Silver nanoparticles light up Alzheimer's dark secrets

Scientists have caught a glimpse of the elusive toxic form of the Alzheimer's molecule, during its attempt to bore into the outer covering of a cell decoy, using a new method involving laser light and fat-coated silver nanoparticles.

Thermometry using an optical nanofiber

A new technique to measure ultrcold atoms works by inserting an optical nanofiber into a cold atomic cloud.

LEGO2NANO 2015 kicks off

LEGO2NANO aims to bring the world of nanotechnology to school classrooms by initiating projects to develop low-cost scientific instruments such as the Open AFM - an open-source atomic force microscope assembled from cheap, off-the-shelf electronic components, Arduino, Lego and 3D printable parts.

New review questions current nanotechnology risk assessment

A recent review found some serious shortcomings of the risk assessment process for determining the safety of nanomaterials. The authors argue that these shortcomings are so significant that risk assessment is effectively a naked emperor.

Researchers combine disciplines, computational programs to determine atomic structure

Scientists combined two techniques to determine the structure of cyanostar, a new abiological molecule that captures unwanted negative ions in solutions.

Physicists build stable diffraction structure in single-layer graphene

Quantum physics tell us that even massive particles can behave like waves, as if they could be in several places at once. This phenomenon is typically proven in the diffraction of a matter wave at a grating. In a European collaboration, researchers carried this idea to the extreme and observed the delocalization of molecules at the thinnest possible grating, a mask milled into a single layer of atoms.

Capture sunlight with your quantum dot window

A luminescent solar concentrator is an emerging sunlight harvesting technology that has the potential to disrupt the way we think about energy.

UK funding boost to aid discovery of new advanced materials

The grant will help tackle the challenge of designing and testing new materials at the atomic level.

Probing pattern formation and dynamics of nanoscale 'swarms'

'Flocking' or 'swarming' behavior is omnipresent in the living world, observed in birds, fish, and even bacteria. Strikingly similar collective action can also be seen in biomolecules within and between cells. New insights into how this action is coordinated at the biomolecular level are emerging from studies of a model system based on actin filaments.

Another milestone in hybrid artificial photosynthesis

Having generated quite a buzz with their hybrid system of semiconducting nanowires and bacteria that used electrons to synthesize carbon dioxide into acetate, researchers have now developed a hybrid system that produces renewable molecular hydrogen and uses it to synthesize carbon dioxide into methane, the primary constituent of natural gas.

Self-assembled aromatic molecular stacks, towards modular molecular electronic components

Researchers describe the electron-transport properties of aromatic stacks aligned in a self-assembled cage, using a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) based break-junction method. Both identical and different modular aromatic pairs are non-covalently bound and stacked within the molecular scaffold leading to a variety of fascinating electronic functions.