a blog by the NSF Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology
Yes folks, we’ve done it. You probably didn’t think we could, but we found another way to talk about beer and nanoparticles! Have you ever pondered why bubbles form and rise from the bottom of a beer glass? There is an astonishing amount of research on the bubbling or “fizzics” of beer. During the production …
Continue reading "From Beer Bubbles to Nanoparticles: What is Nucleation?"
University of Minnesota undergraduate student Kadir Hussein is studying abroad this fall in Freiburg, Germany. This is the first of what we hope will be a series of updates from him throughout the semester. I am happy to let you all know that I am enjoying the life in Freiburg and I am slowly settling …
Continue reading "A Chemist Abroad: Dispatch #1"
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. Sam Lohse, the first author on this paper, was a post-doctoral student at the University of Illinois and is now an assistant professor at Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction, CO. He …
Continue reading "Designing a Simple, Easy-to-Build Reactor for Making Nanoparticles"
Synthesizing nanoparticles is sometimes a lot like baking cookies. You start with ingredients, mix them together, and put them in the oven. After a few hours, you take them out and admire your hard work. Just like there are lots of different kinds of cookies, there are also many different kinds of nanoparticles. The easiest …
Continue reading "How Some Nanoparticles are Like Chocolate Chip Cookies"
In Marco's previous post, you can read how making nanoparticles is like baking – different proportions of ingredients and different processing conditions (time and temperature) can turn your batter into a pancake, bread, a biscuit, etc. But how do you come up with recipes to make nanoparticles in the first place? In general, as I …
Continue reading "Two Ways to Make Nanoparticles"
Every day chemists enter their laboratories, intent on making or studying something. For me, my daily task is to think about nanoparticles. At the end of the day the thinking process is no different than a chef working in the kitchen. Small changes in your recipe can make a huge difference. The ingredients, types, amounts, …
Continue reading "Scientific Lessons from Bread Baking"
Recent discoveries continue to highlight the many uses of that wonderful kingdom of life, fungus. Penicillin, a group of antibiotics that changed medicine forever, is derived from the Penicillium fungi (taken from a moldy cantaloupe in an Illinois market). These antibiotics have saved countless lives since WWII and are still in use today. Yeast, perhaps …
Continue reading "Fungus Amongus – the Nanoparticle Producers"
Imagine yourself as a “scientific car salesperson.” Your job is to study how to get people to buy your cars. People ask you questions about the cars, and you usually have an OK answer. But, imagine if you could actually visit the factory floor and see the cars being made in person. Might that be …
Continue reading "A Scientific Car Salesperson Visits the Factory Floor"
Many of us couldn’t make it through a day without a cup or two of our favorite caffeinated beverage. I usually start my day with a warm cup of coffee or tea. In fact, more than 50% of adults in America drink coffee on a daily basis, averaging about 3 cups a day. In the US, …
Continue reading "Nanoparticles With Your Coffee? A Java-Infused Science Experiment!"
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