Jenna has authored the following posts:
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Nano for the broken
Following on from Lisa’s last post, Japanese scientists have discovered that carbon nanotubes could also help to speed up the recovery of broken bones. Carbon nanotubes placed in contact with damaged bones were found to not only help to regenerate bone tissue, but to also reduce inflammation during healing. Measurements taken as the new bone was [...]
Filed in Health, Nanomaterials | 03 Jun 2008 | no comments -
Eco-friendly Power Paint
Researchers at Swansea University are developing a new, eco-friendly nanomaterial that they claim could generate as much electricity as 50 wind farms. They are investigating ways of painting solar cells, which efficient at capturing low light radiation, onto the flexible steel surfaces commonly used for cladding buildings. This could then create buildings that could power themselves!! Researchers [...]
Filed in Energy, Environment, Nanomaterials | 15 May 2008 | one comment -
Anti-reflective films inspired by insect wings
Nature has again inspired nanotechnologists, with Chinese researchers from the Peking University and Academy of Nanotechnology and Engineering, producing a nanostructured anti-reflective film from the properties of the Cicada’s wing. The anti-reflective property of the cicada wing, which offers camouflage to the insect, is due to a gradual refractive index profile at the interface between the [...]
Filed in Nanomaterials | 05 May 2008 | one comment -
How well do you know your Nano?
Test your nano-IQ with this short Nanotechnology Quiz from NanoWerk. It contains 20 questions with answers and explanations that will inform you about the origins, uses and products of nanotechnology. Well, with my measly 12/20, I was informed anyway…maybe you will already know all of the answers….
Filed in Learning | 15 Apr 2008 | 4 comments -
Nanotech TV Series
Nanotechnology: The Power of Small, the first major television series to look at the implications of advances in nanotechnology, will begin airing on local US public broadcasting stations in April. The series’ three programs explore critical questions about nanotechnology’s potential impact on privacy, the environment and human health: Will nanotechnology make you safer, or will it [...]
Filed in Energy, Environment, Health, Learning, Public Awareness, Social Impacts | 26 Mar 2008 | no comments -
Nanotech to do your washing for you?
Researchers at Victoria’s Monash University have found a way to coat fibres with titanium dioxide nanocrystals, which break down food and dirt in sunlight, making natural fibres such as wool, silk, and hemp that will automatically remove food, grime, and even red-wine stains when exposed to sunlight. Fibres are coated with a thin, invisible layer of [...]
Filed in Consumer Products, Nanomaterials | 26 Feb 2008 | no comments -
Cancer Curing Curry
Turmeric has been used as a spice and colouring agent in Indian food for centuries, but with the help of nanotechnology, could it also be an effective cure for cancer? While its therapeutic benefits have also long been realised in India, it was not until recent years that it was found that a compound in tumeric, [...]
Filed in Health, Nanomaterials, Social Impacts | 12 Feb 2008 | no comments -
Bionic limbs and skin and now bionic eyes
To follow on from the blog on bionic skin and limbs…..nanotech is now enabling bionic eyes as well!! Engineers at the University of Washington have reported that they have used nanotechnology manufacturing techniques to combine a flexible, biologically safe contact lens with an imprinted electronic circuit and lights. Looking through the lens, you would see what [...]
Filed in Electronics, Social Impacts | 30 Jan 2008 | no comments -
Harry Potter and the Invisible Drugs…hmmm…doesn’t really have the same ring to it…
Using nanotechnology, US scientists have developed a localised and controlled drug delivery method that is invisible to the immune system - a discovery that could provide newer and more effective treatments for cancer and other diseases. The researchers used nanoscale polymer films, about four nanometers per layer, to build a sort of matrix or platform to [...]
Filed in Health, Nanomaterials, Social Impacts | 25 Jan 2008 | no comments -
Nanopoly the next Monopoly?
An American University has found a creative way to promote and educate about Nanotechnology, with the universities Network for Computational Nanotechnology (NCN) - which aims to connect theory, experiment, and computation in a way that makes a difference to the future of nanotechnology - launching a competition for developing a nanotechnology game, open to the [...]
Filed in Learning, Public Awareness | 23 Jan 2008 | no comments