Tag: NANOTECHNOLOGY

Scientific advancements are considered mature when they can do one of two things: deliver pornography, or play a rendition of the 'Super Mario Bros.' theme. Since nano-scale breasts probably won't have much appeal to the public, scientists instead decided to use the latest in etching techniques to create a musical instrument that can rock out to one of the most recognizable melodies in the world. ...

A research team from Georgia Tech, led by Professor Zhong Lin Wang, have developed a nanogenerator that could one day be embedded in human bodies and power medical implants. The tiny nanowire takes advantage of the piezoelectric effect to generate electrical current as its squeeze by your muscles when you breath or your heart beats. Wang and his team successfully implanted the nanogenerator on ...

Only a few miles from their target, three European eco-terrorists were arrested by Swiss police during a routine traffic stop on April 15th. According to The Daily Mail, Costantino Ragusa, Silvia Guerini and Luca Bernasconi -- all members of the Italian terrorist group Il Silvestre -- were arrested when authorities found a primed explosive device inside their vehicle. A police spokesman said the ...

Usually, doctors rely on lengthy and invasive biopsy procedures to diagnose oral cancer by extracting tissue samples from patients. Now, the diagnostic process may become a lot less invasive -- and a lot faster -- thanks to a new diagnostic nanochip device. Researchers at Rice University claim to have developed a new, ultra-small biochip that can detect malignant and pre-malignant oral lesions ...

Scientists are one step closer to creating a highly targeted treatment for cancer that could potentially have fewer negative side effects than chemotherapy. A technique known as "gene silencing," or RNA interference (RNAi), has the potential to block the production of proteins key to the spread of cancer and viruses. Researchers have struggled with developing a delivery method for the specially ...

We can all recite Frosty's major components by heart, from his magical top hat down to his snowy base, but the creation of this snowman required some ingredients that Gene Autry would have never even imagined. The little guy above is apparently the smallest snowman in the world, about one-fifth the width of a human hair, and is the product of some pretty amazing techniques. Its craftsman is ...

Scientists are hard at work developing the next generation of tiny batteries, and, instead of using dangerous chemicals and heavy metals, they're using viruses -- real, bacteria-eating viruses. For the first time, researchers at MIT recently used these little guys to build the world's first virus-built, Lithium-ion battery. Turns out that viruses can be genetically engineered to act as microscopic ...

There's already been countless advances in the always exciting field of robot muscles, but a team of researchers from the University of Texas have now made what appears to be a considerable leap forward, which they say could allow for "performance characteristics that have not previously been obtained." The key to that is an entirely new material comprised of ribbons of tangled nanotubes, which ...

Last year the brain trust in Zurich announced their high-tech leisure suit that never gets wet, and now Solestrom International (the UV-detecting bikini company) has announced its own water-repellent nano-material. Called Sun Dry, each fiber of the new fabric is surrounded by an invisible barrier that allows water to pass through it rather than being absorbed into it. Essentially, the swimwear ...

Make no mistake, there are quite a few sophisticated ways to monitor one's glucose levels, but we're pretty certain we've never seen an approach as simple and as bodacious as this. Massachusetts-based Draper Laboratories has stumbled upon a new embeddable nanosensor that could, at least in theory, eliminate those painful pricks endured today by so many diabetics. The so-called "injectable ...

Gays, evolution, cloning, rap music, stem cells, Barack Obama, their own shadow... really what isn't the religious right afraid of? That's why we're not shocked to see ScienceDaily's report that nanotechnology has been added to the list. Why the opposition to a technology that we've been told time and time again will make our lives better and easier? Because it's toying with nature and playing ...

There are some things that technology hasn't been able to fix, and the wetness of water is certainly one of them. But now, there seems to be a solution: a new waterproof material developed by Swiss chemists is 100% water-repellent. So much so that after leaving it soaking in a bucket of water for two months, it emerges completely dry to the touch. The trick is a layer of silicone nanofilaments ...

Barack Obama has made quite a stir since winning the election two weeks ago. He's promising change, big change, and with Democrats taking control of the House and Senate, he should have all the tools he needs to deliver it. His promises may be big, but Assistant Professor John Hart at the University of Michigan is highlighting his persona in something very, very small, by creating a series of ...

We can rebuild you. Make you stronger. Faster. And then maybe make you obsolete? Yes, that's the word from futurists and transhumanists, which are fancy words for the types of people who study the effects of technology on human life and physiology. One noted futurist, Dr. Ray Kurzweil, has predicted something called the Singularity, which will be the "culmination of the merger of our ...

Now that just looks extra scrumptious, doesn't it? What you're peering at above is believed to be the world's tiniest ramen bowl, created by a clever bunch of scientists from the University of Tokyo. Reportedly, Masayuki Nakao and his students "used a carbon-based material to produce a noodle bowl with a diameter 1 / 25,000 of an inch in a project aimed at developing nanotube-processing ...