Feb 29, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Individually tailored RNA or DNA-based molecules are able to reliably fight off viral infections in plants, according to a new study by the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), which was published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences ("Effective Antiviral Application of Antisense in Plants...
Astronomers discover heavy elements after bright gamma-ray burst from neutron star merger
Feb 29, 2024 (Nanowerk News) An international team of astronomers obtained observational evidence for the creation of rare heavy elements in the aftermath of a cataclysmic explosion triggered by the merger of two neutron stars. The massive explosion unleashed a gamma-ray burst, GRB230307A, the second brightest in 50 years of...
Researchers find better way to handle hard-to-recycle material
Feb 29, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Glass fiber-reinforced plastic (GFRP), a strong and durable composite material, is widely used in everything from aircraft parts to windmill blades. Yet the very qualities that make it robust enough to be used in so many different applications make it difficult to dispose of ⎯...
Novel chemical process binds carbon nanotubes to metal
Feb 29, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Carbon nanotubes have shown promise for everything from microelectronics to aviation to energy storage. Researchers think this material might one day fulfill the science fiction dream of creating an elevator to space. So why aren’t they used more often? University of Cincinnati chemist Noe Alvarez...
Radio waves can tune up bacteria to become life-saving medicines
Feb 29, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Scientists from Australia and the United States have found a new way to alter the DNA of bacterial cells – a process used to make many vital medicines including insulin – much more efficiently than standard industry techniques. Instead of opening bacteria cell walls with...
AI boosts AFM resolution beyond probe size limit
Feb 29, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Atomic force microscopy, or AFM, is a widely used technique that can quantitatively map material surfaces in three dimensions, but its accuracy is limited by the size of the microscope’s probe. A new artificial intelligence (AI) technique overcomes this limitation and allows microscopes to resolve...
Nano-jab reveals cell responses
Feb 28, 2024 (Nanowerk News) By giving living cells a “nano-poke” and monitoring the resulting changes in the intracellular environment, researchers have gotten their first glimpse of how whole cells respond to external mechanical pressure. A team led by scientists from the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) in Tsukuba,...
Brain repairs with nanorobots
Feb 28, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Researchers have found that nerve cells, carried by magnetically powered nanorobots, can be guided towards specific sites in brain tissue to then establish structural and functional connections with the nerve cells of that tissue. While not yet realised in living organisms, the researchers believe their...
AI-driven system to design tailor-made molecules
Feb 28, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Researchers in Japan have developed a machine learning process that simultaneously designs new molecules and suggests the chemical reactions to make them. The team, from the Institute of Statistical Mathematics (ISM) in Tokyo, published their results in the journal Science and Technology of Advanced Materials:...
Robotic unveiling of crystal structures
Feb 28, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Researchers at the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) in Japan have automated a complex and labour-intensive process for analysing the results of X-ray diffraction studies, which are used to determine the structure of crystalline materials. The team described the development and application of their...