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Categories: Engineering: Nanotechnology, Environmental: Wildfires
Published The medicine of the future could be artificial life forms



Imagine a life form that doesn't resemble any of the organisms found on the tree of life. One that has its own unique control system, and that a doctor would want to send into your body. It sounds like a science fiction movie, but according to nanoscientists, it can—and should—happen in the future.
Published New research may make future design of nanotechnology safer with fewer side effects



A new study may offer a strategy that mitigates negative side effects associated with intravenous injection of nanoparticles commonly used in medicine.
Published Simultaneous large wildfires will increase in Western U.S.



Simultaneous outbreaks of large wildfires will become more frequent in the Western United States this century as the climate warms, putting major strains on efforts to fight fires, according to new research. The most severe wildfire seasons will become at least twice as frequent.
Published Extreme fires and heavy rainfall driving platypuses from their homes



Australia's emerging pattern of severe mega bushfires and heavy rainfall may be driving platypuses from their homes, a new study has shown. Analysis of platypus DNA in rivers and creek water samples collected before and after the Black Summer 2019-2020 megafires suggest Australia's beloved semi-aquatic monotremes might be abandoning severely bushfire-affected areas for up to 18 months after a fire, especially if heavy rainfall has followed the fire.
Published Controlled burns help prevent wildfires; Climate change is limiting their use



Climate change means the American West will have 17% fewer safe days to light prescribed fires for wildfire management, according to new research. Winter, however, will see a net 4% increase in the number of favorable days. Implementing controlled burns in the West will require changes to policy and the availability of firefighters.
Published Bioengineering breakthrough increases DNA detection sensitivity by 100 times



Researchers have pushed forward the boundaries of biomedical engineering one hundredfold with a new method for DNA detection with unprecedented sensitivity.
Published Wearable sensor to monitor 'last line of defense' antibiotic



Researchers have combined earlier work on painless microneedles with nanoscale sensors to create a wearable sensor patch capable of continuously monitoring the levels of a ‘last line of defense’ antibiotic.
Published Climate and human land use both play roles in Pacific island wildfires past and present



It’s long been understood that human settlement contributes to conditions that make Pacific Islands more susceptible to wildfires, such as the devastating Aug. 8 event that destroyed the Maui community of Lahaina. But a new study from fire scientist shows that climate is an undervalued part of the equation.
Published Researchers dynamically tune friction in graphene



The friction on a graphene surface can be dynamically tuned using external electric fields, according to researchers.
Published 3D-printed plasmonic plastic enables large-scale optical sensor production



Researchers have developed plasmonic plastic -- a type of composite material with unique optical properties that can be 3D-printed. This research has now resulted in 3D-printed optical hydrogen sensors that could play an important role in the transition to green energy and industry.
Published Strength is in this glass's DNA



Scientists were able to fabricate a pure form of glass and coat specialized pieces of DNA with it to create a material that was not only stronger than steel, but incredibly lightweight.
Published Scientists reveal what fuels wildfires in Sierra Nevada Mountains



Wildfires in California, exacerbated by human-driven climate change, are getting more severe. To better manage them, there's a growing need to know exactly what fuels the blazes after they ignite. Scientists now report that one of the chief fuels of wildfires in California's Sierra Nevada mountains is the decades-old remains of large trees.
Published Crystallization as the driving force


Scientists have successfully developed nanomaterials using a so-called bottom-up approach. They exploit the fact that crystals often grow in a specific direction during crystallization. These resulting nanostructures, which appear as 'worm-like and decorated rods,' could be used in various technological applications.
Published By air, rain and land: How microbes return after a wildfire


Ecological disturbances like wildfires disrupt microbial communities. Researchers found that dispersal played a pivotal role in re-establishing surface-level communities.
Published Nanofluidic device generates power with saltwater



There is a largely untapped energy source along the world's coastlines: the difference in salinity between seawater and freshwater. A new nanodevice can harness this difference to generate power.
Published Nanoparticles made from plant viruses could be farmers' new ally in pest control


Engineers have devised a new solution to control a major agricultural menace, root-damaging nematodes. Using plant viruses, the researchers created nanoparticles that can deliver pesticide molecules to previously inaccessible depths in the soil. This 'precision farming' approach could potentially minimize environmental toxicity and cut costs for farmers.
Published Scaling up the power of nanotechnology


Researchers created a proof of concept of a nanocapsule -- a microscopic container -- capable of delivering a specific 'payload' to a targeted location. While beyond the scope of this study, the discovery could one day impact how drugs, nutrients and other types of chemical compounds are delivered within humans or plants.
Published Making contact: Researchers wire up individual graphene nanoribbons


Researchers have developed a method of 'wiring up' graphene nanoribbons (GNRs), a class of one-dimensional materials that are of interest in the scaling of microelectronic devices. Using a direct-write scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) based process, the nanometer-scale metal contacts were fabricated on individual GNRs and could control the electronic character of the GNRs. The researchers say that this is the first demonstration of making metal contacts to specific GNRs with certainty and that those contacts induce device functionality needed for transistor function.
Published Stabilizing precipitate growth at grain boundaries in alloys


Materials are often considered to be one phase, but many engineering materials contain two or more phases, improving their properties and performance. These two-phase materials have inclusions, called precipitates, embedded in the microstructure. Alloys, a combination of two or more types of metals, are used in many applications, like turbines for jet engines and light-weight alloys for automotive applications, because they have very good mechanical properties due to those embedded precipitates. The average precipitate size, however, tends to increase over time-in a process called coarsening-which results in a degradation of performance for microstructures with nanoscale precipitates.
Published Socially vulnerable populations are disproportionately exposed to wildfires in the Western US



People experiencing a high degree of social vulnerability are also more exposed to wildfires in Oregon and Washington as wildfire risk increases, a new study shows.