a blog by the NSF Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology
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 …
Continue reading "Nanostructures in chameleons, damselflies, and peacocks (oh my!)"
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. …
Continue reading "Adrift in a Sea of Chemicals, Toxicology Throws Us a Line"
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 …
Here is the underside of a ladybug. Click the image to enlarge. You won't regret it! In this post I hope to help you appreciate just how small "nano" is, using the official ladybug of science! Before we get there, let me explain how I took this image. Step 1 - Find a dead ladybug. …
Continue reading "Animated Ladybug Super Zoom-In"
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 …
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 …
Sustainable Nano 