Fluorescent Colloidal Nanomaterial Rapidly Internalized into Living Cells

2147509719_155x140Researchers have successfully incorporated colloidal nanoplatelets, a disc-like variation on spherical quantum dots, in a biological system. The new “lipoprotein nanoplatelets” were found to be rapidly internalized into living cells while retaining their fluorescence, making them uniquely valuable in live-cell imaging and labelling.  Read more at Materials 360 Online…

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Cambridge University: Moving closer to the ‘ultimate’ lithium-air battery

Tesla_Model_S-620x264.jpgResearchers from the University of Cambridge have demonstrated a lithium-air cell that is over 90% efficient.  Read more at Cleantech Concepts…

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MIT: Graphene filter to improve desalination efficiency

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California’s drought has led the state to accelerate the construction of desalination plants; however, reclaiming seawater is a prohibitively expensive and energy. Now, an MIT team has developed a novel graphene filter that could greatly improve the efficiency of the purification process.  Read more at Cleantech Concepts…

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Not Like the Others

vestaNASA’s Dawn mission to Ceres has provided an unexpected picture of asteroid formation. Read more in Physics Today…

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Simple Technique Produces Pure, High-Quality Nanodiamonds

nanodiamondNanodiamonds, or pure diamonds with a length scale less than a micrometer, are a materials scientist’s best friend in areas such as imaging, spintronics, and quantum computing. Now, researchers have overcome key challenges and developed a straightforward way of producing extremely small, stable, and pure nanodiamonds. Read more in Materials 360 Online…

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MRS Bulletin: Photonic Crystal Nanolasers

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‘Photonic-crystal nanolasers shown to be highly sensitive biosensors’ printed in Materials News section of January 2016 MRS Bulletin. Read more…

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Aviation in an Additive Age

Screen Shot 2016-01-06 at 08.22.03Assessing the role played by additive manufacturing in aircraft production.  Read more in Laser Systems Europe (print, pg 18-19) and online…

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Some Like it Hot: Simulating Single Particle Excitations

lbnlUnderstanding and manipulating plasmons is important for their potential use in photovoltaics, solar cell water splitting, and sunlight-induced fuel production from CO2. Now, for the first time, the interplay between the plasmon mode and the single particle excitation within a small metal cluster has been simulated directly. Read more at Berkeley Lab…my last press release written while full-time at LBNL (credit at bottom of article…embargo lifted after I left!)

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Photonic Crystal Nanolasers Shown to be Highly Sensitive Biosensors

m360_decMove over, ELISA. While the Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay has long been one of the most popular ways of detecting and quantifying the presence of antibodies or antigens in solution, nanolasers may be poised to share the spotlight on the biosensor stage. Read more at Materials 360 Online…

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Active Mud Volcano Field Discovered off Southeast Alaska

garygreeneA cruise to study landslide potential along an earthquake-prone fault found a surprising methane plume. Read more at Eos…

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