Technology Update

A new, ultra-light form of “frozen smoke”, or “multi-walled carbon nanotube aerogel”, has been developed by scientists at the University of Central Florida in the United States.

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, United States, and Kyushu University, Japan, have developed a polymer that can repair itself when irradiated with UV light – over and over again.

State media reports from China say the government will release new standards, in late February, for the mining of rare earth minerals, including measures to reduce water pollution and set energy consumption limits.

The National Nanotechnology Center (NANOTEC) of Thailand is hailing the decision by the Thailand Board of Investment (BOI) to characterize nanomanufacturing as a top priority business.

New research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and GE, both in the United States, shows that the use of a super-hydrophobic coating as a solution to the problem of ice build-up on surfaces such as airplane wings, won’t work, but the researchers suggest an alternative that should.

Counterfeiting is a high-volume, high-profit business that has become a global phenomenon, affecting individuals in small villages and large cities, as well as big industries and pharmaceutical companies.

Researchers in Italy and France are the first to have observed an arrested “empty” liquid in the lab. The gel is a new state of soft matter and consists of sparse networks of bonded nanoparticles.

When carbon nanotubes are produced, they come in a mix of “chiralities” (or handedness) with varying electronic properties. However, the nanotubes need to be rich in one chirality if they are to be used to make devices.

Popular topics in 2010 included cleaning up drinking water, simplifying transistors, improving energy storage, upgrading the manufacture of dye-sensitized solar cells and finding a better way to make gold nanoparticles.

Every year over 30 percent of all food, worth some US$48 billion, is thrown away in the United States due to decay, spoilage and waste. These costs can be even greater for farmers and producers outside the U.S. who can barely get perishable items to market because of such decay, and often lose export opportunities […]

A declaration that emerged from the meeting of the South American Council of Education, Culture, Science, Technology and Innovation (Coseccti), which operates under the Union of South America Nations (UNASUR), committed the ministers and secretaries of Science in Latin America to prioritize the development and strengthening of biotechnology, nanotechnology, information technology and communications, renewable energy […]

A detailed report released this week by the United States Energy Department warns that the U.S. is too reliant on China for minerals crucial to new clean energy technologies.

The NanoTrust proje ct of the Institute of Technology Assessment of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, which is sponsored by the Federal Ministry for Transport, Technology and Innovation, has released, in English, several dossiers on possible health and environmental risks of nanotechnologies, as well as societal impacts.

This article, in the journal Clinica Chimica Acta, summarizes and critically assesses the current studies focusing on the adverse effects of silver nanoparticles (Ag NP) on human health.

This article suggests that while experts have been heralding how nanotechnology will revolutionize the food processing and packaging industries, the most promising breakthroughs will occur much earlier in the food production chain – on the farm.

The draft National Nanotechnology Initiative Environmental, Health, and Safety Research Strategy is now available for public comment.

Bangalore, India, will host the country’s first nanotechnology park, according to scientist C.N.R. Rao, who said this week “[T]here have been some delays earlier. But, the Nano Park will come up by 2011.

United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) officials, speaking to the House of Lords Committee on Agriculture, Fisheries, and Farming, United Kingdom, warned that Europe’s refusal to embrace technologies like genetic modification (GM) and nanotechnology in farming could result in European agriculture being left behind.

The Nakaa Nanotechnology Network (NNN) is an organization with the goal of introducing the fields of nanotechnology, and its benefits, to Arabic society.

Researchers at Northwestern University, United States, have created a high performance fiber, from carbon nanotubes and a polymer, which could be tougher than Kevlar.

The United States National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has proposed a recommended exposure limit of seven micrograms per cubic meter of air for carbon nanotubes and nanofibers, which is the lowest concentration that can be reliably measured.