Instruments smaller than a human hair are being designed to eradicate antibiotic-resistant bacteria and fight cancer.
Dr. Ana Santos becomes emotional when describing what happened several years ago: Her grandfather and an uncle died of urinary tract infections and a good friend succumbed after an accidental cut got infected.
She was shocked. In an age of antibiotics, such misfortunes weren’t supposed to happen.
Silicon carbide is becoming a major player on the quantum scene. Widely used in specialized electronics goods such as LEDs and electric vehicles, silicon carbide boasts versatility, wide commercial availability, and growing use in high-power electronics, making it an attractive material for quantum information science, whose impact is expected to be profound.
Drawing on physics at the atomic scale, technologies such as quantum computers, networks, and sensors will likely revolutionize areas as varied as communication, drug development, and logistics in the coming decades.
Now, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, DOE’s Sandia National Laboratories, and partner institutions have conducted a comprehensive study on the creation of qubits—the fundamental units of quantum information processing—in silicon carbide.
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a light-based means of printing nano-sized metal structures that is significantly faster and cheaper than any technology currently available. It is a scalable solution that could transform a scientific field long reliant on technologies that are prohibitively expensive and slow. The breakthrough has the potential to bring new technologies out of labs and into the world.
Technological advances in many fields rely on the ability to print metallic structures that are nano-sized—a scale hundreds of times smaller than the width of a human hair. Sourabh Saha, assistant professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, and Jungho Choi, a Ph.D. student in Saha’s lab, developed a technique for printing metal nanostructures that is 480 times faster and 35 times cheaper than the current conventional method.
Their research is published in the journal Advanced Materials.
When Mickael Perrin started out on his scientific career 12 years ago, he had no way of knowing he was conducting research in an area that would be attracting wide public interest only a few years later: Quantum electronics. “At the time, physicists were just starting to talk about the potential of quantum technologies and quantum computers,” he recalls.
“Today there are dozens of start-ups in this area, and governments and companies are investing billions in developing the technology further. We are now seeing the first applications in computer science, cryptography, communications and sensors.” Perrin’s research is opening up another field of application: Electricity production using quantum effects with almost zero energy loss. To achieve this, the 36-year-old scientist combines two usually separate disciplines of physics: thermodynamics and quantum mechanics.
In the past year, the quality of Perrin’s research and its potential for future applications has brought him two awards. He received not only one of the ERC Starting Grants that are so highly sought-after by young researchers, but also an Eccellenza Professorial Fellowship of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNS)F. He now leads a research group of nine at Empa as well as being an Assistant Professor of Quantum Electronics at ETH Zurich.
In a paper published in Science Jan. 18, scientists Chad Mirkin and Sharon Glotzer and their teams at Northwestern University and University of Michigan, respectively, present findings in nanotechnology that could impact the way advanced materials are made.
The paper describes a significant leap forward in assembling polyhedral nanoparticles. The researchers introduce and demonstrate the power of a novel synthetic strategy that expands possibilities in metamaterial design. These are the unusual materials that underpin “invisibility cloaks” and ultrahigh-speed optical computing systems.
“We manipulate macroscale materials in everyday life using our hands,” said Mirkin, the George B. Rathmann Professor of Chemistry at the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences.
The possibility of direct interfacing between biological and technological information devices could result in a merger of mind and machine — Ultimate Computing. This book, a thorough consideration of this idea, involves a number of disciplines, including biochemistry, cognitive science, computer science, engineering, mathematics, microbiology, molecular biology, pharmacology, philosophy, physics, physiology, and psychology.
The research project demonstrated a power output of 20 watts using a fiber-optic laser and aims to increase this to kilowatts in the future.
The main goal of the WiPTherm project was to create an innovative wireless energy transfer system that could recharge energy storage components on micro and nano-sized satellites.
The IFIMUP was tasked with developing thermoelectric sensors capable of absorbing light at 1,550 nm and using them to charge energy storage devices.
After three years of work, the consortium tested their technologies at the São Jacinto airbase in Aveiro, a city on the Portuguese west coast. During this display, the research team succeeded in generating 20 watts of power output using a fiber optic laser and directed it to the sensors.
Researchers have created a smart wound soldering paste called iSolder (intelligent solder).
Nanoparticle-based paste
In a conventional tissue soldering method, the application of heat causes the paste to polymerize, resulting in bonding with the underlying tissue. This efficiently closes the wound and promotes rapid healing.
This laser-based smart wound closure paste was created using the bonding agent containing metallic and ceramic nanoparticles.
The research, which was conducted on mice, demonstrates how these tiny nanomachines are propelled by urea present in urine and precisely target the tumor, attacking it with a radioisotope carried on their surface.
Bladder cancer has one of the highest incidence rates in the world and ranks as the fourth most common tumor in men. Despite its relatively low mortality rate, nearly half of bladder tumors resurface within 5 years, requiring ongoing patient monitoring. Frequent hospital visits and the need for repeat treatments contribute to making this type of cancer one of the most expensive to cure.
While current treatments involving direct drug administration into the bladder show good survival rates, their therapeutic efficacy remains low. A promising alternative involves the use of nanoparticles capable of delivering therapeutic agents directly to the tumor. In particular, nanorobots—nanoparticles endowed with the ability to self-propel within the body—are noteworthy.