Some recent Breakthroughs

I should point out here, that what I am giving you is a condensed and selected view of recent breakthroughs and applications in the field of Nanotechnology.

Once again and forgive me for being blunt, but I am trying to dumb it down for the common Joe and Jane, and for myself as well. I am sure if any “experts” are reading out there you will correct any misunderstandings I might post.
So number 1 on the list for no particular reason other than it’s the first one I choose to write about is

BIOLOGICAL SENSORS FROM CARBON NANOTUBES

Well what is it and how does it work. These carbon nanotubes shine like a kids toy in the dark when they are exposed to infrared, another words they are fluorescent. Infra red also happens to make human tissue see through.
The tubes have been placed in a type of sheath made of enzymes that reacts with a particular chemical that enhances the fluorescence of the tubes.

“When glucose encounters the enzyme, hydrogen peroxide is produced, which quickly reacts with the ferricyanide to modulate the electronic structure and optical characteristics of the nanotube,” Strano said. “The more glucose that is present, the brighter the nanotube will fluoresce”

This particular device can be implanted into human tissue. However one thing that hasn’t been clearly explained is why the hell anyone would want to do this in first place. Okay it can be done but what for? Answers on a postcard please to here.

JIGSAW PUZZLES ::?????

While I started to read this one I had to laugh but then I realised that this is a pretty damn good development in the field of Nanotechnology that is centred in the field of medical applications. Apparently scientists at UCSB have managed to build tiny buildings and other beautiful structures using the folding principals of natural RNA.
What it means potentially is that nano circuits, medical implants, and improved medical testing may take place, using these principals and obviously the structures too. The group of Nano Architects see the possibility of being able to speed up the healing process of bones or other tissue using implants that are built on Nano scale.

NANOGEN
Now this is a company I have been reading a lot about. Recently that have been issued with a patent for Platinum silicide permeation layer device with microlocations," by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. It provides for a protective porous membrane layer, or permeation layer, to be deposited over microchip electrodes which are used for analysis of biological molecules for diagnostic applications.

A CURE FOR MALARIA? OR CANCER

Subra Suresh, graduate student John P. Mills and research scientist Ming Dao of MIT's Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Professor Joachim Spatz and Alexandre Micoulet of the University of Heidelberg, Professor C. T. Lim of NUS, and Professor Thomas Seufferlein and Mark Beil of the University of Ulm have basically discovered what happens to cells in human blood when they are attacked by Malaria. “Such information at the molecular level is vital to gain insights into the pathogenesis of malaria, and potentially offers the opportunity to develop better drugs," Suresh added. Precise measurements of infected cells' response to mechanical forces could also help doctors understand how different strains of the parasite influence the functioning of organs such as the spleen. Once again the team like others have used tools that have been developed through nanotechnology. You may not be planning on catching this disease soon, but it does kill two to three million people a year. Perhaps this advance can also be applied to other diseases that affect the blood stream.

Advances have also been made on how cancer may be treated in the future. doctors at Harvard medical school have been injecting magnetic nanoparticles to track tumours The millions of miniature metal balls flood the body and concentrate in healthy lymph nodes. Using medical imaging equipment, the scientists then scan cancer patients for the particles to see if their nodes are normal or malignant, which show a different pattern. This tells the doctors how far the disease has spread and influences how it is treated.

BUT ITS NOT ONLY MEDICINE

There I was wondering when I was going to find out where else advancements in Nano were being made when I came across this great article from the smalltimes.com. I just love the name. Basically it outlines how nanotechnology is being used from anything to do with barcoding right up to top secret defence and surveillance techniques. One of the recent problems has been the power supply for nano machines but now the University of Alaska has announced it has finally succeeded in producing complicated microelectronic devices. Each of these devices could in the future be so cheaply made that they could be implanted into almost every product made. What does it mean? Well now when you feel like stealing a book or a car it could be tracked by virtue of these tiny devices. Not only that, prisoners could be tracked by local police forces. Soldiers in the field of battle could have a tiny device fitted under their skin monitoring their well being. Even children could be tracked by parents. Obviously there is a whole bunch of questions around the right to privacy that this throws up but mark my words, George Owell was only 20 years early when he wrote his famous book and I imagine in the future it may be possible for a government to track every single citizen. Gulp I gotta say I don’t like the sound of that one. What if I happen to be going out with the Presidents daughter???

Nanotechnology Leader Zyvex Introduces Carbon Nanotube-Based Epoxy Concentrates

What can I say about this? Basically go to the web site and try figure it out yourself if you are interested in Epoxy-concentrates. I seem to remember somewhere that expoxy’s had something to do with glue but this press release gave me too little information to figure out why anyone would want whatever it is they have developed.

DOING A SPOT OF SHOPPING ?

Then you know surely what a barcode is. It can hold lot of information. Intermec Technologies Corp., introduced in December a revolutionary new bar code laser scanning technology that is more compact and reliable and offers longer product life than current bar code laser scan engines. Initial scan rates are five times faster than current mechanical motor-based laser scanners, with the capability to increase in future product generations to thousands of scans per second. This speed will allow precise high-speed scanning in two dimensions and will provide omni-directional reading of 1D and stacked bar-codes, as well as 2D raster scanning for matrix codes. You can read all about it at nanotechwire.com but I have basically given you the gist of it here.

MIXING LIQUIDS

Finally an NJIT professor discovers new mixing method for microchip-sized labs

Basically what this means is that if liquids can be mixed more efficiently then better medicines can be made.

“Everybody looks at creating turbulence in three dimensions to mix liquids," said team leader Nadine Aubry, PhD, Jacobus distinguished professor and chair of the mechanical engineering department at NJIT. "We traded space for time, which is a much simpler way to handle this problem when space is at a premium."

To demonstrate the method, Aubry used a "T" channel intersection whose segments were 200 microns wide by 120 microns deep – about twice the circumference of a human hair. Baically it means that purer test drugs can be made with less by products and perhaps less side effects too one hopes.

Well after that exhausting but by no means exhaustive list of developments I hope 2005 is treating you all well. Obviously Medicine is not the only area of development in Nano technology but it certainly seems to be one at the moment that is making most leaps forward. Stay tuned for another update soon.