a blog by the NSF Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology
As a fan of sci-fi, I recently watched two classic movies: the original Star Wars (which you’re probably familiar with) and Ghost in the Shell (a post-cyberpunk Japanese animation). Both movies had a very interesting commonality: human-machine hybrids. But what does this have to do with nanotechnology? In the Star Wars movies, the only thing …
Continue reading "Bacteria in the Shell: A Nano-bio Hybrid for Solar Energy Capture"
What happens to cells when they come into contact with nanoparticles? Researchers in the Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology are trying to answer this question in a lot of different ways. The effect of exposing organisms to nanoparticles is not as simple as life or death. In one recent study1 we explored the molecular changes that …
Continue reading "Using Gene Expression to Learn About Nanoparticle Toxicity"
What do you need if you want to create an art piece that is not visible to our bare eyes? For ages, visual artists have invented tools for manipulating various materials to shape their reflections of the world into art pieces that we can appreciate with our eyes: paintings, sculptures, and installations arts. Sometimes it …
Continue reading "There’s plenty of room at the bottom… for ART!"
Ever since the first human being looked up to the starry night, the dream of chasing the stars and space has never stopped. A long way back, in ancient Northern European mythology, the world tree, Yggdrasil, was a holy tree in the center of the universe, connecting the heavens and the earth. In Jack and …
Continue reading "Space Elevator: A Lasting Dream for a Sky-reaching Tree"
“You know my methods, Watson.” “Yes I know. It’s NANOPARTICLES.” If Sherlock Holmes was a nanomaterial scientist, his partner might have replied as above. Yes, nanoparticles are a big deal in forensic science. If you have ever watched the TV series Crime Scene Investigation, you know that science can help us to catch criminals. As …
Continue reading "Forensic Nanotechnology: a scientific whodunit"
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