nanoparticles tagged posts

Mice with vision enhanced by nanotechnology were able to see infrared light as well as visible light, reports a study published February 28 in the journal Cell. A single injection of nanoparticles in the mice’s eyes bestowed infrared vision for up to 10 weeks with minimal side effects, allowing them to see infrared light even during the day and with enough specificity to distinguish between different shapes...

In the Dionne lab at Stanford, a laser causes nanoparticles suspended in cyclohexane to emit light. The nanoparticles change color depending on the pressure around them and give real-time information about the forces they undergo. Credit: Alice Lay

Millimeter-long worms digesting a nanoparticle-laced meal of their favorite bacteria could eventually lead to a new way to see cellular forces at play within our own bodies, including processes like wound healing and cancer growth. The key is that these particular nanoparticles glow when struck by a near-infrared laser and change color depending on the pressure around them. So, they can give off real-time information about the forces they’re undergoing while they’re still inside the worm.

“Altered cellular-level forces underlie many disorders, i...

Nanoparticles (green) help form clots in an injured liver. The researchers added color to the scanning electron microscopy image after it was taken. Credit: Erin Lavik, Ph.D.

Whether severe trauma occurs on the battlefield or the highway, saving lives often comes down to stopping the bleeding as quickly as possible. Many methods for controlling external bleeding exist, but at this point, only surgery can halt blood loss inside the body from injury to internal organs. Now, researchers have developed nanoparticles that congregate wherever injury occurs in the body to help it form blood clots, and they’ve validated these particles in test tubes and in vivo.

“When you have uncontrolled internal bleeding, that’s when these particles could really make a difference,” says Erin B. Lavik, Sc.D...

The nozzle firing a jet of carbon nanotubes with helium plasma off and on. When the plasma is off, the density of carbon nanotubes is small. The plasma focuses the nanotubes onto the substrate with high density and good adhesion. Credit: NASA Ames Research Center

New method can deposit nanomaterials onto flexible surfaces such as paper or cloth and 3-D objects.. The technique could make it easier and cheaper to build devices like wearable chemical and biological sensors, flexible memory devices and batteries, and integrated circuits.

One of the most common methods to deposit nanomaterials- such as a layer of nanoparticles or nanotubes -onto a surface is with an inkjet printer similar to an ordinary printer found in an office. But inkjets can’t print on textiles etc, let alone 3-D objects...