Jan 18, 2022 (Nanowerk News) The wettability of a surface — whether drops of water or another liquid bead up or spread out when they come into contact with it — is a crucial factor in a wide variety of commercial and industrial applications, such as how efficiently boilers and...
SETI Institute teams up to help students design science program for sky-monitoring telescope based on the moon
Jan 18, 2022 (Nanowerk News) The SETI Institute teamed up with Louisiana State University (LSU) and Mississippi State University (MSU) to help students design the science program for AstronetX PBC's first lunar-based camera (L-CAM 1). The scientific program planning is funded by a Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation grant to...
James Webb Space Telescope mirrors aligned by 6-axis nanopositioning system
Jan 18, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Orbiting approximately one million miles from Earth, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is the largest telescope ever launched into space – in its unfolded operational configuration it is nearly the size of a tennis court. Webb’s lightweight deployable primary mirror is segmented into 18...
Boxing up molecular machines
Jan 18, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Machines that are confined inside a cage or casing exhibit interesting properties by converting input energy into programmed functions. One such system is the mechanical gyroscope or gyrotop, a fascinating toy that amuses everyone with its incessant rotation. Gyroscopes also have practical applications in the...
Tiny nanogenerators generators could accelerate wound healing
Jan 18, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Tiny dressings that generate electricity in response to movement could accelerate wound healing and tissue regeneration. Scientists in Taiwan reviewed the latest advances and potential applications of wound healing technology in the journal Science and Technology of Advanced Materials ("Self-assisted wound healing using piezoelectric and...
New technique to convert greenhouse gasses into clean energy using photonics
Jan 18, 2022 (Nanowerk News) A European consortium is developing a new process that uses sunlight and LEDs to turn carbon dioxide and green hydrogen into clean energy products like methane gas and methanol liquid fuel. Called 'SPOTLIGHT', the consortium is creating a chemical process as well as a photonics...
Groundbreaking research produces record levels of strain in single-crystal silicon
Jan 18, 2022 (Nanowerk News) University of Surrey researchers have developed a single-step procedure to put single-crystal silicon under more strain than has been achieved before. The discovery, which has a patent pending, could be crucial to the future development of silicon photonics, which underpins the technologies behind the internet-of-things,...
Safe planetary boundary for pollutants, including plastics, exceeded, researchers say
Jan 18, 2022 (Nanowerk News) For the first time, an international team of researchers has assessed the impact on the stability of the Earth system of the cocktail of synthetic chemicals and other “novel entities” flooding the environment. The 14 scientists conclude in the scientific journal Science and Technology ("Outside...
Novel hydrogel promotes neural regeneration after spinal cord injury
Jan 18, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Researchers led by Prof. DAI Jianwu from the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences developed a multifunctional scaffold to effectively regulate the immune microenvironment after spinal cord injury and reduce secondary injury effects, according to a recent study published...