Science

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Tiny Biomolecular Tweezers Facilitate Study of Mechanical Force Effects on Cells and Proteins

A new type of biomolecular tweezers could help researchers study how mechanical forces affect the biochemical activity of cells and proteins. The devices - too small to see without a micro-scope - use opposing magnetic and electrophoretic forces to precisely stretch the cells and molecules, holding them in position so that the activity of receptors and other biochemical activ-ity can be studied. Arrays of the tweezers could be combined to study multiple molecules and cells simultaneously, providing a high throughput capability for assessing the effects of mechani-cal forces on a broad scale.

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Conceptual design of MAP-nDEP tweezers. a) Schematic of chip layout: Circu-lar magnetic nickel pads (blue) were flanked by interdigitated gold electrodes (red). b) Paramagnetic beads were introduced to chip surface by microfluidics and loaded onto the magnetic pads by magnetic manipulation, facilitating the formation of bead-surface tethers via antibody-antigen interactions. c) Interac-tions probed by application of sufficient nDEP force to displace non-specifically bound beads, but not specifi cally bound beads. d) Microfabrication process.

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Nanosheets and nanowires

Researchers in China, [J. Appl. Cryst. (2014). 47, 527-531] have found a convenient way to selectively prepare germanium sulfide nanostructures, including nanosheets and nanowires, that are more active than their bulk counterparts and could open the way to lower cost and safer optoelectronics, solar energy conversion and faster computer circuitry.

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This is a typical TEM image of as-prepared GeS nanowires with the inset showing a selected area electron diffraction pattern taken from GeS nanowires.

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Carbon nanotubes grow in combustion flames

Professor Stephan Irle of the Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules (WPI-ITbM) at Nagoya University and co-workers at Kyoto University, Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL), and Chinese research institutions have revealed through theoretical simulations that the molecular mechanism of carbon nanotube (CNT) growth and hydrocarbon combustion actually share many similarities. In studies using acetylene molecules (ethyne; C2H2, a molecule containing a triple bond between two carbon atoms) as feedstock, the ethynyl radical (C2H), a highly reactive molecular intermediate was found to play an important role in both processes forming CNTs and soot, which are two distinctively different structures.

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This is a carbon nanotube growth.

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NASA Releases Images of X-class Solar Flare

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Extreme ultraviolet light streams out of an X-class solar flare as seen in this image captured on March 29, 2014, by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. This image blends two wavelengths of light: 304 and 171 Angstroms, which help scientists observe the lower levels of the sun's atmosphere.

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Satellite Shows High Productivity from U.S. Corn Belt

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The magnitude of fluorescence portrayed in this visualization prompted researchers to take a closer look at the productivity of the U.S. Corn Belt. The glow represents fluorescence measured from land plants in early July, over a period from 2007 to 2011.

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Nano-paper filter removes viruses

Nanotechnology and Functional Materials, Uppsala University have developed a paper filter, which can remove virus particles with the efficiency matching that of the best industrial virus filters. The paper filter consists of 100 percent high purity cellulose nanofibers, directly derived from nature.

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The illustration shows the nanofibers in white and the virus in green.

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Heat-conducting polymer cools hot electronic devices at 200 degrees C

Polymer materials are usually thermal insulators. But by harnessing an electropolymerization process to produce aligned arrays of polymer nanofibers, researchers have developed a thermal interface material able to conduct heat 20 times better than the original polymer. The modified material can reliably operate at temperatures of up to 200 degrees Celsius.

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This scanning electron microscope image shows vertical polythiophene nanofiber arrays grown on a metal substrate. The arrays contained either solid fibers or hollow tubes, depending on the diameter of the pores used to grow them.

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Spitzer Sees the Galactic Dawn with 'Frontier Fields'

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Research Clarifies Health Costs of Air Pollution from Agriculture

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The map shows increase in annual mean surface concentration of particulate matter resulting from ammonia emissions associated with food export. Populated states in the Northeast and Great Lakes region, where particulate matter formation is promoted by upwind ammonia sources, carry most of the cost.

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Scientists solve riddle of celestial archaeology

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Artist’s impression of debris around a white dwarf star.