBM Research reports.

The flexible nanoelectronic circuit Bedell and Shahrjedri designed is 10,000 times thinner than a piece of paper, and was peeled off of a silicon wafer and put onto plastic — an industry first.

These circuits… read more

Topics: Electronics | Nanotech/Materials Science

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Controlling heat like light

New approach using nanoparticle alloys allows heat to be focused or reflected just like electromagnetic waves
January 15, 2013

An MIT researcher has developed a technique that provides a new way of manipulating heat, allowing it to be controlled much as light waves can be manipulated by lenses and mirrors.

The approach relies on engineered materials consisting of nanostructured semiconductor alloy crystals.

Heat is a vibration of matter — technically, a vibration of the atomic lattice of a material — just as sound… read more

Topics: Nanotech/Materials Science | Physics/Cosmology

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Pill-sized device provides rapid, detailed imaging of esophageal lining

Novel system could allow broader screening for esophageal cancer, other conditions
January 15, 2013

Physicians may soon have a new way to screen patients for Barrett’s esophagus, a precancerous condition usually caused by chronic exposure to stomach acid. Researchers at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have developed an imaging system enclosed in a capsule about the size of a multivitamin pill that creates detailed, microscopic images of the esophageal wall.

The system… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Electronics | Nanotech/Materials Science

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How to convert connective tissue directly into neurons

January 14, 2013

Primary human fibroblast cell

Repression of a single protein in ordinary fibroblasts (connective tissue) is sufficient to directly convert them into functional neurons, scientists in the U.S. and China have discovered.

The findings could have far-reaching implications for the development of new treatments for neurodegenerative diseases like Huntington’s, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

In recent years, scientists have dramatically advanced the ability to induce pluripotent stem cells to become almost any type of… read more

Topics: Biotech | Cognitive Science/Neuroscience

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Largest spiral galaxy in known universe

January 14, 2013

largestobject

Astronomers have crowned the spectacular barred spiral galaxy NGC 6872 the largest-known spiral galaxy in the known universe, based on archival data from NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) mission, on loan to the California Institute of Technology.

Measuring tip-to-tip across its two outsized spiral arms, NGC 6872 spans more than 522,000 light-years, making it more than five times the size of our Milky Way galaxy. It was formed at least… read more

Topics: Physics/Cosmology | Space

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Have astronomers found chemical precursor to life in gas clouds?

January 14, 2013

star-formation-orion

Astronomers have found tentative traces of a precursor chemical to the building blocks of life near a star-forming region about 1,000 light-years from Earth, Space.com reports.

The signal from the molecule, hydroxylamine, which is made up of atoms of nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen, still needs to be verified. But, if confirmed, it would mean scientists had found a chemical that could potentially seed life on other worlds,… read more

Topics: Biotech | Space

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First nanodiamond arrays created by biological molecules

January 14, 2013

arxiv.orgpdf1301.1871v1.pdf 2013-01-14 03-44-21

An international team has used biological self-assembly to build nanodiamond arrays, MIT Technology Review reports.

One of the most promising ways to capture, generate and manipulate photons for quantum computing is with tiny diamonds. The secret is to create nanodiamonds with a defect in their structure where a nitrogen atom has taken the place of a carbon.

The researchers plan to bind nanodiamonds together with the… read more

Topics: Biotech | Nanotech/Materials Science | Quantum

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PC makers bet on gaze, gesture, voice, and touch

January 11, 2013

eye tracking

Products that could make it common to control a computer, TV, or something else using eye gaze, gesture, voice, and even facial expression were launched at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, MIT Technology Review reports.

The technology promises to make computers and other devices easier to use, let devices do new things, and perhaps boost the prospects of companies reliant on PC sales.… read more

Topics: Computers/Infotech/UI

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Scientists design, control movements of molecular motor

A blueprint for creating machines at the nanoscale
January 11, 2013

ohio_molecular_motor

An international team of scientists has taken the next step in creating nanoscale machines by designing a multi-component molecular motor that can be moved clockwise and counterclockwise.

Although researchers can rotate or switch individual molecules on and off, the new study is the first to create a stand-alone molecular motor that has multiple parts, said Saw-Wai Hla, an Ohio University professor of physics and astronomy,… read more

Topics: Nanotech/Materials Science

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New carbon nanotube fiber acts like textile thread, conducts electricity and heat like a metal wire

Unmatched combination of strength, conductivity, flexibility
January 11, 2013

rice_nanotubes

Scientists from Rice University, the Dutch firm Teijin Aramid, the U.S. Air Force, and Israel’s Technion Institute have unveiled a new carbon nanotube (CNT) fiber that looks and acts like textile thread and conducts electricity and heat like a metal wire.

In this week’s issue of Science, the researchers describe an industrially scalable process for making the threadlike fibers, which outperform commercially available high-performance materials… read more

Topics: Electronics | Nanotech/Materials Science

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Artificial molecular manufacturing machine mimics nature

January 11, 2013

manchester_molecular_machine

An industrial revolution at the nanoscale is taking place in laboratories at The University of Manchester with the development of a highly complex machine that mimics how molecules are made in nature.

The artificial molecular machine developed by Professor David Leigh FRS and his team in the School of Chemistry is the most advanced molecular machine of its type in the world.

Leigh explains:… read more

Topics: Biotech | Nanotech/Materials Science

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Virus caught in the act of infecting a cell

January 11, 2013

virus_injecting

The detailed changes in the structure of a virus as it infects an E. coli bacterium have been observed for the first time.

To infect a cell, a virus must be able to first find a suitable cell and then eject its genetic material into its host.

This robot-like process has been observed in a virus called T7 and visualized by Ian… read more

Topics: Biotech

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