{"id":26003,"date":"2016-05-24T10:32:29","date_gmt":"2016-05-24T17:32:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2016\/05\/powering-nanotechnology-with-the-worlds-smallest-engine"},"modified":"2017-06-04T19:58:53","modified_gmt":"2017-06-05T02:58:53","slug":"powering-nanotechnology-with-the-worlds-smallest-engine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2016\/05\/powering-nanotechnology-with-the-worlds-smallest-engine","title":{"rendered":"Powering nanotechnology with the world\u2019s smallest engine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/powering-nanotechnology-with-the-worlds-smallest-engine.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>More information on ANTs.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>In the minuscule world of nanotechnology, big steps are rare. But a recent development has the potential to massively improve our lives: an engine measuring 200 billionths of a metre, which could power tiny robots to fight diseases in living cells.<\/p>\n<p>Life itself is proof of the extreme effectiveness of nanotechnology \u2014 the manipulation of matter on a molecular or atomic scale \u2014 in which DNA, proteins and enzymes can all be considered as machinery. In fact, researchers have managed to make micro-propellers using tiny strands of DNA. These strands can be stitched together so freely and precisely that the practise is known as \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/news\/2010\/100310\/full\/464158a.html\">DNA origami<\/a>\u201d. However, DNA origami lacks force and operational speed (it takes time measurable in seconds), reducing its robotic function.<\/p>\n<p>But <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pnas.org\/content\/early\/2016\/04\/27\/1524209113\">we have now produced nano-engines<\/a> that can be operated with beams of light to work pistons, pumps and valves. Made from <a href=\"http:\/\/phys.org\/tags\/gold+nanoparticles\/\" rel=\"tag\" class=\"\">gold nanoparticles<\/a> bound together by a heat-sensitive chemical, our machines are strong, fast and simple to operate, making them extremely practical for future applications.<\/p>\n<p><!-- Link: <a href=\"http:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2016-05-powering-nanotechnology-world-smallest.html\">http:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2016&#45;05-powering-nanotechnology-world-smallest.html<\/a> --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More information on ANTs. In the minuscule world of nanotechnology, big steps are rare. But a recent development has the potential to massively improve our lives: an engine measuring 200 billionths of a metre, which could power tiny robots to fight diseases in living cells. Life itself is proof of the extreme effectiveness of nanotechnology [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":395,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,4,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biotech-medical","category-nanotechnology","category-robotics-ai"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/395"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26003"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67440,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26003\/revisions\/67440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}