Researchers at the University of British Columbia (UBC; Canada) have discovered a way to turn cotton waste into a potentially higher value product. An October 15, 2019 UBC news release makes the announcement (Note: Links have been removed), In the materials engineering labs at UBC, surrounded by Bunsen burners, microscopes and spinning machines, professor Frank Ko and research scientist Addie Bahi have developed a simple process for converting waste cotton into much higher-value nanofibres.These fibres are the…

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Caption: Eucalyptus bark extract has never been used to synthesise graphene sheets before. Courtesy: RMIT University It’s been quite educational reading a June 24, 2019 news item on Nanowerk about deriving graphene from Eucalyptus bark (Note: Links have been removed), Graphene is the thinnest and strongest material known to humans. It’s also flexible, transparent and conducts heat and electricity 10 times better than copper, making it ideal for anything from flexible nanoelectronics to better fuel…

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I’ve already written about October 2019 science and art/science events in Canada (see my Sept. 26, 2019 posting), but more event notices for Octoberhave come my way. These events are all art/science (or sciart as it’s sometimes called). … on the future of life forms … a two-night (Oct./Nov.) discussion in Toronto, Canada Here’s more from the ArtSci Salon’s October 3, 2019 announcement (received via email) “…now they were perfecting a pigoon that could grow…

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Years ago I was asked about carbon sequestration and nanotechnology and could not come up with any examples. At last I have something for the next time the question is asked. From a June 11, 2019 news item on ScienceDaily, University of Colorado Boulder researchers have developed nanobio-hybrid organisms capable of using airborne carbon dioxide and nitrogen to produce a variety of plastics and fuels, a promising first step toward low-cost carbon sequestration and eco-friendly…

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I do like to keep up with nanocellulose doings, especially when there’s some Canadian involvement, and an October 8, 2019 news item on Nanowerk alerted me to a newish application for the product, Physiological parameters in our blood can be determined without painful punctures. Empa researchers are currently working with a Canadian team to develop flexible, biocompatible nanocellulose sensors that can be attached to the skin. The 3D-printed analytic chips made of renewable raw materials…

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CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) gene editing is usually paired with a virus (9, 12a, etc.) but this time scientists are using a gold nanoparticle. From a May 27, 2019 news item on Nanowerk (Note: Links have been removed), Scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center took a step toward making gene therapy more practical by simplifying the way gene-editing instructions are delivered to cells. Using a gold nanoparticle instead of an inactivated…

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A June 3, 2019 news item on Nanowerk describes an inexpensive way to safely handle carbon nanotubes (CNTs), Note: A link has been removed, With a little practice, it doesn’t take much more than 10 minutes, a couple of bags and a big bucket to keep nanomaterials in their place.The Rice University lab of chemist Andrew Barron works with bulk carbon nanotubes on a variety of projects. Years ago, members of the lab became concerned…

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A May 28, 2019 news item on Nanowerk announced research targeting Langerham cells and the immune system (Note: A link has been removed), Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam developed targeted nanoparticles that are taken up by certain immune cells of the human skin (ACS Central Science, “A specific, glycomimetic Langerin ligand for human Langerhans cell targeting”). These so-called Langerhans cells coordinate the immune response and alert the body…

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Sense about Science, headquartered in the UK, is in its own words (from its homepage) Sense about Science is an independent campaigning charity that challenges the misrepresentation of science and evidence in public life. … According to an October 1, 2019 announcement from Sense about Science (received via email), the organization has published a new guide, Our director warned yesterday [September 30, 2019] that data science is being given a free pass on quality in…

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This post was going to focus on the first building in Canada to feature ‘smart’ windows. In this case, they are electrochromic windows and the company, View Dynamic Glass, was mentioned here in a September 17, 2018 posting about the windows’ use at the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. (The posting includes a link to the View Dynamic Glass report on the windows’ use and a short video.) However, things changed but, first, let’s start with an…

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