combines a highly sensitive imaging system with a method of genetically engineering cells to produce a pigment
the enzyme that produces the pigment melanin in skin. This turns the cells dark brown so they absorb light from the laser
The researchers are now developing other pigments to increase the palette of colours available to label different parts of an organ,
Scientists curve nanoparticle sheets into complex forms (Nanowerk News) Scientists have been making nanoparticles for more than two decades in two-dimensional sheets, three-dimensional crystals and random clusters.
and filled with an electro-optical polymer, and sidewalls made of gold which, at the same time, act as electrodes.
The electro-optical polymer changes its index of refraction as a function of the voltage. The waveguide and the coupler made of silicon route the two parts of a split light beam to the gaps or from the gaps.
The voltage applied to the polymer modulates the surface waves. Modulation is different in both gaps but coherent,
For example, after the implantation of an artificial ureter, urease crystals often start to grow inside
an ARC Australian Laureate Fellow in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular engineering at the University of Melbourne, was published today in Advanced Materials("Multifunctional Thrombin-Activatable Polymer Capsules for Specific Targeting to Activated Platelets").
"We can now study the atomic details of microtubule polymerization and depolymerization to develop a complete description of microtubule dynamics,
and it was seen by some as a black sheep of the transition metal dichalcogenides (TMD) family and purposefully ignored.
A TMD crystal follows an MX2 format: there is one transition metal, represented by M m can be Tungsten, Molybdenum, etc.)
and two chalcogenides, the X2 (Sulfur, Selenium, or Tellurium. These atoms form a thin, molecular sandwich with the one metal and two chalcogenides,
and depending on their fabrication method can exist in several slightly different shaped atomic arrangements. The overwhelming majority of microchips that exist in electronics now are made from silicon,
and make one 2d crystal that was composed of the semiconducting 2h-Mote2 and the metallic 1t'-Mote2.
and Andrew Alleyne (Mechse)--embedded QDS in novel polymer materials that retain strong quantum efficiency.
They then used electrohydrodynamic jet (e-jet) printing technology to precisely print the QD-embedded polymers onto photonic crystal structures.
The current industrial process to reduce carbon dioxide to methanol uses a catalyst of copper, zinc oxide and aluminum oxide.
When the material is a metal, that spot also becomes very hot. The scientists have shown that the same effect can be achieved using their new silicon device, without the associated temperature increase and its unfortunate consequences.
"However the characteristics of metals that make them good at conducting electricity also lead to the undesirable heating effect,
"The cloud of free-moving electrons around a metal that carries an electrical current can also absorb passing photons.
it becomes pure tantalum, a metal. The researchers determined three related factors give the memories their unique switching ability.
It is stronger than steel yet many times lighter more conductive than copper and more flexible than rubber.
on a substrate crystal of nonmagnetic strontium titanate using a method pulsed laser deposition developed many years ago for high-temperature superconductors and multicomponent materials by Prof Venkatesan,
"By'sandwiching'one or two atomic layers of a transition metal like titanium, between monoatomic layers of another metal, such as molybdenum,
Double Transition metals Carbides (MXENES)")is significant because it represents a new way of combining elemental materials to form the building blocks of energy storage technology--such as batteries, capacitors and supercapacitors,
as well as superstrong composites--like the ones used in phone cases and body armor. Each new combination of atom-thick layers presents new properties
"Think of MXENE synthesis like separating layers of wood by dunking a plywood sheet into a chemical that dissolves the glue,
An Elemental Impasse Four years later, the researchers have worked their way through the section of the Periodic table with elements called"transition metals"
it can use this method to make as many as 25 new materials with combinations of transition metals, such as molybdenum and titanium,
"Anasori plans to make more materials by replacing titanium with other metals, such as vanadium, niobium,
structural composites and many other fields, enabling a new level of engineering on the atomic scale
#Water heals a bioplastic (w/video) A drop of water self-heals a multiphase polymer derived from the genetic code of squid ring teeth,
"What's unique about this plastic is the ability to stick itself back together with a drop of water,
"A squid ring teeth derived plastic being cut in two and self healing with water and pressure.
The polymer can then either be molded using heat or cast by solvent evaporation. The two-part material is a copolymer consisting of an amorphous segment that is soft and a more structured molecular architecture.
The structured portion consists of strands of amino acids connected by hydrogen bonds to form a twisted and/or pleated sheet.
This part also provides strength for the polymer, but the amorphous segment provides the self-healing.
The polymer can either be molded using heat or cast by solvent evaporation. Video: Demirel Lab/Penn State) The researchers created a dog-bone shaped sample of the polymer
and then cut it in half. Using warm water at about 113 degrees Fahrenheit--slightly warmer than body temperature--and a slight amount of pressure with a metal tool,
The LED displays are fabricated on a polyimide substrate and encapsulated in rubber, allowing the displays to be laminated in to textiles that can be washed.
Smaller LEDS are mounted now on an amorphous indium-gallium-zinc oxide (a-IGZO) TFT backplane that employs a two-transistor
"The findings reveal a unique model that enables fast and accurate prediction of novel alloy materials for efficient chemical conversions.
The mixture of two or more metals with very precise atomic structures and compositions as shown great promise for catalyzing many chemical and electrochemical reactions,
In the past, testing of mixed blends of metals has produced novel physical and chemical properties. owever the process is very time-consuming and costly to search for highly optimized alloysusing the conventional approaches, Achenie added.
thus allowing arge scale exploration alloy materials space, according to their article. They specifically concentrated on the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide on metal electrodes ecause of the current interest in this process for sustainable production of fuels and value added chemicals,
an extremely useful chemical in industry for making plastics. his study opens a new way for designing metal-based catalysts with complexities, for example, geometry and composition, promoters and poisons, defects,
the lab assembled three-dimensional computer models of illared graphene nanostructures, akin to the boron nitride structures modeled in a previous study to analyze heat transfer between layers. his time we were interested in a comprehensive understanding of the elastic and inelastic properties
Shahsavari said. e believe the principles can be applied to other low-dimensional materials such as boron nitride and molybdenum/tungsten or the combinations thereof. m
based on UNSW Australia research that can predict for the first time which combinations of metals will best form these useful materials.
Just like something from science fiction-think of the Liquid-Metal Man robot assassin (T-1000) in the Terminator films-these materials behave more like glass or plastic than metal.
While still being metals, they become as malleable as chewing gum when heated and can be moulded easily
They are also three times stronger and harder than ordinary metals on average, and are among the toughest materials known."
since the discovery of plastics more than 50 years ago,"says study author, Dr Kevin Laws, from UNSW Australia in Sydney.
Most metals are crystalline when solid, with their atoms arranged in a highly organised and regular manner.
Metallic glass alloys, however, have disordered a highly structure, with the atoms arranged in a non-regular way."
But until now, discovering alloy compositions that form these materials has required a lengthy process of trial and error in the laboratory,
They have used their model to successfully predict more than 200 new metallic glass alloys based on magnesium
"Metallic glass alloys are expensive to manufacture and to date have only been used in niche products,
potentially enabling the replacement of expensive and rare metals in fuel cells. The new catalyst is based carbon,
a pigment found in plants, fruits and vegetables that can be used as an antioxidant.""The aim was to analyze
In our case the gum wall is a biodegradable polymer that protects the liquid center:
Besides being composed of a biodegradable polymer, it becomes a lactic acid and can easily be discarded.""We tested it in orange, strawberry and watermelon juice at 70 and 90 Degree celsius,
and 3d printing techniques to create a custom silicone guide implanted with biochemical cues to help nerve regeneration.
The study appears September 21 in Nature Materials("Sequence Heuristics To Encode Phase Behaviour In Intrinsically Disordered Protein Polymers"."
artificial composites that exhibit properties not found in naturally occurring substances. They had designed previously a metamaterial thermal cloak that passively guided conductive heat around a hidden object.
and biocompatible metal electrodes"),pairs gold nanomesh with a stretchable substrate made with polydimethylsiloxane, or PDMS.
and fatigue has been a deadly disease for metals, "the researchers wrote.""We weaken the constraint of the substrate by making the interface between the Au (gold) nanomesh and PDMS slippery,
"For more than 100 years, researchers have inferred how atoms are arranged in three-dimensional space using a technique called X-ray crystallography,
which involves measuring how light waves scatter off of a crystal. However, X-ray crystallography only yields information about the average positions of many billions of atoms in the crystal,
and not about individual atomsprecise coordinates. t like taking an average of people On earth, Miao said. ost people have a head, two eyes, a nose and two ears.
Because X-ray crystallography doesn reveal the structure of a material on a per-atom basis
or polymer layers on it. The biosensing sensitivity depends on the properties of chip surface. Higher binding capacity for biomolecules increases the signal levels and accuracy of analysis. The last several years
It is made of a silicon-based polymer, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), and has microvalves and fluidic channels to transport the sample between nodes for various sample preparation steps.
The nanoparticle 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,
The researchers believe their new method is compatible with roll-to-roll manufacturing--an existing method for creating devices in bulk using a roll of flexible plastic and a processing machine.
industrial-quality metal deposited on polymer sheets. First, an electronic mechanical cutter is used to form patterns on the metal-polymer sheets.
Second, after removing excessive areas, the electronics are printed onto any polymer adhesives, including temporary tattoo films.
The cutter is programmable so the size of the patch and pattern can be customized easily.
which includes a photovoltaic cell using a high-quality semiconductor crystal similar to the ones for lasers
Free radicals are produced during the fire cycle as a polymer degrades, and their removal is critical to stopping the fire from continuing to spread.
which blocks fire's access to its fuel source--the polymer. The synergistic combination of both these processes makes polydopamine an attractive and powerful flame retardant.
The researchers then isolated individual pores by placing each graphene sheet over a layer of silicon nitride that had been punctured by an ion beam
and then through the larger silicon nitride hole. The group measured flows of five different salt ions through several graphene sheet setups by applying a voltage and measuring the current flowing through the pores.
Stable whirls in magnetic materials (see figure) were predicted over 25 years ago, but the experimental realization was achieved only recently.
when a nonmagnetic metal is used in such a measurement. n our experiment we can move a metallic tip over a surface with atomic-scale precision,
#Even if imprisoned inside a crystal, molecules can still move X-ray crystallography reveals the three-dimensional structure of a molecule,
thus making it possible to understand how it works and potentially use this knowledge to subsequently modulate its activity, especially for therapeutic or biotechnological purposes.
For the first time, a study has shown that residual movements continue to animate proteins inside a crystal and that this movement"blurs"the structures obtained via crystallography.
The study stresses that the more these residual movements are restricted, the better the crystalline order.
That is why molecules consisting of the most compact crystals generally make it possible to obtain structures of better quality.
This research combines crystallography nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and simulation and is the result of an international cooperation involving researchers from the Institute of Structural biology (ISB, CEA/CNRS/Joseph Fourier University) in Grenoble, France, Purdue University, USA,
X-ray crystallography is the most prolific method for determining protein structures. The quality of a crystallographic structure depends on the"degree of order"within the crystal.
Proteins are generally only a few nanometres in size. Several thousand billion protein molecules must perfectly fit together
Sometimes crystals, which may appear macroscopically perfect, disintegrate if subjected to X-rays, thus destroying their structure.
but this supposedly slow residual dynamic had never been observed directly in a crystal. The researchers at IBS used a multi-technique approach, combining solid-state NMR spectroscopy, simulations of molecular dynamics and X-ray crystallography.
Thanks to solid-state NMR, they were able to measure the dynamics of a model protein, ubiquitin, in three of its crystalline forms.
The less compact the crystal the more unrestrained the movements within it. Accordingly, crystallographic data collected for three types of crystal indicate that the more compact the crystal,
the better it defracts, making it easier to determine the structure of the proteins of which it consists.
These simulations suggest that, within crystals, proteins revolve around each other a few degrees at microsecond speed. As shown through NMR measurements,
this swinging motion"is greater the less compact the crystal a
#Discovery about new battery overturns decades of false assumptions New findings at Oregon State university have overturned a scientific dogma that stood for decades,
and charged sidechains (magenta and cyan). The right corner of the top layer of the nanosheet has been emovedto show how the backbone alternating rotational states give the backbones a snake-like appearance (red and blue ribbons.
which are synthetic polymers closely related to protein-forming peptides. The design rule controls the way in
which polymers adjoin to form the backbones that run the length of nanosheets. Surprisingly, these molecules link together in a counter-rotating pattern not seen in nature.
The Berkeley Lab scientists say this never-before-seen design rule could be used to piece together complex nanosheet structures and other peptoid assemblies such as nanotubes and crystalline solids.
and the polymers that make up these backbones are joined all together using the same rule. Each adjacent polymer rotates incrementally in the same direction,
so that a twist runs along the backbone. This rule doesn apply to peptoid nanosheets. Along their backbones, adjacent monomer units rotate in opposite directions.
These counter-rotations cancel each other out, resulting in a linear and untwisted backbone. This enables backbones to be tiled in two dimensions
("Metal/Polymer Based Stretchable Antenna for Constant Frequency Far-Field Communication in Wearable Electronics"."The paper will be the front cover article of the print edition.
The team's flexible and stretchable metal thin-film (copper) antenna for far-field communication up to 80 meters
"We fabricated our antenna using a metal/polymer bilayer process the resulting structure combines the conductivity of the metal
and the elasticity of the polymer and the stretchability is imparted using a lateral spring structure,
"The key reason the antenna needed to be fabricated as a metal/polymer bilayer is that standalone metal thin films are very malleable,
"That means that a metal thin film lateral spring structure cannot be used as a stretchable antenna,
The solution to this problem was to use a polymer backing that provides the restoration force
In a PFM, the spring arm is replaced by a small plastic sphere that sits at the center of a so-called optical trap and runs along the surface.
usually a transition metal oxide. If a voltage is applied then, the ohmic resistance of the storage cell changes.
"The researchers, from the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute and Konkuk University in the Republic of korea, coated cotton and polyester yarn with a nanoglue called bovine serum albumin (BSA.
Conventional methods typically employ static-field elements such as solenoids, which are coils of wire that create uniform magnetic fields, to focus the electron beams.
"UW researchers used chemical vapor deposition to grow graphene nanoribbons on germanium crystals. This technique flows a mixture of methane, hydrogen and argon gases into a tube furnace.
"Not only are designed our facilities to work with all different sorts of materials from metals to oxides,
"What's even more interesting is that these nanoribbons can be made to grow in certain directions on one side of the germanium crystal,
each face of a crystal (1, 1, 1) will have axes that differ from one (1, 1, 0) to the other (1, 0,
and makes it into a crystal, like an ice cube does to water. Next, the crystal drug is placed into a fat and protein coat, similar to
#Super-slick material makes steel better, stronger, cleaner Steel is ubiquitous in our daily lives.
We cook in stainless steel skillets, ride steel subway cars over steel rails to our offices in steel-framed building.
Steel screws hold together broken bones, steel braces straighten crooked teeth, steel scalpels remove tumors.
Most of the goods we consume are delivered by ships and trucks mostly built of steel.
While various grades of steel have been developed over the past 50 years, steel surfaces have remained largely unchanged--and unimproved.
The steel of today is as prone as ever to the corrosive effects of water and salt and abrasive materials such as sand.
Steel surgical tools can still carry microorganisms that cause deadly infections. Now researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of engineering and Applied sciences (SEAS) have demonstrated a way to make steel stronger, safer and more durable.
Their new surface coating, made from rough nanoporous tungsten oxide, is the most durable antifouling and anti-corrosive material to date,
capable of repelling any kind of liquid even after sustaining intense structural abuse. The new material joins the portfolio of other nonstick,
antifouling materials developed in the lab of Joanna Aizenberg, the Amy Smith Berylson Professor of Materials science and core faculty member of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard university.
Aizenberg's team developed Slippery Liquid-Infused Porous Surfaces in 2011 and since then has demonstrated a broad range of applications for the super-slick coating, known as SLIPS.
The new SLIPS-enhanced steel is described in Nature Communications("Extremely durable biofouling-resistant metallic surfaces based on electrodeposited nanoporous tungstite films on steel"."
""Our slippery steel is orders of magnitude more durable than any antifouling material that has been developed before,
"said Aizenberg.""So far, these two concepts-mechanical durability and antifouling-were at odds with each other.
The biggest challenge in the development of this surface was to figure out how to structure steel to ensure its antifouling capability without mechanical degradation.
The team solved this by using an electrochemical technique to grow an ultrathin film of hundreds of thousands of small and rough tungsten-oxide islands directly onto a steel surface."
"Electrochemical deposition is already a widely used technique in steel manufacturing, said Aizenberg.""I don't want to create another line that would cost millions
The team tested the material by scratching it with stainless steel tweezers, screwdrivers, diamond-tipped scribers,
and show anti-biofouling behavior but the tungsten oxide actually made the steel stronger than steel without the coating.
Medical steel devices are one of the material's most promising applications, said Philseok Kim,
#Solving 80-year-old mystery, chemist discovers way to isolate single-crystal ice surfaces A Tufts University chemist has discovered a way to select specific surfaces of single-crystal ice for study,
and why no two snowflakes are alike.""Ice crystals are ubiquitous and could hold the answer to some very important, fundamental questions about our environment,
and why no two snowflakes are said alike Shultz, principal investigator of the Laboratory for Water and Surface Analysis. Those answers could have implications for important issues such as seeding rain clouds and protecting the environment.
and preparing crystals were not reliable and yielded results that were not reproducible.""These limitations hindered scientists'ability to examine the molecular-level structure and dynamics of ice.
called Ih or"ice one h,"is made up of water molecules in a hexagonal crystal shape in an orderly,
she could determine the crystal's lattice orientation as it relates to a surface and use that orientation to make precise cuts of any of the crystal's faces.
The ability to select a desired face is important because it allows researchers to examine molecular-level dynamics
and structure and the way in which other molecules bind to the specific faces of the crystal,
At that point, a reflective metal layer is on the bottom.""In this structure--unlike other photodetectors--light absorption in an ultrathin silicon layer can be much more efficient
due to the new composite materials the façade is made of (glass fibres and an organic binder) and to the complexity of the units.
#Researchers create transplantation model for 3-D printed constructs Using sugar, silicone and a 3-D printer,
After the gel cured, Miller's team dissolved the sugar, leaving behind a network of small channels in the silicone."
the researchers designed lenses no larger than the head of a pin and embedded them within flexible plastic.
Then they seeped a polymer between the silicon nanowire pillars. After the plastic support solidified they etched away the silicon backing, leaving bull's-eye patterned black silicon embedded in supple plastic.
This approach gave their lenses unprecedented crisp focusing capabilities, as well as the flexibility that enables them to capture a large field of view.
the researchers designed lenses no larger than the head of a pin and embedded them within flexible plastic.
Arrays of lenses formed within a flexible polymer bend and stretch into different configurations. And the researchers can freely reconfigure the shape of the lens array,
Then they seeped a polymer between the silicon nanowire pillars. After the plastic support solidified, they etched away the silicon backing, leaving bull's-eye patterned black silicon embedded in supple plastic.
This approach gave their lenses unprecedented crisp focusing capabilities, as well as the flexibility that enables them to capture a large field of view.
and buckling of graphene on a thermally activated, shrinking polymer substrate. This process enables precise control and optimization of the size and spacing of integrated Au nanoparticles on crumpled graphene for higher SERS enhancement."
The rapid freezing method is able to prevent the water in the tissue from forming crystals,
Water crystals can severely damage the tissue by rupturing its cells. But in this high-pressure freezing method, the water turns into a kind of glass, preserving the original structures and architecture of the tissue.
The skeletal onesare 3-D-printed hard plastic and incorporate eight sensors for detecting force.
The skeletal onesare 3-D-printed hard plastic and incorporate eight sensors for detecting force.
and even polymer fibers stretch typically only 20-25 percent, Park noted. That is a limiting factor in a device such as a hand, where a wide range of motion is essential.
as the silicone is stretched, cracks develop in the reflective layer, allowing light to escape. By measuring the loss of light,
The researchers used a combination of X-ray crystallography techniques and in-vitro analysis to study the bacteria.
Jost performed crystallography to establish the shapes of the structures, while the Spanish researchers, Drennan notes, id all of the control experiments to show that we were really thinking about this right,
the researchers applied a type of artificial intelligence called evolutionary computation to pinpoint the molecular mechanisms underlying earlier research in which they induced normal pigment cells in embryonic Xenopus laevis frogs to metastasize.
the pigment cells of the affected embryos acquired bizarre, branch-like shapes and developed other melanoma-like characteristics,
Furthermore, the tadpoles that did develop melanoma developed it in every pigment cellach frog was either 100 percent metastatic or completely normal.
all pigment cells in a tadpole are part of a single coin, which either flips heads (normal) or tails (cancerous).
Over time, the polymer mesh breaks down harmlessly. After growing on the special mesh for just four days,
is made of an acrylic acid polymer. It works like a scaffold, allowing the printing of intricate patterns that would collapse without its support such as nested Russian-doll-like structures and thin
The researchers can also use silicone, hydrogel and other polymers, and made a replica of a colleague brain in the soft,
They manufactured the implant with a $1. 3 million metal printer at a government-run lab. The printer uses an electron beam to melt titanium powder,
The film is made of a photoreactive polymer that responds to both the intensity and the polarization of the light.
Overtext Web Module V3.0 Alpha
Copyright Semantic-Knowledge, 1994-2011