A quantum phenomenon (Kondo effect) and nanomaterials

February 15, 2021 Maryse de la Giroday Science in Society, Technology and Engineering

This is a little outside my comfort zone but here goes anyway. From a December 23, 2020 news item on phys.org (Note: Links have been removed), Osaka City University scientists have developed mathematical formulas to describe the current and fluctuations of strongly correlated electrons in quantum dots. Their theoretical predictions could soon be tested experimentally.Theoretical physicists Yoshimichi Teratani and Akira Oguri of Osaka City University, and Rui Sakano of the University of Tokyo have developed…

Eradicating bacteria biofilm with nanocrystals

February 11, 2021 Maryse de la Giroday Science in Society, Technology and Engineering

A January 8, 2021 news item on ScienceDaily announces new work from South Korea’s Pohang University of Science & Technology (POSTECH), The COVID-19 pandemic is raising fears of new pathogens such as new viruses or drug-resistant bacteria. To this, a Korean research team has recently drawn attention for developing the technology for removing antibiotic-resistant bacteria by controlling the surface texture of nanomaterials.A joint research team from POSTECH and UNIST [Ulsan National Institute of Science and…

Inspiring future women in science:: live webcast , 4 pm ET, Thurs., Feb. 11, 2021

February 10, 2021 Maryse de la Giroday Science in Society, Technology and Engineering

This Perimeter Institute (PI) Feb. 10, 2021 announcement (received via email) features their efforts to celebrate the United Nations’ International Day of Women and Girls in Science of February 11, which falls on Thursday this year, Tomorrow: Inspiring Future Women in Science – Live Q&A On February 11 [Thursday, 2021], we celebrate the International Day of Women and Girls in Science with Inspiring Future Women in Science – Live Q&A. Join us tomorrow as students learn…

Crushing It (Part 2): SRC Celebrates International Day of Women and Girls in Science

February 10, 2021February 27, 2021 Saskatchewan Research Council Environmental and Earth Sciences, General Science, Technology and Engineering

Welcome to part two of our feature on International Day of Women and Girls in Science, highlighting just some of women at SRC working in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

Beginner’s guide to folding DNA origami

February 10, 2021 Maryse de la Giroday Science in Society, Technology and Engineering

I think this Aug. 6, 2010 post, Folding, origami, and shapeshifting and an article with over 50,000 authors is the first time I wrote about DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) and origami (the Japanese art of paper folding). Since then, the technique has become even more popular with the result that the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has produced a beginner’s guide, according to a Jan. 8, 2021 news item on Nanowerk, In a…

Stretching diamonds to improve electronic devices

February 9, 2021 Maryse de la Giroday Science in Society, Technology and Engineering

On the last day of 2020, City University of Hong Kong (CityU) announced a technique for stretching diamonds that could result in a new generation of electronic devices. A December 31, 2020 news item on ScienceDaily makes the announcement, Diamond is the hardest material in nature. It also has great potential as an excellent electronic material. A research team has demonstrated for the first time the large, uniform tensile elastic straining of microfabricated diamond arrays…

Why Two-Factor Authentication is A Good Idea and How it Works

February 9, 2021February 27, 2021 Saskatchewan Research Council Environmental and Earth Sciences, General Science, Technology and Engineering

Managing passwords across multiple websites has long been a challenge for internet users. Two-factor authentication helps prevent the unauthorized use of your login username and password. If you think of your password as the first “factor” then adding one more step is the second or “two-factor.” Learn more.

Mother-of-pearl self-assembles from disorder into perfection

February 8, 2021 Maryse de la Giroday Science in Society, Technology and Engineering

Courtesy: Mother-of-pearl Courtesy: Technische Universitaet (TU) Dresden Mother-of-pearl (also known as nacre) research has been featured here a few times (links at the end of this post). This time it touches on self-assembly, which is the source of much interest and, on occasion, much concern in the field of nanotechnology. In any case, the latest mother-of-pearl work comes from the Technische Universität (TU) Dresden (Technical University of Dresden), located in Germany. From a January 4,…

Crushing It: SRC Celebrates International Day of Women and Girls in Science

February 8, 2021February 27, 2021 Saskatchewan Research Council Environmental and Earth Sciences, General Science, Technology and Engineering

To celebrate International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we want to inspire women and girls to think about science and technology as a viable educational and career opportunity. Read about some of the women within our offices and labs doing remarkable things in STEM that benefit industry, our communities and the world.

CRISPR/Cas9 used successfully to edit SIV (simian immunodeficiency virus, which is similar to HIV) out of monkey genome

February 5, 2021 Maryse de la Giroday Science in Society, Technology and Engineering

Before reading further please note, the research discussed in this posting is based on animal testing, which many people find highly disturbing. CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats)/Cas9 (CRISPR-associated protein 9), or more familiarly CRISPR/Cas9, has been been used to edit simian immunodeficiency virus from infected monkeys’ cells according to a December 2, 2020 article by Matthew Rozsa for Salon.com (Note: Links have been removed), With multiple coronavirus vaccines being produced as we speak,…

Technology and Engineering