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Invention jet prints nanostructures with self-assembling material

By Guest PostSeptember 22, 2013Scienceatomic force, block copolymers, butterfly image, chemical nanopatterns, chemical pattern, dna molecule, double stranded, electrohydrodynamic, hanyang university, imec belgium, ink jet, invention, jet prints nanostructures, john rogers, korea, magnetic storage, microscope image, nanometers, paul nealey, photolithography, printing technology, resolution, ribbons, semiconductor, serdar onses, substrate, university of chicago, university of Illinois, urbana-champaign

A multi-institutional team of engineers has developed a new approach to the fabrication of nanostructures for the semiconductor and magnetic storage industries. This approach combines top-down advanced ink-jet printing technology with a bottom-up approach that involves self-assembling block copolymers, a type of material that can spontaneously form ultrafine structures.

The team, consisting of nine researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Chicago and Hanyang University in Korea, was able to increase the resolution of their intricate structure fabrication from approximately 200 nanometers to approximately 15 nanometers. A nanometer is a billionth of a meter, the width of a double-stranded DNA molecule. (more…)

Powerful Animal Tracking System Helps Research Take Flight

By Guest PostJuly 21, 2013Naturealaska, animal tracking system, big data approach, birds eye view, east coast, env data, galapagos albatross, Germany, gil bohrer, gps tracking, gps tracking data, individual birds, lafayette college, max planck institute, migration, migration patterns, north Carolina, ohio state university, ornithology, project, roland kays, satellite, scientific users, state university, U.S. Geological Survey, university of Illinois, university of konstanz, urbana-champaign, youtube video

Call it a bird’s eye view of migration. Scientists are taking a fresh look at animal movement with a big data approach that combines GPS tracking data with satellite weather and terrain information.

The new Environmental-Data Automated Track Annotation (Env-DATA) system, featured in the journal Movement Ecology, can handle millions of data points and serve a hundred scientists simultaneously, said co-founder Dr. Roland Kays, a zoologist with North Carolina State University and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. (more…)

Scientists sequence genome of ‘sacred lotus,’ which likely holds anti-aging secrets

By Guest PostJune 7, 2013Health, Scienceanti aging secrets, australia, China, chinese academy, corn, crops, crysten blaby haas, disease, evolution, genetic defects, genetic endowment, genetic repair mechanisms, genome, germination defects, human health, humans, jane shen miller, Japan, liaoning province, longevity, molecular biologists, nelumbo nucifera, northeastern china, origin of life, powerful genetic system, rice, robert vanburen, sabeeha merchant, sacred lotus, sciences, scientists, sequence, shaohua li, spiritual purity, symbol, university of Illinois, unusual genetics, urbana-champaign, US, wheat, william schopf, wuhan botanical garden

A team of 70 scientists from the U.S., China, Australia and Japan today reports having sequenced and annotated the genome of the “sacred lotus,” which is believed to have a powerful genetic system that repairs genetic defects, and may hold secrets about aging successfully. The scientists sequenced more than 86 percent of the nearly 27,000 genes of the plant, Nelumbo nucifera, which is revered in China and elsewhere as a symbol of spiritual purity and longevity.

“The lotus genome is an ancient one, and we now know its ABCs,” said Jane Shen-Miller, one of three corresponding authors of the research and a senior scientist with UCLA’s Center for the Study of Evolution and the Origin of Life. “Molecular biologists can now more easily study how its genes are turned on and off during times of stress and why this plant’s seeds can live for 1,300 years. This is a step toward learning what anti-aging secrets the sacred lotus plant may offer.” (more…)

Insect eye-inspired camera captures wide field of view with no distortion, according to study co-led by CU-Boulder

By Guest PostMay 4, 2013Nature, Science3d shape, boulder, bowl shaped eyes, camera, conventional cameras, conventional systems, crystalline cone, deform, distortion, dragonflies, electronic detector, electronic system, exoskeletons, experimental digital camera, eyes of arthropods, houseflies, insect eye, jianliang xiao, john roger, mammalian eyes, ommatidia, praying mantises, resolution, university of colorado, university of Illinois, urbana-champaign, viktor malyarchuk, yizhu xie, young min song

By mimicking the bulging, bowl-shaped eyes possessed by dragonflies, praying mantises, houseflies and other insects, a team of researchers that includes a University of Colorado Boulder engineer has built an experimental digital camera that can take exceptionally wide-angle photos without distorting the image.

To create the innovative camera, which also allows for a practically infinite depth of field, the scientists used stretchable electronics and a pliable sheet of microlenses made from a material similar to that used for contact lenses. The researchers described the camera in an article published on May 1, 2013 in the journal Nature. (more…)

Earthquakes, Glue and Grappling Hooks: Scientists Dissect the Movement of Bacteria

By Guest PostFebruary 15, 2013Scienceanti infective, avalanche motions, california nanosystems institute, combat harmful microbes, combat microbial pathogenesis, earthquakes, frequency, fruiting body, gerard wong, glide along surface, glue, grappling hooks, henry samueli school, human tissue, intensity, karin a dahmen, max gibiansky, microscopic bacteria, molecular glue, molecular mechanism, movement of bacteria, myxococcus xanthus, pathogenic bacteria, social structures, tectonic plates, tectonic plates move, therapeutic strategies, ucla, university of Illinois, urbana-champaign, wei hu, wenyuan shi

A team led by researchers from the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science has discovered that microscopic bacteria have a lot in common with earthquakes — when it comes to their jolting movements.

In a new study published in the peer-reviewed Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the scientists also report that a molecular “glue” produced by the bacteria to help them adhere to surfaces also acts as a sort of transportation lubricant, helping them move and organize into rudimentary social structures. These discoveries, they say, could lead to new ways to combat harmful microbes in the long term. (more…)

How a Summer Internship—or a Weekend Lecture—Can Change a Life

By Guest PostJune 17, 2010Educationarpa-e, arun majumdar, berkeley campus, berkeley lab, center for science and engineering education, csee, department of energy’s advanced research projects agenc, emily chen, janet sheung, julie chao, lab physicist, larry pezzaglia, mark alper, MIT, nano*high program, robert cahn, roy kaltschmidt, susan brady, university of ilinois, urbana-champaign

Emily Chen still vividly remembers the lecture on gecko feet. She was an eighth grader attending Berkeley Lab’s Nano*High program to hear materials scientist Arun Majumdar explain how what he was learning about gecko feet might translate into a new adhesive product based on carbon nanotubes.

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