https://phys.org/nanotech-news/ en-us Nanotechnology. The latest news on nanoscience, nanoelectronics, science and technology. Updated Daily. Bubbles are round, and we know surface tension does that. But squeeze that gas-liquid boundary into a space only a few tens of nanometers wide—could other forces be at work? https://phys.org/news/2026-08-scientists-nanoscale-evidence-electric-fields.html Nanophysics Tue, 18 Aug 2026 16:00:10 EDT news706272301 Red blood cells serve as the foundation for nanocarriers that show promise in a new study as effective and efficient vehicles for gene therapy, tumor targeting and other medical treatments. Scientists at The Ohio State University have showed that the engineered extracellular vesicles could evade immune cells and target cancer cells, two capabilities that could improve the delivery of future therapies. The study is published in Advanced Healthcare Materials. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-red-blood-cells-generation-therapeutic.html Bio & Medicine Mon, 17 Aug 2026 19:00:01 EDT news706192142 Children and seniors who have difficulty chewing and swallowing conventional tablets may have an easier way to find pain relief. Cornell researchers have developed an ultrafast-dissolving nanofiber film that can deliver a cocktail of three drugs so quickly and effectively that 90% of the formulation is released in less than two seconds. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-nanofiber-pain-drugs-seconds.html Bio & Medicine Mon, 17 Aug 2026 15:40:03 EDT news706188302 Alzheimer's disease is a neurodegenerative brain disorder characterized by progressive memory loss and a decline in other mental functions. Past studies have consistently linked this disorder to the accumulation of the protein amyloid-β (Aβ) between brain cells, ultimately resulting in the formation of so-called amyloid plaques. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-gold-nanoclusters-alzheimer-amyloid-plaques.html Bio & Medicine Mon, 17 Aug 2026 10:00:01 EDT news706177996 A research team led by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory has developed a new material that combines inorganic material with biological components to produce hydrogen peroxide more efficiently. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-layered-nano-biohybrid-sunlight-air.html Bio & Medicine Thu, 13 Aug 2026 19:20:02 EDT news705851881 Understanding how ions diffuse in solid materials is essential for technologies including batteries, electronics and chemical catalysts, but it has been hard for a simple reason: the materials are solids. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-tracer-exchange-reveals-ions-battery.html Nanophysics Thu, 13 Aug 2026 18:40:03 EDT news705850816 A vaccine's molecular structure plays a key role in determining how the immune system responds and prepares to protect the body from future exposure to a specific pathogen. To develop a vaccine that offers long-term protection from HIV, it's essential to promote a long-lasting immune response in which immune cells and antibodies prepared to combat the virus persist within the body. This has inspired scientists to find ways to alter vaccine structure to increase the duration and persistence of the immune response. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-fine-tune-molecular-vaccines-immune.html Bio & Medicine Thu, 13 Aug 2026 17:10:02 EDT news705858421 An international research team including Alexander Korsunsky from the Skoltech Engineering Center has, for the first time, directly measured mechanical stresses at the contact between a diamond indenter and a complex nanostructured coating at a resolution of less than 80 nanometers. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-multilayer-nanocoatings-dissipate-energy-nanoscale.html Nanophysics Thu, 13 Aug 2026 14:20:03 EDT news705848755 From smartphones to data centers, modern electronics rely on billions of tiny switches that consume electricity every time they turn on or off. As global demand for computing continues to grow, so does the energy required to power it. Scientists are therefore searching for alternatives that can perform the same tasks while using far less energy. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-magnetic-path-power.html Nanophysics Thu, 13 Aug 2026 10:00:04 EDT news705831481 The tiny bones in your fingers withstand countless taps and swipes thanks to a precise blend of materials. Flexible collagen fibers form the framework, reinforced by hard calcium phosphate hydroxyapatite crystals. This is just one of countless examples in which living organisms weave organic materials directly into inorganic crystals with exquisite precision. In a recent study published in Nature Communications, scientists attempted to recreate such precise spatial arrangements in biomimetic composite materials. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-protein-nanoparticles-crystals-enabling.html Bio & Medicine Thu, 13 Aug 2026 06:40:02 EDT news705724225 Venous malformations are abnormally shaped veins that develop when the cells lining blood vessels grow too fast when they aren't supposed to. Children can be born with them, and as the child grows, the venous malformations can get bigger. Venous malformations are a type of vascular malformation that can range from small and superficial to disfiguring, debilitating or even life-threatening. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-drug-nanoparticles-venous-malformations-mice.html Bio & Medicine Wed, 12 Aug 2026 19:20:01 EDT news705763561 MXenes are two-dimensional materials made of very thin layers of metals, measured on the atomic scale. They conduct electricity well and have surfaces that can easily interact with other materials, making them excellent candidates for advanced electronic devices, computers and aerospace coatings. The only problem is that, until a recent innovation by James Tour's lab at Rice University, building them required a lengthy, acid-filled process called liquid-phase chemical etching. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ultrafast-joule-significantly-mxene.html Nanomaterials Wed, 12 Aug 2026 18:30:04 EDT news705773701 Rice University researchers have shown that tiny wrinkles in graphene can change the material's electrical properties, providing evidence for flexoelectricity, a phenomenon in which a material generates an electric charge when it bends unevenly. The findings are published in Advanced Materials. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-graphene-nanowrinkles-reshape-electricity-future.html Nanophysics Wed, 12 Aug 2026 18:10:01 EDT news705773341 The use of nanoparticles in drug delivery offers key advantages: they can enable targeted drug delivery, protect active ingredients from premature degradation, extend their duration of action in the body and reduce side effects. However, as soon as nanoparticles come into contact with blood, proteins from the blood adsorb onto their surface—forming a so-called protein corona. This corona influences whether the particles are taken up by cells, how they distribute in the body or whether the immune system recognizes and attacks them. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-nanoparticles-bloodstream.html Bio & Medicine Wed, 12 Aug 2026 11:40:01 EDT news705746401 What if scientists could get a taste of discovery as soon as their experiment finishes? Thanks to a new machine learning tool called DONUT, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory are transforming how experiments are run at the Advanced Photon Source (APS), a DOE Office of Science user facility. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-real-ray-analysis-donut-materials.html Nanophysics Tue, 11 Aug 2026 19:20:01 EDT news705682545 Transporting molecules across biological membranes is essential for life. In nature, this can occur through passive transport, known as diffusion. "Biological systems often use mechanical motion to accomplish tasks that cannot be achieved by diffusion alone," says Professor Laura Na Liu, director of the 2nd Physics Institute at the University of Stuttgart. For example, certain bacteria use extracellular contractile injection systems. These molecular nanomachines puncture target cells and deliver molecular cargo. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-dna-origami-nanosyringe-molecules-synthetic.html Bio & Medicine Tue, 11 Aug 2026 14:00:01 EDT news705666602 A joint research team—led by professor Young Seok Cho from the School of Medicine, alongside professor James J. Moon from the University of Michigan—has developed the world's first oral, microbiome-based nanomedicine. By leveraging natural metabolites produced by gut bacteria, the new drug significantly enhances immune cells' ability to attack cancer cells. The study was published in Nature Nanotechnology. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-oral-nanomedicine-cancer-immunotherapy-harnessing.html Bio & Medicine Tue, 11 Aug 2026 11:40:03 EDT news705663844 Recent technological advances have enabled the development of increasingly sophisticated, sharper displays for electronic devices. Many modern displays use light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, tiny semiconductor-based components that emit light when an electrical current passes through them. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-technique-quantum-dots-tiny-pixels.html Nanophysics Sun, 09 Aug 2026 15:20:01 EDT news705314764 By rapidly twisting a microscopically small tip back and forth, researchers at the University of Maryland (UMD) have unlocked a new way to detect subtle changes on the surface of a material flexing in response to infrared light. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-high-res-view-2d-materials.html Nanomaterials Fri, 07 Aug 2026 18:00:03 EDT news705327588 Magnetic storage technologies, which store information in the direction of magnetization, play an essential role in modern data storage. Hard disk drives (HDDs) are widely used for long-term storage, while nonvolatile magnetic random-access memory (MRAM) is emerging as a promising alternative to flash memory. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-50c-ultrathin-magnetic-stays-flat.html Nanomaterials Fri, 07 Aug 2026 12:40:07 EDT news705316862 Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and SciLifeLab have developed a new method to analyze the condition of immune cells in the blood. The method has been tested on patients with atherosclerosis and can distinguish their immune cells from those of healthy individuals. The study is published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-fluorescent-nanosensors-distinguish-healthy-diseased.html Bio & Medicine Thu, 06 Aug 2026 13:40:04 EDT news705235081 The explosion of new data centers being proposed and built around the U.S. has increased demand for energy to keep them powered and cooled. The Electric Power Research Institute estimates that data centers could consume up to 9% of U.S. electricity generation annually by 2030, up from 4% of total load in 2023. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-carbon-nanostructure-fuel-cell-catalyst.html Nanomaterials Thu, 06 Aug 2026 13:20:07 EDT news705234001 One of the hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease is the accumulation of a peptide in the brain known as amyloid beta. A new study published in Nature Communications on July 22 has uncovered the atomic structure of the peptide in its harmful form. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-atomic-view-alzheimer-disease-peptide.html Bio & Medicine Thu, 06 Aug 2026 12:00:03 EDT news705230402 Glioblastoma is the most aggressive form of brain cancer. It's difficult to treat because tumor cells infiltrate the surrounding brain tissue, making it hard for surgeons to remove the cancer completely without damaging healthy tissue. Treatment is further complicated by the blood-brain barrier, which limits how well drugs and radiation therapy reach the brain. All these factors contribute to a five-year survival rate of only around 7%. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-nanoparticles-surgeons-destroy-brain-cancer.html Bio & Medicine Thu, 06 Aug 2026 11:20:03 EDT news705229622 Nanoscience, which studies small objects, has a big problem. According to a team of scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the field confronts a pervasive data analysis error that can give misleading insights into how these tiny objects' properties depend on their size. The team also offers a practical solution—a mathematical correction that can reveal how these materials truly behave. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-sizing-errors-true-nanoparticle-behavior.html Nanomaterials Thu, 06 Aug 2026 03:00:02 EDT news705141061 Researchers created an electrically tunable quantum nanoscale corral that traps charged excitons and enables precise electrical control of tiny light sources, including their brightness, color and quantum states, the team, led by Boston College physicists, reports today in Nature Nanotechnology. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-electrostatic-nanocorral-excitons-quantum.html Nanophysics Wed, 05 Aug 2026 17:40:03 EDT news705160321 For decades, scientists have accepted that the immune system naturally weakens with age. Georgia Tech biomedical engineer and Carl Ring Family Professor Ankur Singh wasn't convinced. Then the COVID-19 pandemic made the stakes impossible to ignore. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-nanowires-key-functions-aging-cells.html Bio & Medicine Wed, 05 Aug 2026 17:30:02 EDT news705168721 Researchers at the University of Bayreuth, together with colleagues from Freie Universität Berlin and the Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden, have developed a synthetic fiber system inspired by the cellular cytoskeleton that protects itself through controlled bundling. The findings open up new avenues for smart, switchable materials whose properties can be deliberately altered in response to a specific stimulus. The research is published in the journal Advanced Materials. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-cell-synthetic-fibers-reveal-reversible.html Nanophysics Wed, 05 Aug 2026 12:40:01 EDT news705148801 Researchers at the 4th Physics Institute of the University of Stuttgart and the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) in Milan have demonstrated a new mechanism for directing light in a naturally hyperbolic van der Waals material without conventional nanofabricated waveguides. The discovery opens new possibilities for integrated photonics, on-chip optical communication and future quantum technologies. The paper is published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-nano-optics-mechanism-channeling-natural.html Nanophysics Tue, 04 Aug 2026 14:40:03 EDT news705065941 Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory have demonstrated a new quantum-dot mechanism that could significantly expand the reach of light-driven chemistry. By introducing magnetic manganese dopants into semiconductor quantum dots, the team created an ultrafast spin-exchange pathway that captures hot-electron energy before it is lost as heat and uses it to drive chemical reduction. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-magnetic-dopants-quantum-dots-chemical.html Nanophysics Tue, 04 Aug 2026 09:40:03 EDT news705054241