A team of experts at Queensland University of Technology have found that stained glass windows - the ones painted with gold - help purify the air when lit up with sunlight. People in medieval times were already using nanotechnology to produce colors with gold nanoparticles of different sizes. Numerous church windows across Europe were decorated with glass painted with gold nanoparticles. For centuries, people have appreciated the beautiful works of art, but little did they know that these windows also made the air cleaner!
The tiny gold particles would be energized by the sun and were able to destroy pollutants in the air. Sunlight enhances the magnetic field on the nanoparticles up to 100 times, which causes nearby pollutant molecules in the air to break apart. This process produces small amounts of carbon dioxide, which is safe and environmentally friendly. Since this technology is solar-powered, it opens a lot of exciting possibilities for scientific research in renewable energy!
Source: Air-purifying Church Windows Were Early Nanotechnology
Stained Glass Purifies Air
Volcanoes Spout Nanomaterials
Nanotechnology materials are hot hot hot - nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes, fullerenes, quantum dots are all in high demand - and chemical companies can barely keep up! Sooner or later, we will be running out of resources!
Researchers in Germany have found that the natural nanostructures found in lava rocks are also suitable for making nanomaterials. They are able to stick 1.05 grams of nanocarbons onto 0.2 grams of lava rock - which is amazingly efficient. Lava rocks may be the next big thing in nanotechnology!
Source: Nanotechnology production materials come flowing out of volcanoes
Adidas' Nanotech Shoe for the Beijing Olympics
Adidas worked with Olympic 400-meter runner Jeremy Wariner for over two years to create the revolutionary Adidas Lone Star spike - which features the first full-length carbon nanotube reinforced plate.
This plate is stronger and thinner and gives the runner more stability, comfort, safety, and flexibility. It also weighs 50% less than previous plates. With this new nanotechnology-enhanced shoe, Jeremy Wariner will be able to perform even better!
Source: Adidas' revolutionary nanotechnology shoe for Beijing Olympics
When Fido Goes Nano
Want to make sure your pet is experiencing top-of-the-line cutting-edge care?
Have no fear! A Connecticut-based company, Nano Pet Products, LLC, has expanded it's distribution of cleaner and healthier pet products worldwide and partnered with one of Canada's largest pet supply distributors, Anipet Animal Supplies Inc. The Dog Gone Smart (TM) products range from dog beds to crate pads to apparel are enhanced with NanoSphere (R) technology, which makes fabric resistant to stain, oil, and liquid. The technology also inhibit growth of odor-causing bacteria while leaving the natural flora of your pet's skin unaffected.
Source: Nano Pet Products, LLC Expands Distsribution Into Canada to Meet Increased Demand for Its Revolutionary Nanotechnology-Based Pet Products Dog Gone Smart
Armor of the Future -- Fish Scales?
Imagine living in a world with fearsome predators - large fearsome predators with sharp teeth, claws, and spiked tails! To survive, the Polypterus senagelus fish evolved special armor scales to protect itself during territorial fighting and feeding. Today, these fish can be found at the bottom of freshwater, muddy shallows and estuaries in Africa. The scales protect the quarrelsome fish from the bites of its fellow fish, as well as predators, and are the new hot topic in designing the armor of the future. U. S. researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have been studying the light, multilayered design of the Polypterus senegalus and have finally figured out how it works!
The scales are layered on top of each other so that the pressure of a crunching enemy bite is deflected. And when cracks do occur, they don't travel far! The clever design of the scales forces cracks to run in a circle instead of spreading throughout. This allows the puncture wound to be localized and kept to a minimum. Scientists and researchers hope to incorporate this clever design into lightweight and effective human armor systems.
Source: Fish scales may point to armor of the future
Sniffing things too small to see
You and I can smell things like pizza and chicken soup. But can you tell the difference between chicken soup with carrots and without carrots? How good is your sense of smell? -- Can you smell a termite? How about a bedbug?
Termites and bedbugs both release distinctive smells in the form of molecules that are released into the air. Normally, we wouldn't be able to smell this unless there was a major infestation. But dogs can!
At the University of Florida, researchers are training dogs to detect termites and bedbugs. Termites cause about $5 billion in damages every year in the U.S. and bedbug infestations have gone up 71% in the past 5 years. The dogs are trained using a combination of the U.S. Customs method and a food-reward system, and thus far, have an 96% accuracy rate with false positives of less than 3%.
Source: University of Florida
Image Source: Advanced K9 Detectives
Into the Jaws of a Sandworm
Nereis virens, commonly known as sandworms, have a set of fang-like jaws with remarkable mechanical properties. These worms may be small, but they have a strong jaw for grasping, piercing, and tearing prey. The jaw material is high in protein with little mineralization, but despite this, the hardness and stiffness properties in the jaw tip are comparable to human dentin -- which is pretty strong!
The material in the jaw tips of sandworms is even better than synthetic polymers. Though scientists have long studied the mechanical and structural properties of these jaws, the organic composition has previously been overlooked. Scientists are now interested in finding the organic composition and protein structures of the cutting edge of the Nereis jaw. They have found that zinc plays an important role in the mechanical properties of Nereis jaws, by binding to bundles of protein fibers rich in histidine (an important amino acid), and that removing the zinc decreases the hardness by over 65%.
By learning about these sandworm jaws, scientists hope to use this knowledge to design stronger and better materials.
Sources: Journal of Experimental Biology American Chemical Society
Beetle Fog-Catchers
How does a desert beetle living in the Namib Desert in southwest Africa survive in one of the hottest environments in the world? The only water there is available in the form of a morning fog, which travels rapidly across the desert only a few times each month. Zoologists at Oxford University have discovered regions of hydrophilic (water-loving) ridges and hydrophobic (water-avoiding) furrows on the back of the Stenocara beeetle. This pattern of hydrophilic and hydrophobic regions allows the fog to condense into droplets that run down into the beetle's mouth!
But how is this useful? In Chile's Atacama desert, fog nets are being used to harvest moisture. Today, scientists are mimicking the stenocara beetle to create man-made surfaces that can be used to make artificial fog nets and more effective de-humidifiers and distillation equipment.
Source: New Scientist American Chemical Society
Image Source: Squarecirclez
