Feb 23, 2023 (Nanowerk News) The shifting, scintillating pattern you can see when you stack two slightly misaligned window screens is called moiré. A similar interference effect occurs when scientists stack two-dimensional crystals with mismatched atomic spacings. Moiré superlattices display exotic physical properties that are absent in the layers that...
Researchers create E. coli-based water monitoring technology
Feb 23, 2023 (Nanowerk News) People often associate Escherichia coli with contaminated food, but E. coli has long been a workhorse in biotechnology. Scientists at the University of California, Irvine have demonstrated that the bacterium has further value as part of a system to detect heavy metal contamination in water....
Superhydrophobic biosensor could measure sweat vapors on the body
Feb 23, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Sweat contains biomarkers that help doctors make health diagnoses. Wearable sensors can be used to monitor a person’s perspiration rate and provide information about the skin, nervous system activity and underlying health conditions. But not all sweat is created equal, and some cannot be measured...
3D printing with bacteria-loaded ink produces bone-like composites
Feb 23, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Nature has an extraordinary knack for producing composite materials that are simultaneously light and strong, porous and rigid – like mollusk shells or bone. But producing such materials in a lab or factory – particularly using environmentally friendly materials and processes – is extremely challenging....
Technique creates greater fidelity in bioprinting functional human tissues (w/video)
Feb 23, 2023 (Nanowerk News) A team of researchers at the University of California San Diego has made significant advances in solving some of the most vexing challenges in bioprinting 3D-engineered tissues while meeting the key requirements of high cell density, high cell viability and fine fabrication resolution. The research...
Learning from mushrooms could help to replace plastics in new high-performance ultra-light materials
Feb 23, 2023 (Nanowerk News) A research group from VTT Technical Research Center of Finland has unlocked the secret behind the extraordinary mechanical properties and ultra-light weight of certain fungi. The complex architectural design of mushrooms could be mimicked and used to create new materials to replace plastics. The research...
Simultaneous electricity generation and filteration of wastewater
Feb 23, 2023 (Nanowerk News) The purification of various water resources, such as rain, seawater, groundwater, river water, sewage, and wastewater, into potable or usable water is a high-energy process. So, what if electricity could be generated during the water purification process? A research team has developed a multifunctional membrane...
Nanomaterial boosts potency of coronavirus disinfectants
Feb 22, 2023 (Nanowerk News) The use of peroxide-based disinfectants has grown with the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic. Yet, the extensive use of chemical disinfectants to kill viruses and other pathogens can also threaten human health and ecosystems. Now, a research team led by the George Washington University has...
A new model offers an explanation for the huge variety of sizes of DNA in nature
Feb 22, 2023 (Nanowerk News) A new model developed at Tel Aviv University offers a possible solution to the scientific question of why neutral sequences, sometimes referred to as "junk DNA", are not eliminated from the genome of living creatures in nature and continue to exist within it even millions...
Galaxies ‘too big to even exist’ discovered using James Webb Space Telescope
Feb 22, 2023 (Nanowerk News) An international team, led by a Swinburne University of Technology researcher, has discovered the seemingly impossible. Using the powerful James Webb Space Telescope, they have observed massive candidate galaxies at the beginning of time, up to 100 billion times the mass of the Sun which,...