Science

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Researchers advance technique to detect ovarian cancer: Rice, MD Anderson use fluorescent carbon nanotube probes to achieve first in vivo success

Researchers at Rice University and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have refined and, for the first time, run in vivo tests of a method that may allow nanotube-based probes to locate specific tumors in the body. Their ability to pinpoint tumors with submillimeter accuracy could eventually improve early detection and treatment of ovarian cancer.

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Rice University and MD Anderson researchers have developed a technique that uses fluorescent nanotube-based probes to locate specific tumors in the body.

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Going swimmingly: Biotemplates breakthrough paves way for cheaper nanobots: By using bacterial flagella as a template for silica, researchers have demonstrated an easier way to make propulsion systems for nanoscale swimming robots

A feature of science fiction stories for decades, nanorobot potential ranges from cancer diagnosis and drug delivery to tissue repair and more. A major hurdle to these endeavors, however, is finding a way to cheaply make a propulsion system for these devices. New developments may now propel nanoswimmers from science fiction to reality thanks to unexpected help from bacteria.

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Trajectory of a templated helical silica nanoswimmer manually controlled to move in an approximate figure-eight pattern; scale bar is 5 μm.

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MUSE Probes Uncharted Depths of Hubble Ultra Deep Field

Deepest ever spectroscopic survey completed

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Astronomers using the MUSE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope in Chile have conducted the deepest spectroscopic survey ever. They focused on the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, measuring distances and properties of 1600 very faint galaxies including 72 galaxies that have never been detected before, even by Hubble itself. This wealth of new information is giving astronomers insight into star formation in the early Universe, and allows them to study the motions and other properties of early galaxies — made possible by MUSE’s unique spectroscopic capabilities.

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A transistor of graphene nanoribbons: Breakthrough in Nanoelectronics

Graphene ribbons that are only a few atoms wide, so-called graphene nanoribbons, have special electrical properties that make them promising candidates for the nanoelectronics of the future: While graphene - a one atom thin, honeycomb-shaped carbon layer - is a conductive material, it can become a semiconductor in the form of nanoribbons. This means that it has a sufficiently large energy or band gap in which no electron states can exist: it can be turned on and off - and thus may become a key component of nanotransistors.

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The microscopic ribbons lie criss-crossed on the gold substrate.

http://www.nanotech-now.com/news.cgi?story_id=54860

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Drug-delivering nanoparticles seek and destroy elusive cancer stem cells

University of Illinois researchers are sending tiny drug-laden nanoparticles on a mission to seek and destroy cancer stem cells, the elusive and rare cells that can cause cancer to come back even when years have passed since the initial tumor was treated.

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Illinois researchers developed nanoparticles that can target cancer stem cells (yellow), the rare cells within a tumor (blue) that can cause cancer to recur or spread.

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NASA Builds its Next Mars Rover Mission

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his artist's rendition depicts NASA's Mars 2020 rover studying a Mars rock outrcrop. The mission will not only seek out and study an area likely to have been habitable in the distant past, but it will take the next, bold step in robotic exploration of the Red Planet by seeking signs of past microbial life itself.

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2017-305&rn=news.xml&rst=...

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Newly Discovered Twin Planets Could Solve Puffy Planet Mystery

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Upper left: Schematic of the K2-132 system on the main sequence. Lower left: Schematic of the K2-132 system now. The host star has become redder and larger, irradiating the planet more and thus causing it to expand. Sizes not to scale. Main panel: Gas giant planet K2-132b expands as its host star evolves into a red giant. The energy from the host star is transferred from the planet's surface to its deep interior, causing turbulence and deep mixing in the planetary atmosphere. The planet orbits its star every nine days and is located about 2000 light years away from us in the constellation Virgo.

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Graphene oxide making any material suitable to create biosensors: Scientists from Tomsk Polytechnic University have developed a new tool for biomedical research focused on single-cell investigation

PU scientist Raul Rodrigez and his colleagues from Lithuania and Germany were the first in the world to suggest how with the help of graphene oxide, in fact ordinary graphene as in pencils, but oxidized to make the surface of any material suitable for immobilization of living cells. Devices with such coatings will make it possible to detect and study individual living cells, including dangerous microorganisms, cancer cells and dangerous substances in the human body. In future, this technology will allow creating flexible diagnostic devices implanted under the skin.

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Single cell immobilization on GO modified substrates.

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A material with promising properties: Konstanz scientist synthesizes an important ferromagnetic semiconductor

The Collaborative Research Centre CRC 1214 at the University of Konstanz has developed a method for synthesising Europium (II) oxide nanoparticles - a ferromagnetic semiconductor that is relevant for data storage and data transport

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icture of a hybrid particle taken by a transmission electron microscope. Pictured are the inorganic (dark) and organic (light) lamellas that the particle is made of, as well as the tubular shapes (the low-contrast area in the middle). Through vaporisation with Europium, the hybrid stage can be transformed into pure EuO.

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Tiny robots step closer to treating hard-to-reach parts of the body

Tiny remotely operated robots could be designed to diagnose and treat illness in hard-to-reach areas of the human body, research suggests.

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Spirulina algae coated with magnetic particles to form a microrobot. Devices such as these could be developed to diagnose and treat illness in hard-to-reach parts of the body.

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