Nanotechnology refers to the capacity for the controllable manipulation of matter at the molecular and atomic levels toward the synthesis of unique materials, and for the creation of myriad useful devices and other products that exhibit extraordinary attributes with superior functionality. Nanotechnology is also fundamentally enabling; thus it will have strong potential to initiate significantly positive paradigm shifts across virtually every sector of society. The above said, we must be mindful as with any potentially very powerful technology, that stringent safeguards, testing standards, and comprehensive assessments of the physiological, biological, and environmental fates of the nanomaterials and processes involved, must be designed and implemented toward its development.
There are currently over 1,600 nanotechnology based consumer products already on the market. These range from the integration of nanoparticles into cosmetics and sunscreens (to enhance their appearance or performance) to spray on superhydrophobic treatments (which combine microscopic and nanometric bumps) based on the Lotus Effect whereby water droplets and any dirt always sit above the surface, meaning that the surface never actually gets wet. A clear illustration of this is provided the company NeverWet by who makes a spray on superhydrophobic treatment for textiles and other surfaces. Other nanotechnological applications are applied to the enhancement and texture of foods and the taste of beverages through the use of nanoscale colloids and emulsions.
One of the most significant and important facets of nanotechnology will likely be its application to medicine, or what is called nanomedicine. Progressively rapid and exciting advances within this discipline are occurring globally, which hold great promise for the initiation of positive paradigm shifts across multiple medical domains. There is a powerful and quickly increasing trend toward the emergence of more compact, minimally invasive, smarter, more precise, and efficacious medical technologies. Nanomedical diagnostics and therapeutics operate at the cellular, organellar, and molecular levels; precisely where many disease processes have their genesis, and from which they emanate. Hence, nanomedicine has strong potential for the accurate preemptive diagnoses and treatment of many diseases, prior to their having the opportunity to proliferate.
News
X Marks the Spot: AI’s Treasure Maps Lead to Early Disease Detection
Medical diagnostics expert, doctor’s assistant, and cartographer are all fair titles for an artificial intelligence model developed by researchers at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. Their new model accurately identifies tumors [...]
Scientists Discover Method To Identify Alzheimer’s Disease Before It Progresses to Dementia
Researchers at Aarhus University have discovered a method to identify Alzheimer’s disease before it progresses to dementia, potentially opening up new avenues for treatment. A groundbreaking study could pave the way for early detection [...]
Startling Discovery: COVID-19 Virus Can Stay in the Body More Than a Year After Infection
The COVID-19 virus can persist in the blood and tissue of patients for more than a year after the acute phase of the illness has ended, according to new research from UC San Francisco that offers potential [...]
New bioengineered protein design shows promise in fighting COVID-19
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists have been racing to develop effective treatments and preventatives against the virus. A recent scientific breakthrough has emerged from the work of researchers aiming to combat [...]
Sugar-coated gold nanoparticles can quickly eliminate bacterial infections, no antibiotics required
If left to their own devices, bacteria on our teeth or wounded skin can encase themselves in a slimy scaffolding, turning into what is called biofilm. These bacteria wreak havoc on our tissue and, [...]
Liquid Lightning: Nanotechnology Unlocks New Energy
EPFL researchers have discovered that nanoscale devices harnessing the hydroelectric effect can harvest electricity from the evaporation of fluids with higher ion concentrations than purified water, revealing a vast untapped energy potential. Evaporation is a natural [...]
Unmasking the Illusion: AI-Generated Faces Challenge Perceptions
Research shows survey participants duped by AI-generated images nearly 40 percent of the time. If you recently had trouble figuring out if an image of a person is real or generated through artificial intelligence [...]
New Discovery Reveals How Cells Defend Themselves During Stressful Situations
Stress granules play a crucial role in the stress response, arising from the aggregation of non-translating mRNAs and proteins. Although significant knowledge exists about stress granules, the mechanisms behind their mRNA localization remain partially [...]
Scientists use a new type of nanoparticle that can both deliver vaccines and act as an adjuvant
Many vaccines, including vaccines for hepatitis B and whooping cough, consist of fragments of viral or bacterial proteins. These vaccines often include other molecules called adjuvants, which help to boost the immune system's response [...]
Not Science Fiction: How Optical Neural Networks Are Revolutionizing AI
A novel architecture for optical neural networks utilizes wavefront shaping to precisely manipulate the travel of ultrashort pulses through multimode fibers, enabling nonlinear optical computation. Present-day artificial intelligence systems rely on billions of adjustable [...]
Turning skin cells into limb cells sets the stage for regenerative therapy
In a collaborative study, researchers from Kyushu University and Harvard Medical School have identified proteins that can turn or “reprogram” fibroblasts — the most commonly found cells in skin and connective tissue — into [...]
AI reveals prostate cancer is not just one disease
Artificial Intelligence has helped scientists reveal a new form of aggressive prostate cancer, which could revolutionise how the disease is diagnosed and treated in the future. A Cancer Research UK-funded study, published in Cell Genomics, has revealed [...]
New Study Finds That Persistent COVID-19 Infections Are Surprisingly Common
Recent research conducted by the University of Oxford has found that a high proportion of SARS-CoV-2 infections in the general population lead to persistent infections lasting a month or more. The findings have been published in the journal Nature. [...]
Innovative nanosheet method revolutionizes brain imaging for multi-scale and long-term studies
The human brain has billions of neurons. Working together, they enable higher-order brain functions such as cognition and complex behaviors. To study these higher-order brain functions, it is important to understand how neural activity [...]
Scientists Have Discovered a Potential Universal Antivenom
Scientists at Scripps Research identified antibodies that protect against a host of lethal snake venoms. Scripps Research scientists have developed an antibody that can block the effects of lethal toxins in the venoms of [...]
Scientists discover the human brain is even more powerful than we thought
The human brain could be far more powerful than we ever imagined, scientists have discovered. Researchers have identified cell messaging which have never been uncovered before, which suggests our brains are capable of more than previously realised. It’s [...]
Concerning – Bird Flu Has Evolved To Spread to Marine Mammals
A study from the University of California, Davis, and the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA) in Argentina reveals that the highly contagious H5N1 avian influenza virus has evolved to transmit among birds and marine mammals, presenting [...]
AI technique ‘decodes’ microscope images, overcoming fundamental limit
Atomic force microscopy, or AFM, is a widely used technique that can quantitatively map material surfaces in three dimensions, but its accuracy is limited by the size of the microscope's probe. A new AI [...]
Transforming Cancer Treatment: CRISPR Technology Unveils a New Path
New technology using CRISPR to enhance the immune system’s ability to detect cancer cells has been created, potentially paving the way for innovative cancer treatment methods. Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules are [...]
Scientists May Have Cracked the “Aging Process” in Species
A new study led by the University of Kansas might resolve a mystery in the “aging process” in species — or, how a species’ risk of going extinct changes after that species appears on the scene. For years, [...]
Scientists Solve Decades-Old Mystery of How Predatory Bacteria Recognizes Prey
A decades-old mystery of how natural antimicrobial predatory bacteria are able to recognize and kill other bacteria may have been solved, according to new research. In a study published in Nature Microbiology, researchers from the University [...]
A Sprinkle of Gold Dust Could Help Reverse Symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease
Scientists are investigating whether an oral drug sprinkled with gold nanoparticles could one day treat neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's and multiple sclerosis. The experimental medicine, called CNM-Au8, has now shown success in boosting the [...]
Scientists closer to finding quantum gravity theory after measuring gravity on microscopic level
Scientists are a step closer to unraveling the mysterious forces of the universe after working out how to measure gravity on a microscopic level. Experts have never fully understood how the force that was [...]
Nanoparticles Repair Lung Tissue Damaged From Flu or COVID-19
Recent research reveals a breakthrough in lung repair, showing how delivering VEGFA via lipid nanoparticles can significantly repair damaged blood vessels, akin to plumbing repairs. This method, validated in animal models, offers promising insights [...]
Evading Bacterial Resistance: Scientists Develop Groundbreaking New Antibiotic
Researchers from the University of Illinois Chicago and Harvard University have created an antibiotic that may provide medicine a new tool to combat bacteria resistant to drugs and the illnesses they trigger. The antibiotic, cresomycin, described in Science, effectively [...]
Elon Musk says first brain chip human can move a mouse around screen by thinking
Elon Musk has claimed the first human patient implanted with his wireless Neuralink brain chip can move a computer cursor ‘just by thinking’. ‘Progress is good, and the patient seems to have made a full recovery, [...]
Largest ever global study of COVID vaccines finds small but real link to neurological, blood, heart-related conditions
Vaccines that protect against severe illness, death and lingering long Covid symptoms from a coronavirus infection were linked to small increases in neurological, blood, and heart-related conditions in the largest global vaccine safety study to date. The rare [...]
Scientists Propose “Radically Different” New Way of Looking at Parkinson’s Disease
Scientists propose a new model for classifying Parkinson’s. The complexity of Parkinson’s disease poses significant challenges in developing effective treatments. This complexity stems from various causes, including genetics and environmental factors, coupled with the [...]
Nanomaterial with potential could be developed without risk to human health
A revolutionary nanomaterial with huge potential to tackle multiple global challenges could be developed further without acute risk to human health, research suggests. The study is published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. Carefully controlled inhalation of a [...]
Headaches, Memory Problems, and Fatigue – How COVID-19 Affects the Brain
Neurological symptoms are apparently not a result of SARS-CoV-2 infection of the brain. Scientists still are not sure how neurological symptoms arise in COVID-19. Is it because SARS-CoV-2 infects the brain? Or are these symptoms the result [...]