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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: nanotechnology

nanotechnology stories: 17 news summaries

 'Nanobees' Sting Cancer Cells 

Scientists abuzz over treatment using bee venom and nanoparticles

Sep 29, 09 4:58 AM CDT
(Newser) - Scientists working to harness the power of bee venom in the fight against cancer have created "nanobees" that can actually sting a tumor to death. Melittin, an ingredient in bee venom with anti-tumor properties, was attached to tiny spheres that sought out and attacked cancerous cells in mice. Previous... More »

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cancer • bees • cancer research • tumor • nanotechnology • red blood cells

(Newser) - A team of University of North Carolina scientists are working to bring X-ray technology into the 21st century, the Economist reports. The X-ray machines commonly used today rely on vacuum-tube technology little changed from a century ago, but physicist Otto Zhou and his colleagues have used nanotechnology to create smaller,... More »

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medical research • cancer research • nanotechnology • X-rays • irradiation • medical technology

(Newser) - Scientists have developed electricity-generating fibers that can be embedded in clothing and other materials and draw power from the smallest of movements, LiveScience reports. The zinc oxide nanowires are as small as 1/5,000th the width of a human hair and produce energy when they vibrate, even from blood flowing... More »

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technology • electricity • nanotechnology • DARPA • consumer electronics • scientific research • zinc oxide • military applications

Silicon Valley Spawns
High-Tech University

'Singularity University' to tackle questions about future, technology

Feb 3, 09 7:30 PM CST
(Newser) - The future’s so bright, we’re going to need special training to get ready. That’s the point of Singularity University, a Silicon Valley institution founded by trio of forward thinkers, reports CNET. It won’t be a regular university; instead, Singularity—staffed by Nobel winners and other luminaries—... More »

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nanotechnology • Ray Kurzweil • futurism • Peter Diamandis • singularity • Singularity University

Tiny Particles in Cosmetics Are Creating 'Nanophobes'

Tiny particles in skin-care products could damage organs: scientists

Dec 4, 08 12:36 PM CST
(Newser) - Though nanotechnology—relying on microscopic components—is common in many industries, scientists and consumers are worrying about the effects of nanoparticles in cosmetics, the New York Times reports. The fear is that the particles—50,000 times thinner than hair—can penetrate the skin and create havoc in our organs.... More »

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FDA • drug safety • nanotechnology • Consumer Reports • cosmetics • makeup

Tiny Tubes May Trumpet End of Bulky Loudspeakers

Nanotube technology could allow for speakers on clothes, windows, screens

Nov 21, 08 3:36 PM CST
(Newser) - You may soon be able to add paper-thin speakers to that flat-panel TV, the Economist reports. Scientists have used ultra-tiny carbon nanotubes to make a transparent film that produces sound identical to a signal-carrying current that passes through it. If the technology can be made commercially viable, you might be... More »

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sound • nanotechnology • carbon nanotubes • stereo speakers • amplifiers

OPINION

 Our Economic Cure? Innovation 

Innovation, and making it more efficient, can turn gray skies blue

Sep 14, 08 1:37 PM CDT
(Newser) - Democrats and Republicans do have something in common: Both parties are wrong on how to resuscitate the flat-lining US economy, Michael Mandel argues in BusinessWeek. Tax cuts or increased government spending aren’t the cure. “Innovation is the best—and maybe the only—way the US can get out... More »

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China • Democrats • Republican • India • trade • biotechnology • innovation • economist • nanotechnology • US productivity • tax cuts • research and development • information technology • foreign oil

 Fungus Drug
 Zaps Cancer 
 in Study 

New drug starves tumors of blood

Jun 30, 08 6:39 AM CDT
(Newser) - A powerful new cancer drug has been developed from a fungus discovered by accident, Reuters reports. The drug, called lodamin, is dramatically effective against a range of cancers and works by starving tumors of blood, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Biotechnology. Mice infected with... More »

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cancer • prostate cancer • lung cancer • ovarian cancer • melanoma • nanotechnology • neuroblastoma • glioblastomas • uterine tumors • Aspergillus fumigatus fresenius • lodamin

Oil-Slurping Nanotechnology Next Front in Fighting Spills

MIT scientists create mesh that keeps water out, can hold 20 times its weight in crude

Jun 4, 08 7:52 PM CDT
(Newser) - Cleaning up oil might soon get faster and cheaper, thanks to nanotechnology. Scientists at MIT have crafted a paper-like substance that can absorb up to 20 times its weight, the Economist reports. The mesh of nanowires, each 1/1,000th the diameter of a human hair, feels and looks like paper—... More »

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environment • MIT • oil spill • nanotechnology • environmental damage

Berkeley, Stanford Partner with Saudi University

American schools to help develop science and technology graduate school

Mar 5, 08 2:45 AM CST
(Newser) - Berkeley and Stanford University will help choose faculty and develop curricula for a new university in Saudi Arabia, reports the San Jose Mercury News. The graduate-level King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, funded by a $10 billion gift from the king, will focus on fields like petrochemicals and nano-technology... More »

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Saudi Arabia • King Abdullah • higher education • Stanford University • UC Berkeley • nanotechnology • mathematics

A.I. Will Match Human Brain
in 20 Years

But nanobots in our neurons will make
us smarter, too

Feb 16, 08 6:54 PM CST
(Newser) - One engineer and futurist says it’s only a matter of time before machines are as smart as people, and people are part machine, the BBC reports. Ray Kurzweil claims that artificial intelligence will produce human-level smarts and even emotions by 2029. Humans, meanwhile, will inject nanobots into their brains... More »

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artificial intelligence • intelligence • brain • robots • nanotechnology • Ray Kurzweil • futurism

Silicon Could Convert Waste Heat Into Power

New nanowires add to chip tech's bag of tricks

Jan 14, 08 11:41 AM CST
(Newser) - Silicon could turn heat into electricity for cheaper than current technologies based on other materials, reports Technology Review. Researchers made nanowires out of silicon so that it would conduct electricity, but not heat. Normal silicon conducts both very well. The specially-made wires, however, convert heat applied at one end to... More »

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solar energy • nanotechnology • silicon • thermoelectrics • bismuth telluride

Scientists Inscribe Tiny Bible

Israelis etch entire text on 0.01-square inch surface

Dec 24, 07 10:35 AM CST
(Newser) - Israeli scientists have crammed the entire Hebrew Bible onto a chip that is half the size of a grain of sugar, the AP reports. They used a particle beam to etch it onto the 0.01-square inch surface “like a hammer and chisel," one scientist said. The new... More »

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Israel • Australia • science • nanotechnology • Bible • Haifa

Radio Thinner Than Hair Invented

Nanotube radio could have widespread applications

Nov 2, 07 5:55 PM CDT
(Newser) - A UC Berkeley team has invented the world's smallest radio, composed of a single carbon nanotube 10,000 times thinner than a human hair. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the device is the first fully functional radio to qualify as a piece of nanotechnology -- inventions no larger than... More »

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radio • UC Berkeley • nanotechnology

Silicon Ink Makes Splash in Solar Cell Industry

New technology could slash
production prices drastically

Oct 11, 07 3:31 PM CDT
(Newser) - Silicon ink, a new innovation in nanotechnology, may revolutionize the way that solar panels are produced and dramatically cut solar energy costs. The company that makes the ink, Innovalight, will announce today $28 million in new funding from Norwegian corporation Convexa Capital, as well as plans for a 30,000-square-foot... More »

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sustainable living • solar energy • nanotechnology • solar cells

Hard Drive Guys Win Nobel Prize

Physics award goes to discoverers of 'giant magnetoresistance,' key to shrinking computers

Oct 9, 07 9:44 AM CDT
(Newser) - Proving physics isn’t just theoretical black-hole gazing, this year’s Nobel Prize went to a discovery that paved the way for radically shrinking the size of computers. Albert Fert and Peter Grunberg won for uncovering “giant magnetoresistance,” the phenomenon that big electrical resistance variances can be produced... More »

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physics • nanotechnology • Nobel Prize

Physicists Float a New Theory
of Levitation

Frictionless parts could fly through the air with the greatest of ease

Aug 7, 07 7:32 AM CDT
(Newser) - Two Scottish physics professors have published a report on forces of attraction that could be used to make objects levitate, writes the Telegraph. They've engineered a way to reverse the Casimir force, which normally causes elements to stick together. The discovery may lead to frictionless levitating parts in small mechanical... More »

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technology • science • physics • nanotechnology • levitation • Casimir force

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