Sunday, June 27, 2010
FOLLOWING THE THREADS OF NANOTECHNOLOGY
9:38 AM | 
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Nanotech Colombia
Following the threads of nanotechnology
Source: agenciadenoticias.unal.edu.co
Colombian scientist Juan Paulo Hinestroza who developed cotton yarns that can conduct electricity, will be at the National University to discuss nanotechnology.
This renowned researcher who has developed important projects now announces its latest discovery has to do with cotton yarns that can conduct electrical current, the same way as does a metal wire.
Thanks to this discovery can now be seen on the runway fashion t-shirts that can monitor your heart rate and breathing; test sweat to change the temperature according to the weather or dresses that feed solar energy to charge your iPod or MP4 player.
Multidisciplinary nanotechnology using tools developed at Cornell, in collaboration with the universities of Bologna and Cagliari, Italy, the scientist and colleagues developed a technique for permanently cover traditional cotton fibers with a layer of electrically conductive nanoparticles. The technique works so well that two simple knots in a thread, with special treatment, they can complete a circuit and powered by solar energy.
Instead of conventional cables we are using our cotton conductor to carry electricity, so our wires are part of the dress. Cotton is often called 'the fabric of our lives', but on the basis of these results, we can now call it 'The fabric of the lights,' "says Professor Hinestroza.
Although this technology seems like science fiction was presented on March 13 at the Cornell Design League Fashion Show, at Cornell University Barton Hall.
Abbey Liebman, a student of professor Hinestroza, was inspired by this technology to design a garment that uses flexible solar cells for charging small electronic devices through a USB port that works as a belt, the contact can power a smart phone or a MP3 player. In addition, the garments have proved to be lightweight and comfortable enough.
"This technique allows the cotton to remain flexible, lightweight and comfortable, while it becomes an electrical conductor," says the scientist, and recognizes that "previous technologies have made conductivity, but the resulting fiber became rigid and heavy. New techniques make our wireless accept further processing, to weaving and sewing.
In July, Professor Hinestroza will attend the International Chair in Engineering 2010, organized by the Faculty of Engineering, of the National University, where he will discuss the assembly of nanoparticles in fibers, among other topics related to this technology, which has become a world authority.
Professor Hinestroza, born in the city of Bucaramanga, Colombia, graduated from Chemical Engineering in the Industrial University of Santander (UIS), and since 2006 is Assistant Professor of Fiber Science and director of the Nanotechnology Laboratory of the School of Textile Human Ecology, at Cornell University, United States (www.nanotextiles.human.cornell.edu).
Friday, June 25, 2010
PRODUCTS WITH NANOTECHNOLOGY
Products with Nanotechnology
Source: science.howstuffworks.com
You might be surprised to find out how many products on the market are already benefiting from nanotechnology.
Sunscreen - Many sunscreens contain nanoparticles of zinc oxide or titanium oxide. Older sunscreen formulas use larger particles, which is what gives most sunscreens their whitish color. Smaller particles are less visible, meaning that when you rub the sunscreen into your skin, it doesn't give you a whitish tinge.
Self-cleaning glass - A company called Pilkington offers a product they call Activ Glass, which uses nanoparticles to make the glass photocatalytic and hydrophilic. The photocatalytic effect means that when UV radiation from light hits the glass, nanoparticles become energized and begin to break down and loosen organic molecules on the glass (in other words, dirt). Hydrophilic means that when water makes contact with the glass, it spreads across the glass evenly, which helps wash the glass clean.
Clothing - Scientists are using nanoparticles to enhance your clothing. By coating fabrics with a thin layer of zinc oxide nanoparticles, manufacturers can create clothes that give better protection from UV radiation. Some clothes have nanoparticles in the form of little hairs or whiskers that help repel water and other materials, making the clothing stain-resistant.
Scratch-resistant coatings - Engineers discovered that adding aluminum silicate nanoparticles to scratch-resistant polymer coatings made the coatings more effective, increasing resistance to chipping and scratching. Scratch-resistant coatings are common on everything from cars to eyeglass lenses.
Antimicrobial bandages - Scientist Robert Burrell created a process to manufacture antibacterial bandages using nanoparticles of silver. Silver ions block microbes' cellular respiration. In other words, silver smothers harmful cells, killing them.
Swimming pool cleaners and disinfectants - EnviroSystems, Inc. developed a mixture (called a nanoemulsion) of nano-sized oil drops mixed with a bactericide. The oil particles adhere to bacteria, making the delivery of the bactericide more efficient and effective.
New products incorporating nanotechnology are coming out every day. Wrinkle-resistant fabrics, deep-penetrating cosmetics, liquid crystal displays (LCD) and other conveniences using nanotechnology are on the market. Before long, we'll see dozens of other products that take advantage of nanotechnology ranging from Intel microprocessors to bio-nanobatteries, capacitors only a few nanometers thick. While this is exciting, it's only the tip of the iceberg as far as how nanotechnology may impact us in the future.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
NANOTECHNOLOGY IN FOOD
Food industry 'too secretive' over nanotechnology
Source: news.bbc.co.uk
The food industry has been criticised for being secretive about its use of nanotechnology by the UK's House of Lords Science and Technology Committee.
Lord Krebs, chairman of the inquiry, said the industry "wants to keep a low profile" to avoid controversy.
While there were no clear dangers, he said, there were "gaps in knowledge".
In its report Nanotechnologies and Food, the committee suggests a public register of foods or packaging that make use of nanotechnology.
Nanotechnology is the use of very small particles - measured in the billionths of a metre. At these sizes, particles have novel properties and there is active investigation into how those properties arise.
While nanotechnology is already widely employed - in applications ranging from odour-free socks to novel cancer therapeutic methods - they have long been regarded as a subject requiring further study to ensure their safety.
In the food sector, nanotechnology can be employed to enhance flavour and even to make processed foods healthier by reducing the amount of fat and salt needed in production.
Open standards
Peers said in the report that they found it "regrettable that the food industry was refusing to talk about its work in the area".
They added that it was exactly this behaviour that could prompt public backlash against the use of a technology that could bring many benefits to the public.
Lord Krebs said that the industry was "very reluctant to put its head above the parapet and be open about research on nanotechnology".
"They got their fingers burnt over the use of GM crops and so they want to keep a low profile on this issue. We believe that they should adopt exactly the opposite approach. If you want to build confidence you should be open rather than secretive."
As part of this process, the committee recommends that the Food Standards Agency should have a publicly available register listing food and packaging that use nano-materials.
Julian Hunt, director of communications for the Food and Drink Federation, said he was "surprised" by the criticism.
"Understandably, there are many questions and unknowns about the potential future uses of nanotechnologies in our sector, and there is much work still to be done, by scientists, governments and regulators, as well as the food and drink industry," Mr Hunt said.
"We support the report's recommendation for the formation of an open discussion group to bring more transparency that we know is important to consumers, and indeed we are already engaged in such initiatives, both at UK and EU level."
The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, run by the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, has found that there are currently 84 foods or food-related products that use nanotechnology.
The Food and Drink Federation says that none are currently manufactured in the UK.
'No clear danger'
However, Lord Krebs says he and his colleagues are concerned that because of industry secrecy, it is hard to really know the true extent of the use of nanotechnology in food.
"We are not clear what is out there in use at the moment," he said.
The report says that there is likely to be an "explosive growth" in the use of the technology.
Currently the market is valued at $410m (£260m), but the report estimates it will increase more than ten-fold in the next two years.
The report also says insufficient research has been carried out into the safety of the use of nanotechnology in foods. It urges the government to commission more research on the behaviour of nanomaterials, particularly in the gut.
"There is currently no clear and present danger from nanotechnology," according to Lord Krebs.
"But there are significant gaps in our knowledge for regulators to adequately assess the risk of nanomaterials in food."
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
NANOTECHNOLOGY IN TEXTILES
Nanotechnology in Textiles
Source: euroresidentes.com
We are talking about a new generation of new materials in which nanotechnology plays a key role. Clothing that does not get dirty, which repels the coffee stains from fruit or wine. The explanation for this is the nanoparticles are able to change the properties of the tissues. They can fight off viruses, bacteria, over a hundred washings without losing their properties. It is not science fiction, the old textile industry are renewing.
Tiger Woods said he could boast of no dirty clothes when eating or playing golf. Nike wearing pants are treated to repel the coffee, ketchup and even wine. Of course, water slide also.
It echoes the advances U.S. nanotechnology company Nano-Tex. Nano-Tex is creating the most revolutionary innovations in the textile market. Its aim is to apply nanotechnology to create an outstanding performance in everyday items: apparel, home furnishings, interiors, industrial fabrics. Some of these advances may change the way in which we all live and work. We talked about things like self-cleaning of fabrics, the elimination of pollutants or allergies, etc.
Some experts believe that these advances could change patterns of this sector. From be considered traditional or mature and suffer the costs and stiff competition from low wage countries like China or Taiwan to pass at the tip of the most innovative and advanced technology. The fabric joins other industries (sunscreen, glasses who reject the dust).
This new approach opens a remarkable capacity for innovation and conversion in a traditional sector such as textiles. These innovations are almost unbelievable: anti-odor, flame retardants, temperature control, change of color. The sizes of the new raw material, nanoparticles, allow flexibility in the exploitation of their properties truly amazing. Some nanotubes materials have been tested with amazing efficiency.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
CARBON NANOTUBES
Carbon Nanotubes
Source: research.ibm.com
Tiny tubes about 10,000 times thinner than a human hair -- consist of rolled up sheets of carbon hexagons. Discovered in 1991 by researchers at NEC, they have the potential for use as minuscule wires or in ultrasmall electronic devices. To build those devices, scientists must be able to manipulate the Nanotubes in a controlled way. IBM researchers using an atomic force microscope (AFM), an instrument whose tip can apply accurately measured forces to atoms and molecules, have recently devised a means of changing a nanotube's position, shape and orientation, as well as cutting it.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
MICROSOFT VISION 2019
Microsoft Vision 2019
Source: officelabs.com
Microsoft’s long-term productivity vision explores how we will create and share content; collaborate across teams, organizations and networks; and how we will gain contextually relevant and anticipative insights based on preferences and intent. All these scenarios are showcasing real, emerging technologies explored with various Microsoft product and research teams as well as at Microsoft partners and across the industry.
While the future is impossible to predict, we are constantly looking forward, analyzing trends,
and gathering insights to gain a deeper understanding of how investments in computer technology can help us live more productive, fulfilling, and sustainable lives.
More pictures and videos at our multimedia gallery.
MORPH
The Morph concept by Nokia
Source: nokia.com
Launched alongside The Museum of Modern Art “Design and The Elastic Mind” exhibition, the Morph concept device is a bridge between highly advanced technologies and their potential benefits to end-users. This device concept showcases some revolutionary leaps being explored by Nokia Research Center (NRC) in collaboration with the Cambridge Nanoscience Centre (United Kingdom) – nanoscale technologies that will potentially create a world of radically different devices that open up an entirely new spectrum of possibilities.
Morph concept technologies might create fantastic opportunities for mobile devices:
Newly-enabled flexible and transparent materials blend more seamlessly with the way we live.
Devices become self-cleaning and self-preserving.
Transparent electronics offering an entirely new aesthetic dimension.
Built-in solar absorption might charge a device, whilst batteries become smaller, longer lasting and faster to charge.
Integrated sensors might allow us to learn more about the environment around us, empowering us to make better choices.
In addition to the advances above, the integrated electronics shown in the Morph concept could cost less and include more functionality in a much smaller space, even as interfaces are simplified and usability is enhanced. All of these new capabilities will unleash new applications and services that will allow us to communicate and interact in unprecedented ways.
This device will be in our hands in 2015.
More pictures and video at our multimedia gallery.
Monday, June 7, 2010
WHAT IS NANOTECHNOLOGY?
NANOTECHNOLOGY
Source: biotecnologica.com y euroresidentes.com
Image: scienceblogs.com
Nanotechnology is the study, design, creation, synthesis, manipulation and application of materials, devices and functional systems through control of matter at the nano scale, and the exploitation of phenomena and properties of matter at the nano scale.
When handling the matter so minuscule scale of atoms and molecules, shows entirely new phenomena and properties. Therefore, scientists use nanotechnology to create materials, devices and innovative and inexpensive systems with unique properties.
The concept of nanotechnology encompasses the fields of science and technology in those studied, are obtained and / or handled in a controlled way materials, substances and devices of very small size, generally less than one micron, that is to say, at nanoscale. In this regard, there is a great interest from a full range of scientific and technical branches of knowledge for the importance of these nanoscale materials and substances as regards their application to society. This is not only motivated by the fact that they get important new properties to reduce the geometry of many materials.
So, the field of nanotechnology, in addition to the areas of knowledge related to its origin, such in physics, chemistry, engineering or robotics, other fields that in the beginning were not considered, but for those already today is of great importance, such as biology, medicine or the environment.
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