The Nanogirl News~

The Nanogirl News~



The Nanogirl News~



Source: http://sci.tech−archive.net/Archive/sci.nanotech/2007−05/msg00006.html







• From: "Gina Miller"

• Date: Mon, 21 May 2007 04:41:37 −0000





Nanogirl News − brought to you by Nanotechnology Industries

www.nanoindustries.com/

Issue May 19, 2007



Nanotechnology is showing promise in treating spinal cord injuries and could

conceivably reverse paralysis, according to a report on the future of the

emerging technology in medicine. The report, released at a Washington forum

this week, said nanotechnology −− or the use of materials on the scale of

atoms and molecules −− may also help cure other ailments believed to be

intractable by repairing damaged organs or tissue. This suggests damage from

heart attacks or strokes, bone or tooth loss or ailments such as diabetes

and Parkinson's disease could be treated with nanotechnology, researchers

said.

(Yahoo News 4.27.07)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070427/ts_alt_afp/ushealthmedicinenanotechnology_070427074643



100% Biodegradable NANOIL Ready For Automobiles. Nano Chemical Systems

Holdings, Inc., announced recently their latest entry into the multi−billion

dollar performance chemical category, NANOIL, a "nano−enhanced" GREEN motor

oil. Unlike today's fossil and synthetic oils, NANOIL is non−toxic and

bio−degradable, thus eliminating the current disposal issues with present

commercially available lubricants. Nanochem will produce NANOIL utilizing

its nano−technology patent applications and inventions that directly address

bio−fuel production for a nano−enhanced line of "green" bio−lubricants.

Initial results indicate that these bio−lubricants can perform as well as

today's fossil and synthetic oils. (Chemical Online 4.27.07)

http://www.chemicalonline.com/content/news/article.asp?docid=8a929e6c−ee2d−4523−9616−f1089c78c138&atc~c=7



NIST Nano Center Accepting Proposals. Looking for a state−of−the−art place

to study nanotechnology−related products? If yes, then the U.S. Commerce

Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) may be

able to help. (Industry Week 5.15.07)

http://www.industryweek.com/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=14196



Finding by Rice University chemists could aid development of new

nanodevices. Gold nanorods assemble themselves into rings. Rice University

chemists have discovered that tiny building blocks known as gold nanorods

spontaneously assemble themselves into ring−like superstructures. This





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finding, which will be published as the inside cover article of the March 19

international edition of the chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie, could

potentially lead to the development of novel nanodevices like highly

sensitive optical sensors, superlenses, and even invisible objects for use

in the military.

(Rice University 3.9.07)

http://www.media.rice.edu/media/NewsBot.asp?MODE=VIEW&ID=9358&SnID=415793553>



Engines of Creation 2.0: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology − Updated and

Expanded By K. Eric Drexler (father of nanotechnology) is available

exclusively from WOWIO at www.wowio.com and is free of charge to registered

users.



Plenty of room for MRIs at a nano scale... a research team now reports.

Combining an MRI with the precision of atomic−force microscopes, a team led

by Dan Rugar of the IBM Research Division in San Jose, Calif., unveiled MRI

images 60,000 times smaller than anything imaged by MRI previously, down to

90 nanometer resolution − about 10 times bigger than your typical molecule

and right in the range of the integrated circuits doing all the calculations

behind your computer screen. The result, the team writes in the current

Nature Nanotechnology journal, "demonstrates the feasibility of pushing MRI

into the nanoscale regime." (USA Today 5.1.07)

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/columnist/vergano/2007−04−29−nano−mri_N.htm?csp=34



Iowa State scientists demonstrate first use of nanotechnology to enter plant

cells. A team of Iowa State University plant scientists and materials

chemists have successfully used nanotechnology to penetrate plant cell walls

and simultaneously deliver a gene and a chemical that triggers its

expression with controlled precision. Their breakthrough brings

nanotechnology to plant biology and agricultural biotechnology, creating a

powerful new tool for targeted delivery into plant cells. (Iowa State

University 5.16.07)

http://www.iastate.edu/~nscentral/news/2007/may/nanotech.shtml



Super small nanoelectrodes can probe microscale environments. Investigating

the composition and behavior of microscale environments, including those

within living cells, could become easier and more precise with

nanoelectrodes being developed at the University of Illinois. "The

individual nanotube−based probes can be used for electrochemical and

biochemical sensing," said Min−Feng Yu, a U. of I. professor of mechanical

science and engineering, and a researcher at the university's Beckman

Institute. "The position of the nanoelectrodes can be controlled very

accurately."

(U of Ill at Urbana−Champaign 3.9.07)

http://www.news.uiuc.edu/news/07/0309nanoelectrodes.html



An Australian biotechnology firm said on Thursday it had developed a means

of delivering anti−cancer drugs directly to cancer cells, which aims to

avoid the debilitating toxicity associated with chemotherapy. The method

uses nanotechnology, which involves molecules far smaller than a human cell.

Direct targeting of chemotherapy drugs would allow dosages thousands of



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times lower than that in conventional chemotherapy and be more easily

tolerated by patients, said the firm. Writing in the May issue of U.S.−based

Cancer Cell journal, the biotech firm EnGeneIC said it had developed

nano−cells containing chemotherapy drugs. (Yahoo 5.10.07)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070510/hl_nm/cancer_australia_dc_1



New JILA apparatus measures fast nanoscale motions. A new nanoscale

apparatus developed at JILA−a tiny gold beam whose 40 million vibrations per

second are measured by hopping electrons−offers the potential for a 500−fold

increase in the speed of scanning tunneling microscopes (STM), perhaps

paving the way for scientists to watch atoms vibrate in high definition in

real time. The new device measures the wiggling of the beam, or, more

precisely, the space between it and an electrically conducting point just a

single atom wide, based on the speed of electrons "tunneling" across the

gap. The work is the first use of an "atomic point contact," the business

end of an STM, to sense a nanomechanical device oscillating at its

"resonant" frequency, where it naturally vibrates like a tuning fork.

(EurekAlert 3.16.07)

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007−03/nios−nja031607.php



A new nano−insulin delivery pump for worry−free treatment for diabetics...In

what may be a sizeable breakthrough in medical technology (and quite a

relief for diabetics), medical device company Debiotech and

Switzerland−based STMicroelectronics have entered into a strategic

cooperation agreement to manufacture and deliver the award−winning

miniaturised insulin−delivery pump. (Business Standard 5.1.07)

http://www.business−standard.com/common/storypage.php?autono=282949&leftnm=8&subLeft=0&chkFlg=



Top tiny creations. A recent story about 'microscopic alphabet soup' created

at UCLA got us thinking about all the quirky ways researchers have chosen to

demonstrate new micro, nano−scale technology. (New Scientist Technology Blog

3.22.07)

http://www.newscientist.com/blog/technology/2007/03/top−tiny−creations.html?DCMP=Matt_Sparkes&nsref=nano



Paralyzed Mice Walk Again. Scientists Use Nanotechnology to Mend Broken

Spinal Cords. Samuel Stupp has a bunch of mice that used to drag their hind

legs behind them when they crawled around his Illinois lab, but they have

miraculously regained at least partial use of their rear legs.

Astonishingly, their severed spinal cords have been repaired, at least

partly, without surgery or drugs. All it took was a simple injection of a

liquid containing tiny molecular structures developed by Stupp and his

colleagues at Northwestern University. Six weeks later, the mice were able

to walk again. They don't have their former agility, but their injuries

should have left them paralyzed for life... Stupp's team concentrates on

combining the incredibly small world of nanotechnology with biology,

creating molecules that self−assemble into large molecular structures that

can literally "hug" around cells in the human body. (ABC News 5.1.07)

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=3102679&page=1&CMP=OTC−RSSFeeds0312



A Single−Photon Server with Just One Atom. Physicists at Max Planck

Institute of Quantum Optics have succeeded in turning a Rubidium atom into a



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single−photon server. The high quality of the single photons and their

ready availability are important for future quantum information processing

experiments with single photons. In the relatively new field of quantum

information processing the goal is to make use of quantum mechanics to

compute certain tasks much more efficiently than with a classical computer.

(Max Planck Society 3.12.07)

http://www.mpg.de/english/illustrationsDocumentation/documentation/pressReleases/2007/pressRelease200703091/ind



Magnetic tweezers unravel cellular mechanics. By injecting tiny magnetic

beads into a living cell and manipulating them with a magnetic 'tweezer',

scientists of the University of Twente, The Netherlands, succeed in getting

to know more about the mechanics of the cell nucleus. (physorg 5.14.07)

http://www.physorg.com/news98378757.html



Student Creates Garment With Bacteria−trapping Nanofibers. Fashion designers

and fiber scientists at Cornell have taken "functional clothing" to a whole

new level. They have designed a garment that can prevent colds and flu and

never needs washing, and another that destroys harmful gases and protects

the wearer from smog and air pollution. The two−toned gold dress and

metallic denim jacket, featured at the April 21 Cornell Design League

fashion show, contain cotton fabrics coated with nanoparticles that give

them functional qualities never before seen in the fashion world. (Science

Daily 5.7.07)

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070506091754.htm



Inexpensive 'nanoglue' can bond nearly anything together. Researchers at

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a new method to bond

materials that don't normally stick together. The team's adhesive, which is

based on self−assembling nanoscale chains, could impact everything from

next−generation computer chip manufacturing to energy production. Less than

a nanometer − or one billionth of a meter − thick, the nanoglue is

inexpensive to make and can withstand temperatures far higher than what was

previously envisioned. In fact, the adhesive's molecular bonds strengthen

when exposed to heat. (EurekAlert 4.16.07)

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007−05/rpi−ic051507.php



Demand for nanotech−based medicine grows. U.S. demand for nanotechnology

medical products will increase over 17 percent per year to $53 billion in

2011, says The Freedonia Group, Inc., a Cleveland−based industry research

firm. Afterwards, the increasing flow of new nanomedicines, nanodiagnostics,

and nanotech−based medical supplies and devices into the US market will

boost demand to more than $110 billion in 2016. The firm reports these and

other findings in its new study, Nanotechnology in Healthcare. (SmallTimes

3.19.07)

http://www.smalltimes.com/articles/article_display.cfm?Section=ONART&C=Bio&ARTICLE_ID=287462&p=109



Lighting the nanoworld with nanolamps. An interdisciplinary team of

researchers at Cornell University (CU) has built 'nanolamps.' These

extremely small light bulbs are made of light−emitting nanofibers about the

size of a virus or the tiniest of bacteria. Using a technique called

electrospinning, the researchers spun the fibers from a metallic element,



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the ruthenium, and a polymer. These nanofibers "are so small that they are

less than the wavelength of the light they emit." Apparently, these

nanofibers are easy to produce. But before they can be integrated into our

increasingly smaller electronic devices, there still is a need to know how

long these nanolamps can last.

(ZDnet 4.14.07) http://blogs.zdnet.com/emergingtech/?p=542



Nanoparticles 'safe for soil bugs'. Ronald Turco at Purdue University in

West Lafayette, Indiana, and his colleagues have found that fullerenes,

nanoscale carbon spheres, do not harm microbes when released into the soil.

Their study is the first of its kind to focus on soil microbes, which play a

key role in recycling nutrients used by plants (Environmental Science &

Technology, DOI: 10.1021/es061953l).(NewScientist 5.5.07)

http://www.newscientisttech.com/article.ns?id=mg19426025.800&feedId=nanotechnology_rss20



Nanorockets − the ultimate baby boosters? Brian Gilchrists. design for a

rocket ship sounds like a bad joke. For a start, its engine is about the

size of a single bacterium. And for thrust it relies on the equivalent of

chucking microscopic beer cans out of the spacecraft's rear window.

Gilchrist, an electrical engineer at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor,

is not joking though. He proposes to harness the latest nanotechnology to

create an engine that will make its way across the solar system by firing

out minute metal particles like so much nano−sized grapeshot. (New Scientist

3.24.07)

http://space.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg19325961.500&feedId=fundamentals_rss20



Growing Nerve Cells in 3−D Dramatically Affects Gene Expression. Nerve cells

grown in three−dimensional environments deploy hundreds of different genes

compared with cells grown in standard two−dimensional petri dishes,

according to a new Brown University study. The research, spearheaded by

bioengineer Diane Hoffman−Kim, adds to a growing body of evidence that lab

culture techniques dramatically affect the way these cells behave. (Brown

5.15.07)

http://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/2006−07/06−156.html



The longest carbon nanotubes you've ever seen. Using techniques that could

revolutionize manufacturing for certain materials, researchers have grown

carbon nanotubes that are the longest in the world. While still slightly

less than 2 centimeters long, each nanotube is 900,000 times longer than its

diameter. The fibers−−which have the potential to be longer, stronger and

better conductors of electricity than copper and many other materials−−could

ultimately find use in smart fabrics, sensors and a host of other

applications. To grow the aligned bundles of tiny tubes, the researchers

combined advantages of chemical vapor deposition (CVD), a technique for

creating thin coatings that is especially common in the semiconductor

industry, with a novel substrate and catalyst onto which the carbon

attaches. (EurkAlert 5.10.07)

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007−05/nsf−tlc051007.php



Nanoscale pasta: Toward nanoscale electronics. Pasta tastes like pasta −

with or without a spiral. But when you jump to the nanoscale, everything



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changes: carbon nanotubes and nanofibers that look like nanoscale spiral

pasta have completely different electronic properties than their

non−spiraling cousins. Engineers at UC San Diego, and Clemson University are

studying these differences in the hopes of creating new kinds of components

for nanoscale electronics. (physorg 5.18.07)

http://www.physorg.com/news98713032.html



Happy weekend!



Gina "Nanogirl" Miller

Nanotechnology Industries

http://www.nanoindustries.com

Personal: http://www.nanogirl.com

Animation Blog: http://maxanimation.blogspot.com/

Craft blog: http://nanogirlblog.blogspot.com/

Foresight Senior Associate http://www.foresight.org

Nanotechnology Advisor Extropy Institute http://www.extropy.org

Email: nanogirl@xxxxxxxxxxx

"Nanotechnology: Solutions for the future."







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