A defect-free layer is also impermeable to all atoms and molecules. This amalgamation makes it a terrifically attractive material to apply to scientific developments in a wide variety of fields, such as electronics, aerospace and sports.
"We transferred electrons from the dopant-potassium-to the surface of the black phosphorus, which confined the electrons
and allowed us to manipulate this state. Potassium produces a strong electrical field which is required what we to tune the size of the band gap."
"This process of transferring electrons is known as doping and induced a giant Stark effect, which tuned the band gap allowing the valence
and have applications in superresolution microscopy, laser cutting, and particle acceleration.""You generally would need a large optical setup,
"The team is currently working with industrial partners to create metasurfaces for use in commercial devices such as miniature cameras and spectrometers,
This approach captures complex, nonlinear interactions of molecules on metal surfaces through artificial neural networks, thus allowing large scale exploration alloy materials space, according to their article.
they have identified a few promising copper multi-metallics with a higher energy conversion efficiency and possibly higher selectivity in carbon dioxide electro-reduction to ethylene, an extremely useful chemical in industry for making plastics.
a chemical change triggers the generation of oxygen-carrying molecules known as reactive oxygen species (ROS). If a sunscreens agents penetrate the skin,
The nanoparticles hydrophilic layer essentially locks in the active ingredient, a hydrophobic chemical called padimate O. Some sunscreen solutions that use larger particles of inorganic compounds, such as titanium dioxide or zinc oxide,
Full open access research for mall-Molecule-Driven Direct Reprogramming of Mouse Fibroblasts into Functional Neuronsby Xiang Li, Xiaohan Zuo, Junzhan Jing, Yantao Ma,
In vivo intracortical recordings from the rat motor cortex illustrate one mode of use for these ECM-NES. mall-Molecule-Driven Direct Reprogramming of Mouse Fibroblasts into Functional Neuronsby Xiang Li, Xiaohan Zuo
Peptides are a group of molecules that consist of a chain of amino acids. Amino acids are also known as the building blocks of proteins
As oxytocin is a relatively large molecule, it has trouble crossing the barrier between the brain and circulating blood.
Using light-generated radiation combined with phase-contrast X-ray tomography, the scientists visualized ultrafine details of a fly measuring just a few millimeters.
such radiation could only be produced in expensive ring accelerators measuring several kilometers across. By contrast, the laser-driven system in combination with phase-contrast X-ray tomography only requires a university laboratory to view soft tissues.
The paper states,-rays radiated by relativistic electrons driven by well-controlled high-power lasers offer a promising route to a proliferation of this powerful imaging technology.
and wiggles electrons, giving rise to a brilliant kev X-ray emission. his so-called betatron radiation is emitted in a collimated beam with excellent spatial coherence and remarkable spectral stability.
Our results suggest that laser-based X-ray technology offers the potential for filling the large performance gap between synchrotron
The X-rays required were generated by electrons that were accelerated to nearly the speed of light over a distance of approximately one centimeter by laser pulses lasting around 25fs.
and their electrons like a ship through water, producing a wake of oscillating electrons. This electron wave creates a trailing wave-shaped electric field structure on which the electrons surf and by
which they are accelerated in the process. The particles then start to vibrate, emitting X-rays. Each light pulse generates an X-ray pulse.
The X-rays generated have special properties: a wavelength of approximately 0. 1nm, which corresponds to a duration of only about 5fs,
Due to the shortness of the X-ray pulses, this technique may be used in future to freeze ultrafast processes on the femtosecond time scale e g. in molecules
On the most basic level, that means that dissolved salt particles, which have a slight electric charge,
Specially made synthetic membranes are used to filter out large salt particles and impurities so they can be evaporated away,
The team calls this a"highly degenerate spin ice phase (Ice I)".But then they started to slowly cool the material down,
They call this the"long-range charge-and spin-ordered (LRO) phase"."""We were fascinated by the fact that our synthetic material displayed this everyday phenomenon of a phase transition,
Microorganisms can synthesise mixtures of complex organic molecules, such as antibiotics, from simple organic building blocks by fermentation.
The KAHA ligation uses special types of organic molecules to form new bonds without the usual need for toxic chemical reagents.
What's more, they have demonstrated the practicality of this approach by identifying a novel molecule that blocks a key enzyme used by the hepatitis C virus."Our dream is to provide a do-it-yourself method--one that can be applied by anyone,
and assess millions of organic molecules, without using dangerous reagents, "says Professor Bode.""For example, we envision that synthetic fermentation could be used by farmers to generate
and identify new antibacterial or antifungal molecules to treat plant diseases.""By combining a handful of molecules in a variety of ways,
a farmer could identify a novel combination that treats plant infections. He adds that the next step is to determine the most efficient way to screen the thousands
"In our system, nanowires harvest solar energy and deliver electrons to bacteria, where carbon dioxide is reduced and combined with water for the synthesis of a variety of targeted, value-added chemical products."
"When sunlight is absorbed, photo-excited electron? hole pairs are generated in the silicon and titanium oxide nanowires,
The photo-generated electrons in the silicon will be passed onto bacteria for the CO2 reduction while the photo-generated holes in the titanium oxide split water molecules to make oxygen."
"Once the forest of nanowire arrays is established, it is populated with microbial populations that produce enzymes known to selectively catalyze the reduction of carbon dioxide.
For this study, the Berkeley team used Sporomusa ovata, an anaerobic bacterium that readily accepts electrons directly from the surrounding environment
The yields of target chemical molecules produced from the acetate were also encouraging--as high as 26-percent for butanol, a fuel comparable to gasoline, 25-percent for amorphadiene, a precursor to the antimaleria drug artemisinin,
The group discovered a few wavelengths of light that allow measuring the specific fluorescence signal from photosynthesis. The team's fluorescence measurement system can record radiation at high resolution with a frequency of 5 minutes,
the fat molecules in it come closer to form aggregates. Lemon juice increases milk's acidity
the aggregated molecules still maintain consistent distances from each other, behaving as if they are part of a liquid.
where molecules pack together like a solid in certain localized regions of the bulk material. Gels and shaving cream are crafted industrially examples.
They crowd control molecules within a given space under different conditions. Adding a new constituent, stirring the pot
or changing the temperature influences how much molecules can move around and the closest they can come to each other,
The OIST researchers ran 2d simulations involving tens of thousands of particles. To govern the simulated particles
they fed existing equations of intermolecular crowd control into their system and plugged in values that would lead to the formation of aggregates.
The researcher explains that"ozone is composed triatomic (molecule of three atoms) oxygen, which is very reactive
the researchers etched micrometer scale pillars into a silicon surface using photolithography and deep reactive-ion etching,
Although superconductivity has already been observed in intercalated bulk graphite--three-dimensional crystals layered with alkali metal atoms,
"Decorating monolayer graphene with a layer of lithium atoms enhances the graphene's electron-phonon coupling to the point where superconductivity can be induced,
"Decorating monolayer graphene with a layer of lithium atoms enhances the graphene's electron-phonon coupling to the point where superconductivity can be stabilized."
Although superconductivity has already been observed in intercalated bulk graphite--three-dimensional crystals layered with alkali metal atoms,
"Decorating monolayer graphene with a layer of lithium atoms enhances the graphene's electron-phonon coupling to the point where superconductivity can be induced,
"Decorating monolayer graphene with a layer of lithium atoms enhances the graphene's electron-phonon coupling to the point where superconductivity can be stabilized."
The long-range order of water molecules increases in a similar way at the moment when water freezes into ice.""We were fascinated by the fact that our synthetic material displayed this everyday phenomenon of a phase transition,
supplies beams from exotic elementary particles called muons, which can be used to study nanomagnetic properties. The project took place in collaboration with a research group headed by Stephen Lee from the University of St andrews, Scotland n
nanowires harvest solar energy and deliver electrons to bacteria, where carbon dioxide is reduced and combined with water for the synthesis of a variety of targeted, value-added chemical products.
photo-excited electron#hole pairs are generated in the silicon and titanium oxide nanowires, which absorb different regions of the solar spectrum.
The photo-generated electrons in the silicon will be passed onto bacteria for the CO2 reduction while the photo-generated holes in the titanium oxide split water molecules to make oxygen.
Once the forest of nanowire arrays is established, it is populated with microbial populations that produce enzymes known to selectively catalyze the reduction of carbon dioxide.
the Berkeley team used Sporomusa ovata, an anaerobic bacterium that readily accepts electrons directly from the surrounding environment
The yields of target chemical molecules produced from the acetate were also encouraging as high as 26-percent for butanol
The work is centered on enhancing the arrangement of colloidsmall particles suspended within a fluid medium.
with these particles attaching to each other in ways that produce chaotic or inflexible configurations. The NYU team developed a new method to apply DNA coating to colloids
However, the method, at that point, could manipulate only one type of particle. In the JACS study, the research team shows the procedure can handle five additional types of materialsnd in different combinations.
you need to have the ability for a particle to move around and find its optimal position,
The team is currently working with industrial partners to create metasurfaces for use in commercial devices such as miniature cameras and spectrometers,
whose organs lacked a sugar molecule that normally lines their blood vessels. That molecule was the major culprit behind what called hyperacute rejection,
which had destroyed almost instantaneously transplanted pig organs. Removing the sugar molecule helped. But it wasn enough.
Tests in monkeys showed that other forms of organ rejection still damaged the pig tissue,
a molecule that prevents clotting in blood vessels. Although pigs have their own version of thrombomodulin
#Finally, Fusion Takes Small Steps Toward Reality After three decades of expensive government-funded research that has failed to produce tangible breakthroughs,
nuclear fusion has gone from a promising source of effectively limitless power to something more like a punch line.
Commercial power generation from fusion is still a long way off but the outlines of such a reactor can now be perceived.
Traditional fusion research has centered on large, doughnut-shaped machines called tokamaks, which exert powerful magnetic fields to compress high-temperature plasmaoiling balls of charged particles that fuse to form helium, releasing large amounts of energy in the process.
The challenge is to contain the hot plasma and keep it stable; the fusion reactors of today,
have galvanized the fusion community. Tri Alpha Energy based in Foothill Ranch, California, said in early August that it has succeeded in keeping a high-energy plasma stable for five millisecondsuch less than the blink of an eye,
but alf an eternityon the scale of fusion reactions, according to chief technology officer Michl Binderbauer. Tri Alpha, says Binderbauer,
is bringing the principles of high-energy particle accelerators, such as the Large hadron collider, to bear on the problems of fusion reactors.
Specifically, the team has built a device, 23 meters long, that fires two clouds of plasma at each other to form a ring of plasma.
The plasma is sustained by the injection of high-energy particles from accelerators. The challenge for Tri Alpha design, says Binderbauer,
keeping the plasma stable at a high-enough temperature to achieve energy-positive fusion. The recent experiment indicated that the companyhich has attracted millions of dollars in funding from investors including Goldman sachs and Vulcan Inc,
At MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center, a group headed by Dennis Whyte a professor of nuclear science and engineering and the center director, published a conceptual design in July for a machine called the ARC reactor (ffordable, robust, compact.
The researchers also envision a liquid lanketsurrounding the plasma that will absorb neutrons without damage
Increasing the amplitude of the surrounding magnetic field raises the amount of fusion power produced in the plasma to the fourth power dramatic increase that could lead to a commercial prototype in a matter of years,
Now the advent of advanced superconductor tapes could enable a compact reactor that produces fusion continuously.
Published in Fusion Engineering and Design, the ARC reactor paper stresses that, for the moment, it a conceptual design only.
and Vancouver-based General Fusion, are working on related -but-different designs to bring fusion to the prototype stage (see New Approach to Fusion. e are getting closer to working machines,
says Michel Laberge, the founder and chief scientist at General Fusion. or many years, fusion research was the realm of big government labs that did great work
and established the basis for fusion to work. But there was not a great sense of urgency. ow the urgency has risen,
and these companies are testing new ideas and new approachesnd attracting the investment to do so.
General Fusion recently landed $27 million in new funding from a group of investors led by the sovereign wealth fund of Malaysia. ight now
what happening is a rethinking, says Burton Richter, who won the Nobel prize in Physics in 1976
Companies like Tri Alpha offer a path to fusion paved not with taxpayer dollars but with private-sector moneyhich ultimately is the only way to actually get something built.
With the wariness of a veteran fusion scientist, though, he advises caution: ill you build it, you don know for sure. g
Sporting higher energy density than lithium-ion we may even see batteries made with this material.
Called sol-gel thin film, it is made up of a single layer of silicon atoms and a nanoscale self-assembled layer of octylphosphonic acid.
high energy extraction and heat tolerance. Performance of sol-gel thin film electrodes at Georgia Tech's laboratories has exceeded all existing commercial electrolytic capacitors and thin-film lithium-ion batteries.
States Professor Joseph Perry, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Georgia Tech,"sol-gels...such as phosphonic acids are well known...
For this purpose the KIT scientists established a pilot plant at the hospital of Wonosari There bacteria in the water are reduced among others by UV radiation
For the very first time a general strategy to manufacture inorganic nanoparticles with user-specified 3d shapes has been achieved to produce particles as small as 25 nanometers or less with remarkable precision (less than 5 nanometers.
Just as any expanding material can be shaped inside a mold to take on a defined 3d form the Wyss team set out to grow inorganic particles within the confined hollow spaces of stiff DNA NANOSTRUCTURES.
and height of the particle able to be controlled independently. Next researchers fabricated varied 3d polygonal shapes spheres and more ambitious structures such as a 3d Y-shaped nanoparticle and another structure comprising a cuboid shape sandwiched between two spheres proving that structurally-diverse
For particles that would better serve their purpose by being as electrically conducive as possible such as in very small nanocomputers
and promises the ability to position functional biological molecules--such as those involved in taste, smell,
In the study, the researchers used something called Atomic force microscopy (AFM), which is an imaging process that has a resolution down to only a fraction of a nanometer
However, instead of writing with fluid ink, we allow the lipid molecules--the ink--to dry on the tip first.
'which convert the detection of small molecules into electrical signals to stimulate our sense of smell. And many drugs work by targeting specific membrane proteins."
localized heating of the molecules leads to a temperature and pressure increase in the gas."
#Breakthrough Technique Accurately Detects the andednessof Molecules A new technique that can determine whether a molecule is present in a left
-or right-handed form may have a multitude of practical applications, potentially leading to new and improved drugs, diagnosis methods, and pesticides.
reliably and simultaneously identify the andednessof different molecules in a mixture. The research, led by chemists at The University of Nottingham and the VU University Amsterdam,
whether a molecule is present in a left-or right-handed form. The breakthrough could be important in developing effective molecules for use in a wide range of industries everything from the development of safer new drugs and disease diagnosis to less toxic pesticides.
Many molecules exist in forms which are essentially identical, apart from being exact mirror images of one another.
It is common for these so-called chiral molecules to exist in just one form in biological systems,
although scientists still don fully understand why. For example, although both forms of amino acid molecules the building blocks of life itself can be made in the laboratory,
in nature they only occur in the left-handed form. The chirality of these biomolecules also strongly affects the way in
which they interact with other molecules, for instance with chiral drugs. Presently, more than 50 per cent of all drugs produced are active in only one of their two handed forms.
Similarly, it is hard to shake with your right hand someone else left hand it the same with molecules interacting.
If you have a left-handed molecule it will have a preference for whether it interacts with a left-or right-handed molecule.
Handedness is significant because it can affect the properties and function of otherwise identical molecules,
the impact of which can be large enough to be detectable by the human body. A classic example is the hundreds of molecule pairs in
which the left-and right-handed forms smell completely different. The molecule limonene used as a citrus fragrance
and de-greaser in a wide variety of household cleaning products is well-known for its ability to smell of either oranges
or lemons depending on the handedness of the particular form of the molecule. In pharmaceuticals, handedness can be crucial
because one form of a molecule can be associated with an effective result while the other can lead to associated (severe) side effects,
called circular dichroism, involves exposing the molecules to circularly polarised light and detecting the difference between how the molecules absorb the light.
But the distinguishing effects are weak tiny fractions of a per cent so the technique struggles to approach the sensitivity of the human nose.
The latest research demonstrates a rapid new technique that can be used to identify the handedness of chiral molecules with more tangible effects and a greater degree of accuracy.
Mass-Selected Photoelectron Circular Dichroism (MS-PECD) uses circularly polarised light produced by a laser to ionise the molecules using a couple of photons to knock an electron out of the chiral molecule to leave a positively charged ion behind.
By tracking the direction that the electrons take when they travel out of the molecule
either forwards or backwards along the laser beam it is possible to distinguish between left and right handed molecules with an accuracy of up to several tens of per cent rather than a fraction of a per cent.
Wide range of applications This is combined with a mass spectrometry experiment in which a small electrical potential is applied to the negatively charged electron and positively charged ion
which draws them out in opposite directions. The scientists look for simultaneous detection of the ion and electron those reaching the detectors simultaneously are very likely to have come from the same molecule.
The mass of the ion can be measured and matched with its partner electron. By combining these methods,
it is possible to identify both the handedness of individual molecules and the proportion of left-and right-handed molecules in a mixture.
The scientists can use gas-based samples rather than high concentrations in solution and the technique is much more detailed by looking at energies involved scientists can see many other things about the molecule,
not only whether it is left or right-handed but the shape which the molecule has taken and whether it interacts with other molecules.
The technique could have a wide range of applications In addition to the development of effective new drugs and diagnosis methods for diseases including cancer,
it could potentially lead to new reenpesticides using pheromones tailored specifically to attract pollinators or to repel destructive insects.
Chiral molecules are emitted also by some plants and trees when under stress and detectors to identify concentrations in air samples could be used to monitor our changing ecology.
While in the food industry, the technique could allow companies to refine the flavours of the food
and drinks that we consume. The research, Enantiomer Specific Analysis of Multi-Component Mixtures by Correlated Electron Imaging-Ion Mass Spectrometry
was funded by the Division of Chemical sciences of The netherlands Organisation for Scientific research, with further European support from LASERLAB-EUROPE and the Marie Curie Initial Training Network ICONIC t
maybe they could use our particles as well, Brandl says. hen we came up with the idea to use our particles to remove toxic chemicals, pollutants,
or hormones from water, because we saw that the particles aggregate once you irradiate them with UV LIGHT. trap for ater-fearingpollutionthe researchers synthesized polymers from polyethylene glycol,
a widely used compound found in laxatives, toothpaste, and eye drops and approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a food additive,
in a solution hydrophobic pollutant molecules move toward the hydrophobic nanoparticles, and adsorb onto their surface,
the stabilizing outer shell of the particles is shed, and now nrichedby the pollutants they form larger aggregates that can then be removed through filtration, sedimentation,
according to the researchers, was confirming that small molecules do indeed adsorb passively onto the surface of nanoparticles. o the best of our knowledge,
it is the first time that the interactions of small molecules with preformed nanoparticles can be measured directly,
and molecules. he interactions we exploit to remove the pollutants are nonspecific, Brandl says. e can remove hormones, BPA,
we showed in a system that the adsorption of small molecules on the surface of the nanoparticles can be used for extraction of any kind,
The radiation levels near the Fukushima site are spiking to record levels, but that hasn't stopped Google's Streetview from entering one area of the forbidden'zone.
which is deemed now a radiation hazard. Google has catalogued also the interiors of over 70 flood-damaged buildings in the region.
Volunteers brave arrest and elevated levels of radiation around Fukushima donning protective gear and carry Geiger counters.
What the NRC really knew about Fukushima Fukushima ocean radiation could pose sleeper threat Nuclear meltdowns nearly made northern Japan uninhabitable do need we to worry about radiation in our milk?
Elevated radiation levels widespread in eastern Japan Test show Japanese child exposed to radiation Rice crops threatened by radiation Radioactive tuna found in Pacific ocean Hydrofracking drives new water treatment solutions
Algae technology cleans up fracking Flushing toilets could heat future buildings The lost pets of Fukushima Radiation loving algae comes to Japan s rescu
Earlier this year Siemens broke ground in Mainz Germany on what it says will be the world s largest proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer.
These arrays of nanoparticles with predictable geometric configurations are somewhat analogous to molecules made of atoms.
While atoms form molecules based on the nature of their chemical bonds, there has been no easy way to impose such a specific spatial binding scheme on nanoparticles.
with particles placed in accurate locations on the scaffold as per the specificity of DNA coding.
These designs contained two varied arrangements of the same group of particles with each configuration having different optical properties.
This method of nanoscale construction leverages two major properties of the DNA molecule, such as the natural tendency of strands having complementary bases,
Initially, bundles of six double-helix molecules were produced, with four of these bundles combined together to form a stable and a relatively strong building material,
Thus the specifically DNA-encoded particles can find their correspondingly designed place on the octahedron vertices,
and complementary strands were utilized on a range of particles. This showed that both the arrangement
and assembly of the particles can be controlled in an accurate manner. In a similar experiment, two different arrangements were made from the same three pairs of particles having different sizes,
which resulted in products having varied optical characteristics. The team also used DNA tethers on specified vertices to join octahedrons end to end
However, a major challenge was to validate the arrangement and structure of particles. This is because the DNA molecules and nanoparticles,
which constitute the frames, exhibit different densities. While some microscopy methods can show the particles alone
others would change the 3d structures. The team employed cryo-electron microscopy, also known as CRYO EM, to observe the particles and origami frames.
This work was headed by Huilin Li, Brookhaven Lab and Stony Brook University biologist, and Tong Wang, the other lead co-author of the paper and who also works with Li in the Biosciences department of Brookhaven.
and integrate the same by means of single particle 3d reconstruction and tomography to create the final images.
Overtext Web Module V3.0 Alpha
Copyright Semantic-Knowledge, 1994-2011