a blog by the NSF Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology
The Swiss Renaissance physician, alchemist and founder of toxicology Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus (!) von Hohenheim, better known as Paracelsus (Figure 1), said it well: “All substances are poisons; there is none that is not a poison. The right dose differentiates a poison and a remedy.” Or more compactly, “the dose makes the poison.” Researchers …
Continue reading "Thus Spake Paracelsus*"
One of the largest oil spills in recent history happened in April 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico when the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded and sank, resulting in the blowout of the Macondo well located approximately 66 km off the Louisiana coast. Oil spills, or the accidental release of liquid petroleum into the environment, …
Continue reading "Using Nano/Micromachines to Help Clean Up Oil Spills"
Back in January, I wrote a post about the potential hazards of traditional cleaning chemicals. Based on questions and comments from friends and family, I am going to continue on that path, this time focusing on the antibacterial chemical triclosan. Triclosan gained some media attention earlier this year when a law was passed in Minnesota …
Continue reading "Is triclosan safe? What you should know about this antibacterial chemical"
If you took high school chemistry, you might remember using pH indicator strips. You’d take a piece of the specially treated paper, dip it in your solution, and watch it change color depending on whether you had an acid or base. At the time, you might have been more excited by the fact that the …
Continue reading "Nano-Sensors: Small size, big impact"
While the word “bacteria” conjures images of human illness and death for many people, the vast majority of bacteria in the world allow for the healthy functioning of humans and ecosystems. The way they do this ranges from breaking down food in animals’ digestive systems (yes, even ours) to cycling life-giving chemical elements from things …
Continue reading "Our Hidden Bacterial Friends Keep Us All Alive – Shewanella oneidensis"
Ready for a little test? Try to list all of the things you can think of that are found in a river or lake… I’m sure you came up with things like fish, algae, dirt, plants, and many others. But one thing found in these water bodies that you may not have thought of and …
Continue reading "Invisible Remnants of Dead Stuff Hiding in Water"
Every year, millions of tons of plastic are discarded into landfills, where they will take hundreds of years to break down. New biodegradable plastics offer a potential solution to this problem. Let’s back up and talk about “traditional” plastics first. In addition to being landfilled, some plastic is disposed of improperly, leading to plastic pollution …
Continue reading "The Chemical Story Behind Non-Petroleum-Based Plastics"
Nanoparticles and the Environment Series, Part II (click here for Part I) Let’s dive in to a real-world nanotechnology problem raised by one of our readers: should waste composed of nanoparticles, let’s call it “nanowaste”, be disposed of differently than regular waste? There are many types of nanowaste that we could discuss, but today we’ll …
Nanoparticles and the Environment Series, Part I (click here for part II) More than a year ago on this site, I talked to you about how nanoparticles were already all around us, and have been for most of human history. That day, I was hoping to show you that while nanotechnology may sound cool and …
Continue reading "Nano Contaminants: How Nanoparticles Get Into the Environment"
I was surprised to learn recently that plastic bags can be turned into a new material called carbon nanotubes. Prior to this, all I had heard about plastic bags was about the environmental threat that they potentially pose, either by accumulating in wildlife or clogging landfills with slow-to-break-down waste. Many recycling techniques have been developed …
Continue reading "Turning Plastic Bags into Carbon Nanotubes"
Sustainable Nano 