Scientists used equipment at the Canadian Light Source (CLS; synchrotron in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada) in the quest for better glowing dots on your television (maybe computers and telephones, too?) screen. From an August 20, 2020 news item on Nanowerk, There are many things quantum dots could do, but the most obvious place they could change our lives is to make the colours on our TVs and screens more pristine. Research using the Canadian Light Source…

Continue reading

I was half-expecting to read about some sort of fancy carbon nanotubes—I was wrong. From an August 12, 2020 news item on ScienceDaily where the researchers keep the mystery going for a while, A new mechanism of blood redistribution that is essential for the proper functioning of the adult retina has just been discovered in vivo by researchers at the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM).“For the first time, we have identified a communication…

Continue reading

Caption: Tiny quantum fluctuations in the early universe explain two major mysteries about the large-scale structure of the universe, in a cosmic tango of the very small and the very large. A new study by researchers at Penn State used the theory of quantum loop gravity to account for these mysteries, which Einstein’s theory of general relativity considers anomalous.. Credit: Dani Zemba, Penn State A July 29, 2020 news item on ScienceDaily announces a study…

Continue reading

This July 29, 2020 news item on Nanowerk features research from Brazil, A new class of nanosensor developed in Brazil could more accurately identify dengue and Zika infections, a task that is complicated by their genetic similarities and which can result in misdiagnosis.The technique uses gold nanoparticles and can “observe” viruses at the atomic level, according to a study published in Scientific Reports (“Nanosensors based on LSPR are able to serologically differentiate dengue from Zika…

Continue reading

I always enjoy the unexpected in a story and this one has to do with plantains and luxury cars, from a July 29, 2020 news item on phys.org (Note: A link has been removed), A luxury automobile is not really a place to look for something like sisal, hemp, or wood. Yet automakers have been using natural fibers for decades. Some high-end sedans and coupes use these in composite materials for interior door panels, for…

Continue reading

The night sky has inspired speculation, discovery, and stories throughout time and from all the peoples of this planet. The information derived from observing the stars and moon has led to voyages on land, on sea, through space, and into the recesses of minds and hearts. Margaret Nazon, Milky Way Starry Night, n.d., Beads, glass, organic material, cotton twill fabric on canvas. Collection of Artist [downloaded from http://www.nomadexhibitions.com/one-sky-many-worlds] Currently, an ancient celestial practice, celebration of…

Continue reading

Researchers at Stanford University (California, US) believe they have a solution for a problem with neuroprosthetics (Note: I have included brief comments about neuroprosthetics and possible ethical issues at the end of this posting) according an August 5, 2020 news item on ScienceDaily, The current generation of neural implants record enormous amounts of neural activity, then transmit these brain signals through wires to a computer. But, so far, when researchers have tried to create wireless…

Continue reading

This is fascinating and it’s not a memristor. (You can find out more about memristors here on the Nanowerk website). Getting back to the research, scientists at Hokkaido University (Japan) are training squishy hydrogel to remember according to a July 28, 2020 news item on phys.org (Note: Links have been removed), Hokkaido University researchers have found a soft and wet material that can memorize, retrieve, and forget information, much like the human brain. They report…

Continue reading

According to researchers at Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf and the rest of the international team collaborating on the work, it’s time to look more closely at plasticity in the neuronal membrane,. From the abstract for their paper, Intrinsic plasticity of silicon nanowire neurotransistors for dynamic memory and learning functions by Eunhye Baek, Nikhil Ranjan Das, Carlo Vittorio Cannistraci, Taiuk Rim, Gilbert Santiago Cañón Bermúdez, Khrystyna Nych, Hyeonsu Cho, Kihyun Kim, Chang-Ki Baek, Denys Makarov, Ronald Tetzlaff, Leon…

Continue reading

‘Metal-breathing’ bacteria, eh? A July 28, 2020 news item on Nanowerk announces the research into new materials for electronics (Note: A link has been removed), When the Shewanella oneidensis bacterium “breathes” in certain metal and sulfur compounds anaerobically, the way an aerobic organism would process oxygen, it produces materials that could be used to enhance electronics, electrochemical energy storage, and drug-delivery devices.The ability of this bacterium to produce molybdenum disulfide – a material that is…

Continue reading