From the ‘It’s ok to be smart’ video series.
Joe Hanson, Ph.D. is a curious group of atoms in a curious universe, and he’s here to tell you how it all works. We officially live in the future, and everyone should know that it’s okay to be smart!
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Recent News
Biopharma Creates New Generation LNPs In A Run For A More Efficient COVID-19 Vaccine
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for fast-produced and adaptable vaccines that could be equally distributed around the world. Developing an efficient mRNA vaccine that is effective, thermostable, and [...]
Researchers Assess How Well Machine Learning Predicts Nanotoxicology
Engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) have found their applications in various technologies and consumer products. Manipulating chemicals at the nanoscale range introduces unique characteristics to these materials and makes them desirable [...]
Smart nanoparticle shows that intermittent fasting may protect the heart from damage during chemotherapy
Although chemotherapy can be a lifesaving treatment for patients with cancer, some of these medications can damage the heart. A team led by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) [...]
From nasal vaccines to pills: the next defences against Covid
When the autumn booster programme begins next month, many people are likely to receive Moderna’s new bivalent vaccine, designed to protect against the original Covid strain and the more transmissible [...]
Novel design for nanoparticles that train immune cells into fighting cancer
Scientists of the department of Advanced Organ Bioengineering and Therapeutics (TechMed Centre) recently published a novel cancer immune therapy in the scientific journal Nature Communications ("Cancer immune therapy using engineered ‛tail-flipping’ [...]
Smart contact lenses for cancer diagnostics and screening
Scientists from the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation (TIBI) have developed a contact lens that can capture and detect exosomes, nanometer-sized vesicles found in bodily secretions which have the [...]
Novel Nanoplatform Found Effective Against Esophageal Cancer
Among the total number of deaths caused by different types of cancer, esophageal cancer is the sixth most significant. Several conventional treatments, such as radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and surgery have [...]
Stem Cell Membrane-Coated Nanoparticles in Tumor Therapy
Cell membrane-coated nanoparticles, applied in targeted drug delivery strategies, combine the intrinsic advantages of synthetic nanoparticles and cell membranes. Although stem cell-based delivery systems were highlighted for their targeting [...]
The TB Vaccine Mysteriously Protects Against Lots of Things. Now We Know Why
When babies in the African countries of Guinea Bissau and Uganda were given the tuberculosis vaccine, something remarkable happened. Instead of the vaccine only protecting against the target bacteria – Myocbacterium tuberculosis – the tuberculosis vaccine [...]
Extinct Pathogens Ushered The Fall of Ancient Civilizations, Scientists Say
Thousands of years ago, across the Eastern Mediterranean, multiple Bronze Age civilizations took a distinct turn for the worse at around the same time. The Old Kingdom of Egypt and the Akkadian [...]
The Origins of Covid-19 Are More Complicated Than Once Thought
IN OCTOBER 2014, virologist Edward Holmes took a tour of the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, a once relatively overlooked city of about 11 million people in the central Chinese province [...]
Self-Healable, Human-Like Artificial Skin
Self-healable ionic sensing materials with fatigue resistance are imperative in robotics and soft electronics for extended service life. The existing artificial ionic skins with self-healing capacity were prepared by [...]
Nanoparticles increase light scattering, boost solar cell performance
As demand for solar energy rises around the world, scientists are working to improve the performance of solar devices—important if the technology is to compete with traditional fuels. But [...]
Scientists Use Shrimp Shell Nanoparticles to Strengthen Cement
When shrimp shell nanoparticles were mixed into cement paste, the material became substantially stronger — researchers propose an innovation that could lead to less seafood waste and fewer carbon [...]
Does This Video Show A Nanobot Inseminating Egg With “Lazy” Sperm?
A black-and-white video shared on social media showed a microscopic corkscrew-shaped helix as it appeared to consume a sperm, transport it, and ultimately lead the little swimmer [...]
Study Could Help Reduce Environmental Risk of Quantum Dots
Polymers containing quantum dots (QDs) are considered crucial components of next-generation consumer items, but ambiguity remains regarding how these compounds may negatively affect public health and the environment. A pre-proof [...]
New nanocomposite copper coating could be the next superbug fighter
A new copper coating that kills bacteria quicker and in greater amounts than current formulations could soon be available for hospitals and other high-traffic facilities. Although current formulations made [...]
Vaccinating against cancer? A new class of nanoparticle vaccines developed
A vaccination as tumor therapy - with a vaccine individually created from a patient's tissue sample that " attaches" the body's own immune system to cancer cells: the basis [...]
New Insight Into Nanoassemblies for Specific Cancer Therapy
Although retinoic acid (RA) can induce cell death, its weak anticancer efficacy limits its clinical applications. To this end, stimulus-responsive self-assembling prodrug-based nanomedicines are promising candidates that enable controlled [...]
Affordable Sources of Commercial Graphene for Energy Applications
Graphene is a multifunctional carbon nanomaterial widely synthesized for its applications in composites, energy storage, and sensors. Although previous reviews mentioned that achieving an increased yield compromises graphene quality, [...]
Centaurus: what we know about the new COVID variant and why there’s no cause for alarm
A new COVID variant has recently been detected in several countries including the UK, US, India, Australia and Germany. Called BA.2.75, it’s a subvariant of omicron. You might have also [...]
First-of-its-kind sprayable multiscale coating to shield surfaces from viruses, bacteria
A first-of-its-kind sprayable coating that can prevent the surface spread of infection from bacteria and viruses - including COVID-19 - over a sustained period –– has been developed by [...]
Let’s call monkeypox what it is: A pandemic
Eric Feigl-Ding is an epidemiologist and co-founder of the World Health Network. Kavita Patel is a physician and former director of policy for the White House Office of [...]
Stretchable Sensor Successful in Environmental and Respiratory Monitoring
The precise, continuous monitoring of pollutants such as nitrogen oxides (NOx) in high humidity is a tough challenge for low-cost and stretchable gas sensors. A recent article published in Microsystems & Nanoengineering describes [...]
Carbon Nanotube Biosensors Help Detect Alzheimer’s Disease
Although blood-biomarker-based tests help in the early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, the low abundance of blood protein biomarkers related to Alzheimer’s disease and the complexity of the human serum [...]
New Metrological Technique Uses Stress for Nanotomography
Researchers from Skoltech and their colleagues in Russia and Spain have reported a proof-of-concept demonstration of a new radiation-safe method for mapping the internal structure and stress distribution in [...]
Light-Driven Neutrophils May be Used as Medical Microrobots
Using lasers to precisely control white blood cells in living fish, researchers have demonstrated that some of the body’s native cells can be “remotely controlled” to accomplish a variety [...]
Nanofluidics Sharpens Mass Spectrometry’s Sensitivity to Ultrasmall Samples
Single-cell level protein analysis utilizing mass spectrometry (MS) with picolitre sample volumes needs sensitivity in the range of zeptomole to attomole. An article published recently in the journal Analytical Chemistry discussed [...]
Nano Pom-Poms: A New Method to Detect Cancer Biomarkers
Nanosized extracellular vesicle (EV) exosomes serve as reliable biomarker sources. However, cancer biomarker identification through exosome multi-omic molecular information mapping is challenging due to heterogeneous populations of exosomes derived [...]
Nanoparticles can save historic buildings
Many historical buildings were built of limestone, such as Vienna's St. Stephen's Cathedral. Limestone is easy to work with, but does not withstand weathering well. It consists mainly of [...]
Genetically Engineered, Sound-Controlled Bacteria That Seek and Destroy Cancer Cells
Since its inception, chemotherapy has proven to be a valuable tool in treating many kinds of cancers, but it has a significant drawback. In addition to killing cancer cells, [...]
Nanoparticle ‘backpacks’ restore damaged stem cells
Within a newborn's umbilical cord lie potentially life-saving stem cells that can be used to fight diseases like lymphoma and leukemia. That is why many new parents elect to [...]
Removing Antibiotics from Wastewater with Nano-Bioadsorbents
An article recently published in the journal Scientific Reports discussed the removal of azithromycin (Azr) antibiotic from contaminated wastewater using hematite nanoparticles (α-HNPs), which were biofabricated from a perennial medicinal herb, [...]
Bioengineered Nanocomposites for Control of Rice Crop Disease
The bacterial strain Xanthomonas oryzae pv.oryzae (Xoo), which causes bacterial leaf blight (BLB) infection, significantly impacts rice yield. Nano-enabled techniques have lately gained popularity as a long-term framework for improving crop [...]
Physicists see electron whirlpools for the first time
Though they are discrete particles, water molecules flow collectively as liquids, producing streams, waves, whirlpools, and other classic fluid phenomena. Not so with electricity. While an electric current is [...]
Nanotherapeutic Technologies to Target Common Brain Cancer
Glioblastoma (GBM) is a malignant brain cancer in adults with a median survival period of 15 months from the point of diagnosis. Residual tumor cells that remain beyond the [...]
New screening technique could accelerate and improve mRNA therapies
Therapeutics based on messenger RNA, or mRNA, can potentially treat a wide range of maladies, including cancer, genetic diseases, and as the world has learned in recent years, deadly [...]
The Current State of Nanotechnology in Europe
Nanotechnologies – technologies that work with matter on the nanoscale of size between 0.1 nm and 100 nm – have proven potential for impact in advanced fields, including materials, [...]
Samsung Is First to Start Mass Production of 3-Nanometer Chips
Samsung Electronics Co. kicked off mass production of 3-nanometer chips that are more powerful and efficient than predecessors, beating rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. to a key milestone in the race to [...]
SARS-CoV-2 virus undertakes a massive takeover of the body’s fat-processing system
The virus that causes COVID-19 undertakes a massive takeover of the body's fat-processing system, creating cellular storehouses of fat that empower the virus to hijack the body's molecular machinery [...]
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