Tiny Nanomotors Successfully Placed Inside Live Human Cells For The First Time

Scientists have successfully placed tiny synthetic motors in live human cells through nanotechnology. Using ultrasonic waves as the power source and magnets to steer, the nanomotors can zip around the cell and perform tasks.

The main obstacle for placing nanomotors in cells is the power source. Previous nanomotors needed toxic fuels to propel them. It wouldn't move in a biological environment.

The researchers at Penn State University and at Weinberg Medical Physics found that ultrasonic waves can be used to power these motors and that magnetic fields can be used to steer them.

The image above is that of a HeLa cell with some gold-ruthenium nanomotors inside it. The arrows indicate the trajectories of the nanomotors, and the solid white line shows its propulsion. There are several nanomotors is spinning at the center. HeLa cells are a line of human cervical cancer cells that are used in research studies. Image credit: Mallouk lab, Penn State University.

Bionanotechnology is fast becoming popular in medical and scientific research. Implants and devices hundreds of times smaller than the width of a human hair, can be integrated into cells. This technology can open up various medical applications such as surgery, deliver medication, and even eradicate cancer cells. Because of its microscopic size, bionanotech devices are non-invasive and results in fewer complications normal open surgery would have.

New Method May Lead to Hydrogel Based Soft Robots

North Carolina State University researchers have developed a method that creates devices from hydrogel, a water based poylmer material. The resulting device can be patterned, folded and used to manipulate objects. The research paper, "Reversible Patterning and Actuation of Hydrogels By Electrically Assisted Ionoprinting," is published in the online journal Nature Communications.

Hydrogels are polymers that are highly absorbent that can shrink and expand depending on outside conditions like humidity, pH levels, and temperature. Consumer products use hydrogels in contact lenses for its flexibility, baby diapers for its absorbency, and also in adhesives. Hydrogels are most known for its use as a drug delivery system. Hydrogel based capsules are a popular fixture in pharmacies around the world.

Previously, hydrogels were developed to react a certain way given certain specific conditions. But with the recent discovery, devices can now be developed that can be actively controlled in real time rather than being just reactive. By being able to control the structure and movement of hydrogel, researchers can create devices for use not only for biomedical purposes but also in the field of robotics.

These new devices can be used in the production of soft robots. Soft robots are robots that combine organic chemistry, soft materials science and robotics. These are different from industrial robots in that instead of using gears and motors for movement, soft robots use other means such as chemical reactions or compressed air to move. Soft robots are also made of other materials like rubber and silicon.

The RoboBee - Tiny Flying Robot Developed and Inspired By Biology and Insects

Engineers at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences have developed a tiny robot insect, the size of a penny, that has the ability of controlled flight. The RoboBee, as it is called, weighs around 80 milligrams and has a wingspan of 3 centimeters.

The RoboBees project as it is called aims to develop technologies that can open up advances in robotics, nanoscience and micromanufacturing. One of the goals of the project is to see how to build smaller power sources or batteries as well as designing efficient control systems.

The RoboBee has the ability of controlled flight and can even hover around an area and move laterally in any direction. It is inspired by the biological structure of a fly with submillimeter-scale anatomy and two wafer-thin wings. The wings beat at 120 times a second making the wings invisible to the eye when flapping. Another aspect of the RoboBee is the materials it is made up of; plastic, lightweight carbon fiber and ceramic.

The project is still in its early stages but engineers are now looking into further evolving the technology enabling the tiny robot insects to move autonomously, be self-powered, and have tiny computer brains.

With the combination of biology, design engineering, materials engineering, and computer technology, the RoboBee can be used in the future for various applications such as search and rescue, environmental monitoring, and even be used in crop pollination. It can also lead into the development of other tiny robots that can be used in other fields such as in medicine and exploration.

Science of Terradynamics Opens up Possibility of Developing Walking Robots on Mars

Terradynamic researchers are developing small legged robots that someday may be used in scouting missions regardless of the surface. These robots are perfect for use in scouting missions as well as in exploration in environments such as Mars.

For years, robots have been imagined to be human like. Most science fiction movies have even featured androids; robots that resemble humans. But one big hurdle is the development of legs.

Most robots used now use wheels to move on surfaces. Having "legs" to travel allows robots to travers difficult surfaces such as sandy environments. Sand can clog up wheel mechanisms and hinder movement.

By developing other ways for robots to move around may develop more applications that are now limited because of factors such as sandy environments.

Nanogel Based Therapy For Treatment of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Nanogels are nano sized particles made up of very absorbent, gelatinous polymers (chemical compounds consisting of repeating structural units) called hydrogels. Nanogels are very small and has pores that can filled with molecules.

These properties make nanogels ideal for medical applications such as a drug delivery or drug containment system. These nanogels can be engineered to break open or rupture to certain environmental or chemical conditions. Controlling where, when, and how much of a drug is to be released results in a more effective and targeted drug delivery.

Recently, scientists are developing nanogels as a delivery system to treat patients suffering from Lupus, an autoimmune disorder that may affect the skin, joints, kidneys, brain, and other organs.

Stretchable Lithium Ion Battery Developed For Use In Implantable Electronic Biodevices

A lithium ion battery that can be stretched, bent, and twisted has been developed. These batteries can be used in implantable biological devices where size and shape of current batteries would be an issue in its performance and application.

Lithium ion batteries are the most popular type of batteries used for electronic devices. Li-ion batteries can be comprised of smaller units called cells.

Electrical current reaches the cells by conductive surfaces usually made up of aluminum on one side and copper on the other side. The battery is made up of a positive and negative electrode called the cathode and the anode.

The positive electrode (cathode) is made of lithium metal oxide. On the other side of the battery lies the negative electrode (anode) and is made up of graphite.

In the middle of the cathode and anode is the electrolyte. This allows the lithium ions carrying the electrical charge to flow freely from the anode to the cathode. It also allows transport of ions from the cathode to the anode during the charging process.

Li-ion batteries are popular because of their proven track record in long battery life and battery performance due to their energy density slow loss of charge when not in use.

Starbucks and City University of Hong Kong Collaborate On Biorefinery Project

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Disclaimer: Quantum Day does not endorse or promote Starbucks and holds no relationship with its commercial suppliers or distributors. The report is based on research presented to The American Chemical Society.
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The School of Energy and Environment at the City University of Hong Kong has recently started collaborating with coffee retailer giant 'Starbucks Hong Kong'. The partnership, which was facilitated by the NGO the Climate Group, will focus on the valorisation of spent coffee grounds and unconsumed bakeries via bio-processing. The collaboration is based on a support scheme and part of the "Care for our Planet" campaign: for every set of Care For Our Planet Cookies Charity Set sold, Starbucks will donate HK$8 to the School of Energy and Environment of City University of Hong Kong to support research on valorisation of food waste for sustainable production of chemicals and materials.

The aim of the research is to valorise the disposed coffee grounds and unconsumed bakeries to bio-plastics and detergents ingredients, facilitating the development of biomass use in Hong Kong and reduce the release of greenhouse gases and other air pollutants into the atmosphere.

The Hong Kong Starbucks project will focus on the use of acidic hydrolysis of non pre-treated spent coffee grounds and bakery waste, followed by fungal solid state fermentation for breaking down the carbohydrate into simple sugars for the subsequent succinic acid fermentation. One of the critical issues to be solved is to overcome the inhibitory compounds which affect the growth of Actinobacillus succinogenes, which is a facultative anaerobic bacterium used in the fermentative production of succinic acid.

This research was presented at a meeting of the American Chemical Society.

New biorefinery finds treasure in Starbucks' spent coffee grounds and stale bakery goods

With 1.3 billion tons of food trashed, dumped in landfills and otherwise wasted around the world every year, scientists today described development and successful laboratory testing of a new "biorefinery" intended to change food waste into a key ingredient for making plastics, laundry detergents and scores of other everyday products.

Their report on a project launched in cooperation with the Starbucks restaurant chain - concerned with sustainability and seeking a use for spent coffee grounds and stale bakery goods - came at the 244th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society. Thousands of scientists and others are here this week for the meeting of the world's largest scientific society, which features almost 8,600 reports on new discoveries in science.

"Our new process addresses the food waste problem by turning Starbucks' trash into treasure — detergent ingredients and bio-plastics that can be incorporated into other useful products," said Carol S. K. Lin, Ph.D., who led the research team. "The strategy reduces the environmental burden of food waste, produces a potential income from this waste and is a sustainable solution."

High Tech Smart Surgical Gloves With Sensors and Circuits Through Nanotechnology

These regular surgical gloves may one day be replaced with high tech smart gloves that can aid in healing

According to The Institute of Physics, Nanotechnology encompasses the understanding of the fundamental physics, chemistry, biology and technology of nanometre-scale objects.

Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter and objects on an atomic and molecular scale. These materials measure from one to one hundred nanometers. One nanometer is equal to one billionth, or 10⁻⁹, of a meter. Nanotechnology is a key technology for the future and governments have invested billions of dollars in its future.

A nanobiodevice is technology gained from applying nanotechnology and biology. It is a is a piece of contrivance, equipment, machine, or component used for biological, medical, and clinical purposes. The terms bionanotechnology nanobiotechnology and nanobiology refer to the same technology. During the past decade, nanobiodevice has progressively begun to focus on the establishment of main four fields of biomedical applications of nanotechnology, including

• Diagnostic Devices
• Molecular Imaging
• Regenerative Medicine
• Drug Delivery Systems.

Now, researchers are looking at applying this technology to other items such as surgical gloves to enhance and expand its use in medical procedures.

The power to heal at the tips of your fingers

The intricate properties of the fingertips have been mimicked and recreated using semiconductor devices in what researchers hope will lead to the development of advanced surgical gloves.

The devices, shown to be capable of responding with high precision to the stresses and strains associated with touch and finger movement, are a step towards the creation of surgical gloves for use in medical procedures such as local ablations and ultrasound scans.

Researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Northwestern University and Dalian University of Technology have published their study today, Friday 10 August, in IOP Publishing's journal Nanotechnology.

Coconut Oil (Lauric Acid) Treatment of Acne With Bio Nanotechnology

Scientists and researchers have been busy finding the best treatment for acne.

Acne is a skin condition that causes pimples or "zits." These are spots that results from excess oil getting trapped in the skin pores which results in blockages, infection and build up of bacteria.

Recent studies have shown thyme as an effective treatment as well as a combined therapy of Epiduo Gel and Doxycycline. Another promising drug that is both natural and inexpensive is lauric acid found in coconut milk.

Lauric Acid

Lauric acid is a saturated fatty acid, specifically a medium chain fatty acid because of its 12 carbon atom chain. It is mainly found in coconut oil, laurel oil, and in palm kernel oil, comprising more than 50% of the fatty acid content in these oils.

Lauric acid is a white, powdery solid with a faint odor of bay oil or soap. It can also be found in human breast milk, cow's milk, and goat's milk. It has antiviral, antimicrobial, antiprotozoal and antifungal properties when present in the hyman body.

Because of these properties, lauric acid is being studied as a possible new acne treatment. Common acne (acne vulgaris) afflicts around than 85 percent of teenagers and over 40 million people in the United States, including adults.

Treating Acne with Coconut Oil

Current acne treatments have unwanted side effcts that include redness and burning. Because of the inherent properties of lauric acid, these could be avoided. University of California San Diego are researching coconut oil treatments for acne.

Graduate student Dissaya "Nu" Pornpattananangkul, who performs this research in the Nanomaterials and Nanomedicine Laboratory of UC San Diego NanoEngineering professor Liangfang Zhang from the Jacobs School of Engineering, says "It's a good feeling to know that I have a chance to develop a drug that could help people with acne,"

MIT News: Nanoparticle Coating Help Hip And Knee Implant Last Longer

Hydroxyapatite nanoparticles are incorporated
 into multilayer coatings for faster bone tissue growth.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Every year, more than a million Americans receive an artificial hip or knee prosthesis. Such implants are designed to last many years, but in about 17 percent of patients who receive a total joint replacement, the implant eventually loosens and has to be replaced early, which can cause dangerous complications for elderly patients.

To help minimize these burdensome operations, a team of MIT chemical engineers has developed a new coating for implants that could help them better adhere to the patient’s bone, preventing premature failure.

“This would allow the implant to last much longer, to its natural lifetime, with lower risk of failure or infection,” says Paula Hammond, the David H. Koch Professor in Engineering at MIT and senior author of a paper on the work appearing in the journal Advanced Materials.

The coating, which induces the body’s own cells to produce bone that fixes the implant in place, could also be used to help heal fractures and to improve dental implants, according to Hammond and lead author Nisarg Shah, a graduate student in Hammond’s lab.

An alternative to bone cement

Artificial hips consist of a metal ball on a stem, connecting the pelvis and femur. The ball rotates within a plastic cup attached to the inside of the hip socket. Similarly, artificial knees consist of plates and a stem that enable movement of the femur and tibia. To secure the implant, surgeons use bone cement, a polymer that resembles glass when hardened. In some cases, this cement ends up cracking and the implant detaches from the bone, causing chronic pain and loss of mobility for the patient.

Gasoline from Algae

Phil Savage and a team of engineers at the University of Michigan are at the forefront of a new study. Growing gasoline; Oil manufactured by algae.

Oil from algae. That's the future energy source we may be looking at. And hey, it's as green as it can get. Even the algae are literally green!

Using treated sewage as a source for their nutrients, these algae can grow real fast. The reason? They are very efficient in converting sunlight into biomass.

PhD student Bobby Levine says, "Typically, in America, we make biodiesel out of soybeans and we get something on the order of 50 gallons of biodiesel per acre per year from soy. With algae, the estimates range very widely, but you can get anywhere from between 1,000 to 5,000 gallons of bio-oil per acre per year."

The oilfield of the future will be a farm. And Savage's process is two times more efficient than present technology in algae oil production.

He elaborates, "We use more of what's there. You know, with the biodiesel process, people are excited if they have an algae that's 50 percent oil, but then right away they're only using 50 percent of the mass, of the biomass. With our approach, we’d like to be able to liquefy, you know, 100 percent..."

Video: Biofuel by the University of Missouri Systems:

In order to achieve this is similar to how crude oil is converted to usable fuel. The algae after being "treated" in a hot sand bath, is brought to a so called refinery. In this case, another laboratory. Here, researchers are creating molecules or catalysts that will rearrange the structure of the algae in a way that they will resemble fuel that can be used in a combustible engine. And to add to it, they try to squeeze every last drop of fuel they can get.

Study reporter Lisa Raffensperger says, "They’ll be genetically modifying microbes like E. coli to digest the waste. Ideally, the waste will also be converted into useful fuel. It’s just one more way to “close the loop,” as these researchers say. To minimize energy input and reduce carbon emissions..."

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