Scientists from the UK and the USA have successfully demonstrated a new technique that could help to shrink the size and cost of future particle accelerators for fundamental physics experiments and applications in materials and biomedicine.

Using the huge electric fields in laser-produced plasmas, they have accelerated beams of electrons close to the speed of light, in an important step towards the development of a working laser electron accelerator that could sit on a table top...read the wave

Harris & Harris Group, Inc. announced today that it has invested $200,000 as part of a $5 million Series A Preferred round of financing by privately held Crystal IS, Inc. The investor syndicate was led by Arch Venture Partners and included JVP, 3i and Harris & Harris Group.

Crystal IS is a supplier of ultra-low defect density native aluminum nitride (AIN) single crystal substrates. The Company was founded in 1997 by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) physics professors Glen Slack and Leo Schowalter, both former GE scientists....read the wave

NEW Nano Tsunami : Guest Writer

Jason Des Forges

plenty of room down there… nano talk from New Zealand

I, Nanokook...read the wave

Pune, This could be far cheaper than chemotherapy, drug and side-effects free and the golden triangles used have nothing to do with their more famous cousin notorious for narcotics smuggling. If anything, it may just bring with it the aroma of lemon grass.

In a breakthrough seen as a ‘‘big conceptual leap’’ in bio-nano technology, scientists at the National Chemical Laboratory (NCL), Pune, have discovered cutting-edge technology for fighting cancer and a host of other diseases including diabetes.

The technology works on hyperthermia of the cancer cells and uses nano-sized (one-billionth of a metre) triangular gold particles...read the wave

Hong Kong SAR – Scientists are in the process of developing self-cleaning nanofabrics through a government-sponsored initiative, which is expected to add value to manufacturers' products and improve their sales.

Scientists at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University have been working on the development of functional fabrics through the Intelligent Production Control Decision-Making System for Apparel Manufacturing Process, a project financed by the Innovation and Technology Fund established by the Hong Kong government in 2003.

The research is focused on the application of self-cleaning nanotechnology at extremely low temperatures...read the wave

BERKELEY – In a nod to scientific paradox, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have slowed light down in an effort to speed up network communication.

They have shown for the first time that the group velocity of light - the speed at which a laser pulse travels along a light wave - can be slowed to about 6 miles per second in semiconductors. While that speed is not exactly the pace of a turtle, it is 31,000 times slower than the 186,000 miles (or 300 million meters) per second that light normally clocks while traveling through a vacuum.

"It's about twice as fast as an orbiting space shuttle," said Connie J. Chang-Hasnain, UC Berkeley professor of electrical engineering and computer science...read the wave

We may soon be listening to music emitted by the fabric of our clothing or watching our shirts change color as we heat up. But the hottest thing in fabric for the moment is only a little less remarkable, able to fight off dirt and wrinkles like something out of Superman's closet.

That's the view from Eva Snopek, fashion design instructor at the Illinois Institute of Art in Chicago. "There is a lot of new technology out there," she said, citing nanotechnology as the superstar of the day. And our testing backed her up.

Something of a buzzword across many disciplines, nanotechnology in this case refers to a process of treating fabric on a molecular level...read the wave

One of the most interesting challenges in the area of nanotechnology is the precise transport of nano-objects from one place on a nanostructure to another by a defined route. Researchers have now begun to overcome this challenge: there are three "stops" on the route of their new nanoscopic "tram" made of DNA.

DNA has already proven itself as a material for nanoconstruction in a number of ways. Because of the specific base pairing of complementary DNA regions, this material organizes itself into defined structures that can be predetermined by the order of its nucleotide components...read the wave

Quiz a dozen catalysis researchers about the role of nanotechnology in catalysis and at least a few of them are sure to roll their eyes. One reason for the disdain expressed by some scientists for terms such as "nanotechnology" and other oft-used "nano words" is that while the nanometer scale may represent new and exciting territory for many areas of science, in heterogeneous catalysis it's old hat. Industry has been carrying out some chemical transformations on nanosized particles for decades.

Yet given the seemingly endless stream of nanoscience advances nowadays, surely the burgeoning field has contributed something new to catalysis. Hasn't it? That question--and others regarding...read the wave

Applied Microengineering (AML), an Oxfordshire-based micromachine manufacturing tool firm, has been boosted by the award of a £678,000 DTI grant to support the development of its nano device production tool.

The aim of the grant is to support a project called LOBEL to create an industrial manufacturing platform for nanotechnology devices including sensors. The project is part of the DTI’s Micro & Nano technology (MNT) initiative...read the wave

HYDERABAD: Imagine a medical device that travels through the human body to seek out and destroy small clusters of cancerous cells, before they can spread. Or, materials much lighter than steel, but possess 10 times as much strength.

Nanotechnology is a revolution that is taking place in the science and technology sector. As a result, progress in nanoscience and nanotechnology is surely going to have far reaching effects, according to the latest report of the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom)...read the wave

Seit ihrer Entdeckung im Jahre 1991 beschäftigen Kohlenstoff-Nanoröhren die Fantasie von Forschern und Ingenieuren durch ihre vielversprechenden Eigenschaften. Diese Objekte der Nanowelt, die aus aufgerollten Graphitschichten bestehen und Durchmesser von einem Nanometer - 10.000 mal kleiner als ein menschliches Haar - haben, sollen als molekulare Komponenten in zukünftigen, Nanometer-großen Bauelementen eingesetzt werden. Die einzigartigen elektrischen Eigenschaften dieser Nanodrähte, die je nach atomarem Aufbau metallisch oder halbleitend sein können, ermöglichen die Entwicklung kleinster Bauelemente wie Nanotransistoren, Gassensoren, Superkondensatoren, Flachbildschirme, usw...read the wave

NanoHorizons, Inc. have announced the availability of a low-cost line of concentrated, polymer-compatible gold and silver nanoparticles in research and pilot production volumes. With prices for small quantities ranging from $100 to $400 per liter, NanoHorizons’ noble-metal nanoparticles’ unique combination of exceptionally low cost and polymer manufacturing process compatibility will enable manufacturers to create a vast array of plastic consumer and industrial products with built-in antimicrobial properties. Examples of potential products include plastic storage containers, food packaging materials, plastic gloves, and clothing such as odor-free, microbial-free shoes, socks, and hats...read the wave

NEW Nano Tsunami : Guest Writer

Jason Des Forges

plenty of room down there… nano talk from New Zealand

I, Nanokook...read the wave

A European research consortium has adapted existing nanotechnology to create tiny switches that could further reduce the size and cost of computers.

The E! 2839 Mesci-I project - co-ordinated by European Union research network Eureka - claims to have succeeded where many others have failed, by making the production of miniature electric and computer systems economically viable.

The process uses mechanical nano-switches to store non-volatile memory data, which reduces the number of microchips used and cuts their demand for power...read the wave

Carbon molecules called “buckyballs” - which hold great promise for nanotechnology - but have been shown to harm fish have been made safer by scientists.

The soccer-ball-shaped carbon nanoparticles were shown to cause brain damage in fish and kill water fleas in a study in March 2004. But now a team at Rice University in Houston, Texas, US, has come close to understanding how buckyballs – more formally known as fullerenes - kill cells and how their toxicity can be lowered in human cells...read the wave

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a technique that uses surface chemistry to make tinier and more