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Categories: Engineering: Nanotechnology, Offbeat: Computers and Math

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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.

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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.

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A scientific breakthrough brings mass production of the next generation of cheaper and lighter perovskite solar cells one step closer.

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As summer turns to fall, many people will be turning off the air conditioning and firing up heaters instead. But traditional heating and cooling systems are energy intensive, and because they typically run on fossil fuels, they aren't sustainable. Now, by mimicking a desert-dwelling chameleon, a team has developed an energy-efficient, cost-effective coating. The material could keep buildings cool in the summers -- or warm in the winters -- without additional energy.

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In the incredibly small world of molecules, the elementary building blocks -- the atoms -- join together in a very regular pattern. In contrast, in the macroscopic world with its larger particles, there is much greater disorder when particles connect. A research team has now succeeded in achieving the same precise arrangement of atoms shown in molecules, but using nanometer-sized particles, known as 'plasmonic molecules' -- combinations of nanoscale metallic structures that have unique properties.

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Researchers combined soft microactuators with high-energy-density chemical fuel to create an insect-scale quadrupedal robot that is powered by combustion and can outrace, outlift, outflex and outleap its electric-driven competitors.

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Researchers have discovered that certain nano-based cancer therapies may be less effective in younger patients, highlighting the need for further investigation into the impact of aging on the body's ability to respond to treatment. The researchers found age-related differences are due to how effectively the liver filters the bloodstream. Younger livers are more efficient at this process, which helps limit toxins in the blood but also filters out beneficial treatments, potentially rendering them ineffective.

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The feel of a cat's fur can reveal some information, but seeing the feline provides critical details: is it a housecat or a lion? While the sound of fire crackling may be ambiguous, its scent confirms the burning wood. Our senses synergize to give a comprehensive understanding, particularly when individual signals are subtle. The collective sum of biological inputs can be greater than their individual contributions. Robots tend to follow more straightforward addition, but researchers have now harnessed the biological concept for application in artificial intelligence (AI) to develop the first artificial, multisensory integrated neuron.

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It's a skin disorder that makes life miserable for around 800 million teenagers and adults worldwide, but cientists may have found an effective treatment for acne, delivered via tiny nanoparticles.

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Scientists have confirmed that human brains are naturally wired to perform advanced calculations, much like a high-powered computer, to make sense of the world through a process known as Bayesian inference.

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Researchers have developed small robotic devices that can change how they move through the air by 'snapping' into a folded position during their descent. Each device has an onboard battery-free actuator, a solar power-harvesting circuit and controller to trigger these shape changes in mid-air.

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By mining X-ray images, researchers have made significant new discoveries about the reactivity of lithium iron phosphate, a material used in batteries for electric cars and in other rechargeable batteries.

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Researchers have invented a nano-thin superbug-slaying material that could one day be integrated into wound dressings and implants to prevent or heal bacterial infections. The innovation -- which has undergone advanced pre-clinical trials -- is effective against a broad range of drug-resistant bacterial cells, including 'golden staph', which are commonly referred to as superbugs.

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Researchers who created a soft robot that could navigate simple mazes without human or computer direction have now built on that work, creating a 'brainless' soft robot that can navigate more complex and dynamic environments.

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Synchronicity is all around us, but it is poorly understood. Computer scientists have now developed new tools to understand how human and natural networks fall in and out of sync.

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Researchers have pushed the limits of the possible in the field of atomic-scale spin-optics, creating a spin-optical laser from monolayer-integrated spin-valley microcavities without requiring magnetic fields or cryogenic temperatures.

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Scientists demonstrated a conceptual breakthrough by fabricating atomically precise quantum antidots using self-assembled single vacancies in a two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenide.

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Researchers have revealed an innovative approach to track individual molecule dynamics within nanofluidic structures, illuminating their response to molecules in ways never before possible.

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A soft ball designed to support mental health by 'personifying' breath has been invented by a computer science student.

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Optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy is an up-and-coming biomedical imaging technique for studying a broad range of diseases, such as cancer, diabetes and stroke. But its insufficient sensitivity has been a longstanding obstacle for its wider application. Recently, a research team developed a multi-spectral, super-low-dose photoacoustic microscopy system with a significant improvement in the system sensitivity limit, enabling new biomedical applications and clinical translation in the future.