Category Archives: Science

Manipulating Carbon Nanotubes

Photo: At left, the high conductance state has two molecular orbitals, shown in green. Some molecules even let the nanotube switch between highly conductive, left, and poorly conductive. MIT materials scientists tame tricky carbon nanotubes:

Now Young-Su Lee, an MIT graduate student in materials science and engineering, and Nicola Marzari, an associate professor in the same department, have identified a class of chemical molecules that preserve the metallic properties of carbon nanotubes and their near-perfect ability to conduct electricity with little resistance.

Using these molecules as handles, Marzari and Lee said, could overcome fabrication problems and lend the nanotubes new properties for a host of potential applications as detectors, sensors or components in novel optoelectronics.

Planet, Less Dense Than Cork, Is Discovered

Puzzling Puffy Planet, Less Dense Than Cork, Is Discovered

The astronomers said they were baffled about how the planet formed and how it remained so puffy.

“The short answer is, I have no idea,” said Dimitar Sasselov, a professor of astronomy at Harvard and a member of the research team. “It’s a very strange planet.”

Engineering Delivery Systems to the Brain

Engineering a ‘Trojan horse’ to sneak drugs into the brain by Terry Devitt:

Using engineered yeast as microscopic factories to produce human antibodies customized to recognize the surface features of cells that compose the blood-brain barrier, Shusta has developed a set of unique antibodies that may one day be used to ferry drugs to specified regions of the brain.
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With roughly 400 miles of blood vessels, the human brain is equipped with its own expansive delivery network for therapy – provided scientists are able to figure out a way to get past the blood-brain barrier. With different cell surface features in different parts of the circulatory system and also in different regions of the brain, it might be possible to customize antibodies to carry drugs to only those parts of the brain that would benefit from treatment.

MIT’s molecular sieve advances protein research

Separating proteins from complex biological fluids such as blood is becoming increasingly important for understanding diseases and developing new treatments. The molecular sieve developed by MIT engineers is more precise than conventional methods and has the potential to be much faster.
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The key to the molecular sieve, which is made using microfabrication technology, is the uniform size of the nanopores through which proteins are separated from biological fluids. Millions of pores can be spread across a microchip the size of a thumbnail.
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Juhwan Yoo, a Caltech undergraduate, also participated in the research as a summer visiting student. Funding came from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the Singapore-MIT Alliance.

Millennium Technology Prize to Dr. Shuji Nakamura

Photo of Dr. Shuji Nakamura (from UC Santa Barbara)

The Millennium Technology Prize is a bi-annual award recognizing technology innovators created by a public private partnership in Finland. Finland understands the importance of technology advances for economic gains. Winners receive 1 million Euros. Tim Berners-Lee, the father of the web, received the first prize in 2004. The 2006 prize was awarded to Dr. Shuji Nakamura:

According to Professor Nakamura, we have only just begun to explore the vast number of opportunities presented by applications using LEDs and lasers. ”I hope the award of this prize will help people to understand that this invention makes it possible to improve quality of life for many millions of people. This is not just a source of light that makes enormous energy savings possible, it is also an innovation that can be used in the sterilisation of drinking water and for storing data in much more efficient ways.”

As LEDs can be powered by solar panels, lighting can be provided in remote areas of developing countries. In his speech, Professor Nakamura said that he will be donating part of the prize money to organizations that promote the use of LED lighting in such locations.

How Bacteria Nearly Destroyed All Life

How Bacteria Nearly Destroyed All Life by Alan Bellows:

About two and one-half billion years ago…
Once the oceans’ supply of iron was exhausted, oxygen began to seep from the sea into the air. With very little competition for resources, cyanobacteria continued to proliferate and pollute. The free oxygen they produced reacted with the air, gradually breaking down the methane which kept the Earth’s atmosphere warm and accommodating. It took at least a hundred thousand years– a short duration in geological terms– but the Earth was eventually stripped of her methane, and with it her ability to store the heat from the sun. Temperatures fell well below freezing worldwide, and a thick layer of ice began to encase the oxygen-saturated planet.

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The Inner Life of a Cell – Animation

The Inner Life of a Cell, an eight-minute animation created for Harvard biology students… illustrates unseen molecular mechanisms and the ones they trigger, specifically how white blood cells sense and respond to their surroundings and external stimuli.

The online video is beautiful, see – Cellular Visions: The Inner Life of a Cell. Update: Unfortunately the webcast links on that page are not working but you can see a longer version than was available via: Inner Life of a Cell – Full Version.
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Work for Stephen Hawking

There is an opportunity to work as the Graduate Assistant to Stephen Hawking, author of A Brief History of Time and much more.

The role of ‘Graduate Assistant to Professor Hawking’ is funded as a research post at the University of Cambridge. Normally it is under a 12 month contract, although sometimes the contract is extended to up to 2 years.

The post is available to recent graduates holding a Maths, Physics or Computer Science degree and a full driving licence. Responsibilities include:
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Great Nanotechnology Overview

Reporting Risk Assessment of Nanotechnology: A reporter’s guide to sources and research issues (pdf) by Trudy E. Bell:

The article discusses how reporters should investigate the risks with nanotechnology, and in doing so provides a good introduction to concepts in nanotechnology:

If engineered nanomaterials have physical properties different from their bulk counterparts, might they also pose new risks to human health in their manufacture, use, and disposal?

As yet, no one knows. Current data basically suggest “it depends.” But researchers both in government and private
industry are keen to find out.

The potential for nanotechnology is amazing but as we have said before the risks presented by nanotechnology also need careful study.

At the nanoscale, fundamental mechanical, electronic, optical, chemical, biological, and other properties may differ significantly from properties of micrometer-sized particles or bulk materials.

One reason is surface area. Surface area counts because most chemical reactions involving solids happen at the surfaces, where chemical bonds are incomplete. The surface area of a cubic centimeter of a solid material is 6 square centimeters—about the same as one side of half a stick of gum. But the surface area of a cubic centimeter of 1-nm particles in an ultrafine powder is 6,000 square meters—literally a third larger than a football field.

Nobel Laureates Speaking to High School in Japan

Nobel laureates aiming to spur creativity / Shirakawa, Tanaka to give students lecture

Shirakawa became interested in science journalism, and even sat in during lectures offered by the Japan Association of Science and Technology Journalists. He is now enthusiastic about giving lectures to, and teaching, young scientists.

Research is important for scientists, but it is also important that they share their knowledge with the public, and people to better understand the subject, he said.

Shirakawa graduated from the Science and Engineering Department of Tokyo Institute of Technology, where he obtained a doctorate in engineering in 1966.

In 2000, he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of conductive polymers.

Our previous post, Scientists and Students, discussed having practicing scientists address students. Scientist say they are too busy and do not get credit for such efforts – hopefully these Nobel prize winners can help show how important such direct contact can be.