Science

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A spoonful of sugar in silver nanoparticles to regulate their toxicity

The use of colloidal silver to treat illnesses has become more popular in recent years, but its ingestion, prohibited in countries like the US, can be harmful to health. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute in Germany have now confirmed that silver nanoparticles are significantly toxic when they penetrate cells, although the number of toxic radicals they generate can vary by coating them with carbohydrates.

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This is a microscope image of a cell with silver nanoparticles with green fluorescence and red-stained nucleus.

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Laser-generated surface structures create extremely water-repellent metals: Super-hydrophobic properties could lead to applications in solar panels, sanitation and as rust-free metals

Scientists at the University of Rochester have used lasers to transform metals into extremely water repellent, or super-hydrophobic, materials without the need for temporary coatings.

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Professor Chunlei Guo has developed a technique that uses lasers to render materials hydrophobic, illustrated in this image of a water droplet bouncing off a treated sample.

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Hydrogels deliver on blood-vessel growth: Rice researchers introduce improved injectable scaffold to promote healing

Rice University scientists have found the balance necessary to aid healing with high-tech hydrogel.

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A microscopic image shows the extensive infiltration of robust blood vessels (red) in a new hydrogel scaffold developed at Rice University to help the healing of internal injuries. The purple cells are pericyte-like cells that surround new endothelial cells, helping to stabilize the vessels. The green cells are circulating through the new vascular system.

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Magnetic Nanosorbents Able to Eliminate Chemical Contaminants

Iranian researchers from Shahid Beheshti University succeeded in the production of a nanosorbent that can separate high percentages of contaminants in natural samples.

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Nanotechnology Used to Produce Ceramic Membrane with High Thermal Stability

Iranian researchers used nanotechnology to produce a new type of ceramic membrane with high thermal stability.

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Solving an Organic Semiconductor Mystery

Berkeley Lab Researchers Uncover Hidden Structures in Domain Interfaces That Hamper Performance

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Sketch of organic semiconductor thin film shows that the interfacial region between larger domains (blue and green) consists of randomly oriented small, nano-crystalline domains (purple).

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Nanoparticles for clean drinking water

One way of removing harmful nitrate from drinking water is to catalyse its conversion to nitrogen. This process suffers from the drawback that it often produces ammonia. By using palladium nanoparticles as a catalyst, and by carefully controlling their size, this drawback can be partially eliminated. It was research conducted by Yingnan Zhao of the University of Twente's MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology that led to this discovery.

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Nanoparticles Able to Eliminate Pathogen Bacteria Biofilm

Iranian researchers from Kerman University of Medical Sciences studied the effect of nanoparticles on bacterial biofilms to find new methods for the treatment of bacteria infectious diseases.

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NASA, NOAA Find 2014 Warmest Year in Modern Record

The year 2014 ranks as Earth’s warmest since 1880, according to two separate analyses by NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientists.

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Solving an organic semiconductor mystery: Berkeley Lab researchers uncover hidden structures in domain interfaces that hamper performance

Organic semiconductors are prized for light emitting diodes (LEDs), field effect transistors (FETs) and photovoltaic cells. As they can be printed from solution, they provide a highly scalable, cost-effective alternative to silicon-based devices. Uneven performances, however, have been a persistent problem. Scientists have known that the performance issues originate in the domain interfaces within organic semiconductor thin films, but have not known the cause. This mystery now appears to have been solved.

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Sketch of organic semiconductor thin film shows that the interfacial region between larger domains (blue and green) consists of randomly oriented small, nano-crystalline domains (purple).