a blog by the NSF Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology
The phrase, “only 90’s kids will remember” is thrown around a lot these days but it is safe to say most people born in the 80’s and onward have seen those big pits filled with colorful plastic balls. A staple of almost anyone’s childhood, this pit is, of course, the aptly named Ball Pit (Figure …
Continue reading "X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy"
This post is part of our ongoing series of public-friendly summaries describing research articles that have been published by members of the Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology. Marco Torelli, a doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin - Madison, was the first author on this paper and collaborated on the study with CSN researchers at the University …
Continue reading "How Many Molecules Can Fit On the Surface of a Round Nanoparticle?"
The awarding of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Dr.s Betzig, Hell, and Moerner (my former research mentor) is a tremendous event! It is almost as tremendous as their scientific targets are tiny: they were awarded the prize for super-resolution fluorescence microscopy, a technique for using a light microscope to examine objects as small …
Continue reading "Nobel 2014: What makes super-resolution microscopy so super?"
You’ve heard about how lasers work, but what does this mean for science?! We see everyday how light interacts with matter. Ever wonder how a rainbow is formed? Or why your straw looks bent or even broken when it is placed in a cup of water? Both of these phenomena have to do with light …
Continue reading "Laser Science. Light Can Do Way More Than Just Bend"
When Luke Skywalker receives his father’s lightsaber from Obi Wan in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, he learns that it is “not as random or clumsy as a blaster; an elegant weapon for a more civilized age.” Here at our Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology, we don’t work with weapons, no matter how sophisticated …
Continue reading "“How do Lasers Work?” or “Not your father’s lightsaber”"
Sustainable Nano 