Electrically controlled DNA robot arm is 100,000 times faster – millisecond moves enable molecular factories

Scientists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have developed a novel electric propulsion technology for nanorobots. It allows molecular machines to move a hundred thousand times faster than with the biochemical processes used to date. This makes nanobots fast enough to do assembly line work in molecular factories. The DNA nanobot is shaped like …

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Lawrence Livermore unlocks 3D printing to smaller than 150 nanometer features

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers have discovered novel ways to extend the capabilities of two-photon lithography (TPL), a high-resolution 3D printing technique capable of producing nanoscale features smaller than one-hundredth the width of a human hair. The findings unleashes the potential for X-ray computed tomography (CT) to analyze stress or defects noninvasively in embedded …

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Progress to human cell sized transforming robots made from atomically thin paper

Microscale machines – equipped with electronic, photonic and chemical payloads – could become a powerful platform for robotics at the size scale of biological microorganisms. * prototypes three times larger than a red blood cell have been made * they are working on the microscale actuator muscles Above – Graphene-glass bimorphs can be used to …

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Ion beam controlled to etch single silicon atom depth

Like sandblasting at the nanometer scale, focused beams of ions ablate hard materials to form intricate three-dimensional patterns. The beams can create tiny features in the lateral dimensions—length and width, but to create the next generation of nanometer-scale devices, the energetic ions must precisely control the features in the vertical dimension—depth. Now, researchers at the …

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Nanometrically sized superelastic alloy

The Department of Physics of the UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country researchers have explored superelasticity properties on a nanometric scale based on shearing an alloy’s pillars down to nanometric size. The researchers have found that below one micron in diameter the material behaves differently and requires much higher stress for it to be deformed. This …

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Graphene Lid Revitalizes Photoemission electron microscopy Imaging technique

capping liquids with graphene, an ultrathin sheet of pure carbon, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and their colleagues have revitalized and extended a powerful technique to image surfaces. The graphene lids enable researchers for the first time to easily and inexpensively image and analyze liquid interfaces and the surface of …

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Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor remain confident of scaling CMOS to 3 nanometers and maybe beyond

Intel remains confident about scaling CMOS and extending Moore’s law beyond 2024 Someday we may reach a physical limit. But Intel does not see that point on their horizon. 1990, when the features on the wafer were the same size as the wavelength of the light we used to print them: 193 nm. Physics was …

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RRAM/PCM-Based Brain-Gates

An international team from Milan Polytechnic, Italy and Micron, Boise Idaho provided an update on the their work using RRAMs for unsupervised learning. Unsupervised learning is the ability to learn and recognize random patterns. Supervised learning would be learning the images of say traffic lights and hand writing. The team offered solutions for spike-time dependent …

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Less nuclear energy has meant higher costs, less clean energy overall and more deaths

Michael Shellenberger explains how less nuclear energy has meant higher costs and less clean energy overall. * USA has shutdown nuclear plants prematurely because of lower natural gas costs * this has increased emissions of CO2 and air pollution * Overall energy costs have increased in the USA which correlate with lower nuclear energy mix …

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US soldiers will get improved grenade in 2020 and 35% lighter body armor

The Army‘s Top modernization programs in 2016 range from a new hand grenade designed to be easier for lefthanders to throw to hydrogen-powered vehicles Improvements soldiers can look forward to include: * Enhanced Tactical Multi-Purpose (ET-MP) grenade. Engineers at Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey are developing an “ambidextrous” Enhanced Tactical Multi-Purpose (ET-MP) grenade that can …

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Mastery of Xylan and Cellulose will enable stronger glues for wooden skyscrapers

Molecules 10,000 times narrower than the width of a human hair could hold the key to making possible wooden skyscrapers and more energy-efficient paper production. The two most common large molecules – or ‘polymers’ – found on Earth are cellulose and xylan, both of which are found in the cell walls of materials such as …

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