another blood sucker

Tape, glue, staples.  No not a variation on rock, paper, scissors, this is the way that doctors hold things in place in your body.  Inspired by those fun loving parasites that attach in your digestive organs and hold on while they eat, scientists at Brigham Women's Hospital have engineered tiny needles based upon the way that parasites attach to the intestines.  The needles swell when they are exposed to water and then hold on.  This approach is 3-5 times better than surgical tape and could be used to attach patches that deliver different medicines.  Ouch, it might hurt to remove it though




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Does it come in different colors?

Science even when it is serious is kind of funny.  Looking at things on the nanometer-scale is a problem and requires very powerful microscopes.  Some of these microscopes that use electrons instead of light are able to see very small things but also usually kill anything that it 'sees'.  Basically the electron beam dries out the cells and leaves those critters dead.  Scientists at the Japan Science and Technology Agency have devised a clever solution---coat the living thing that you want to see in a polymer suit.  These nanosuits are made of a polymer and some detergent but it is flexible and protects the critter while it is being zapped with electrons. Because the nanosuit is polymerized right on the critter, it is a nice custom fit. Oh and does it come in colors?  of course not because at the nanometer-scale there is no color.


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Suck it up

Sometimes it is rocket science and other times it isn't.  How to get rid of toxic stuff in the blood?  Suck it up using nanosponges.  Scientists at the University of California in San Diego have made tiny sponges---so small about 3000 can fit into a blood cell.  These nanosponges suck up molecules that are toxic because they form pores membranes.  Bacteria like E. coli and Staphylococcus produce these toxin and disease like toxic shock syndrome.  A bit too soon to get a nanosponge treatment but the idea is exciting.
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For flying fleas to far off galaxies

Smaller is better, if you are a nanotechnologist.  So the challenge is to make things smaller and smaller.  Sometimes it is useful, other times it is for fun.  Like the smallest American flag, or the smallest space ship!  Right a space ship.  One printed using a high resolution 3D printer.  Scientists at the University of Austria have used a 3D printer to make a tiny space ship (and a tiny race car) using a lithographic printing technique that builds things up on a layer by layer basis.  The space ship was about 100,000 nanometers or about the width of a hair.  It took only 50 seconds to make.  Does it fly? Not on its own but it is still cool to see.
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Lighter than a butterfly

Nanotechnology is all about making unique useful materials.  Now the worlds lightest material has been recorded.  According to these scientists the material a carbon aerogel, if it were the size of a human body it would be less than 0.5 ounces.   So light a glob of it can dance on the tip of a flower!  Being lightweight isn't always great but it is if the material is strong and durable.  This carbon aerogel stuff can also absorb 900 times its weight in liquid.  How is it made?  The process is more or less the freeze drying of carbon nanotubes and graphene. 




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