Nanostructures in chameleons, damselflies, and peacocks (oh my!)

My favorite rain jacket is bright blue. So bright, in fact, that my first semester chemistry professor was able to point it out in a class of 300 people to explain principles of visible light and color. As it happened, the class benefited from two examples that day, my jacket and my face which turned …

Adrift in a Sea of Chemicals, Toxicology Throws Us a Line

How do we stay safe in a world full of chemicals? Everywhere we look, we find chemistry – both natural and synthetic – at work in the air we breathe, the ground we stand on, and in the water we drink. Internally, every cell in our body uses chemistry in order to function and communicate. …

Mimicking Nature’s Nanotechnology: From a butterfly wing to anti-counterfeit technologies

Have you ever wondered where the inspiration behind new technologies comes from? We don’t have to go too far to find out; it is enough to just look out the window! Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better. -Albert Einstein Yes, nature is out there, standing as a giant laboratory of …

What’s the Difference between Magnification and Resolution? Dog of Science Demonstrates.

Seeing small objects is no simple task, but it is an essential one for scientists from fields as diverse as astronomy and nanotechnology.  In order to see tiny things, we need to both magnify them and keep their fine details apparent. Which is more important, raw enlarging power or precise detail?To help me explain, I …

The Cautionary Tale of DDT – Biomagnification, Bioaccumulation, and Research Motivation

We perform many different kinds of experiments in the Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology—some that you might expect (like making new kinds of nanoparticles), and some that you might not (like feeding nanoparticles to tiny organisms such as bacteria and water fleas).  The second kind of experiment may seem a little strange to you: why is …