Aug 30, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Writing is an age-old cultural technique. Thousands of years ago, humans were already carving signs and symbols into stone slabs. Scripts have become far more sophisticated since then but one aspect remains the same: Whether the writer is using cuneiform or a modern alphabet, a...
Organic nanosensors may be able to detect harmful pesticides
Aug 30, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Researchers at Concordia have developed a new system using tiny nanosensors called carbon dots to detect the presence of the widely used chemical glyphosate. The findings are published in Sensors ("Ratiometric Sensing of Glyphosate in Water Using Dual Fluorescent Carbon Dots"). Glyphosate is a pesticide...
Paving the way for advanced quantum sensors
Aug 30, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Quantum physics has allowed for the creation of sensors far surpassing the precision of classical devices. Now, several studies in Nature show that the precision of these quantum sensors can be significantly improved using entanglement produced by finite-range interactions. Innsbruck researchers led by Christian Roos...
Vision for future micro-optical technology based on metamaterials
Aug 30, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Metasurfaces are artificial materials adept at manipulating. With metasurfaces allowing for lenses to be reduced to one 10,000th the size of conventional lenses, they are generating considerable interest as optical components allowing miniaturization of optical systems for the next generation of virtual and augmented reality...
Ancient art meets nanotechnology in nanoscale goldbeating
Aug 29, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Goldbeating, an age-old craft pioneered by ancient Egyptian artisans more than five millennia ago, involves the meticulous thinning of bulk gold into gossamer-like leaves. Throughout history, this intricate process has adorned various masterpieces, such as the tombs of Thebes and Saqqara, and has cemented its...
New fabrication method creates biomaterials with layered architecture to advance tissue engineering
Aug 29, 2023 (Nanowerk Spotlight) Tissue engineering aims to restore damaged tissues by combining cells, engineering materials, and biologically active molecules. The architecture and composition of the engineered scaffolds that support cell growth are critical for mimicking native tissues. Advances in 3D printing and assembly of multiple materials are enabling...
Titanium micro-spikes skewer resistant superbugs
Aug 29, 2023 (Nanowerk News) The increasing rates of drug-resistant infection has health experts globally concerned. To avoid infection around implants – such as titanium hips or dental prosthesis – doctors use a range of antimicrobial coatings, chemicals and antibiotics, but these fail to stop antibiotic-resistant strains and can even...
When dating a meteorite, be wary of aluminium-26
Aug 29, 2023 (Nanowerk News) An analysis of the approximately 4.6-billion-year-old meteorite Erg Chech 002, discovered in 2020 in the Erg Chech region of the Sahara Desert in Algeria, is presented in Nature Communications ("Igneous meteorites suggest Aluminium-26 heterogeneity in the early Solar Nebula"). In combination with previously published data,...
New and improved bioink to enhance 3D bioprinted skeletal muscle constructs
Aug 29, 2023 (Nanowerk News) An advancement in 3D bioprinting of native-like skeletal muscle tissues has been made by scientists at the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation (TIBI). The key to the TIBI scientists’ approach lies in their specially formulated bioink, which contains microparticles engineered for sustained delivery of insulin-like...
Scientists continue to push the boundaries of imaging techniques and reveal the mysterious world of molecules
Aug 29, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Scientists from the IOCB Prague, the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, and Palacký University Olomouc, have once again successfully uncovered the mysteries of the world of molecules and atoms. They have experimentally confirmed the correctness of a decades-old theory that assumed...