Chemists create nanomachines by breaking them apart
"Every act of creation," Picasso famously noted, "is first an act of destruction."
"Every act of creation," Picasso famously noted, "is first an act of destruction."
Bio & Medicine
Feb 9, 2023
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(Phys.org) —Networks of nanometer-scale machines offer exciting potential applications in medicine, industry, environmental protection and defense, but until now there's been one very small problem: the limited capability ...
Nanophysics
Dec 12, 2013
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The body's nanomachines that read our genes don't run as smoothly as previously thought, according to a new study by University of California, Berkeley, scientists.
Biochemistry
Jul 30, 2009
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Bacteria are the most abundant form of life on Earth. The ocean is highly abundant with small particles and debris, some inert, some highly nutritious. But researchers want to know how bacteria differentiate between these ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jun 10, 2019
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Inside all of us are trillions of tiny molecular nanomachines that perform a variety of tasks necessary to keep us alive.
Nanomaterials
May 22, 2019
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94
In a recent study in mice, researchers found a way to deliver specific drugs to parts of the body that are exceptionally difficult to access. Their Y-shaped block catiomer (YBC) binds with certain therapeutic materials forming ...
Bio & Medicine
Apr 24, 2019
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131
Scientists from ITMO in collaboration with international colleagues have proposed new DNA-based nanomachines that can be used for gene therapy for cancer. This new invention can greatly contribute to more effective and selective ...
Bio & Medicine
Feb 8, 2019
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369
All machines convert one form of energy into another form—for example, a car engine turns the energy stored in fuel into kinetic energy. Those processes of energy conversion, described by thermodynamics, don't only take ...
Nanophysics
Sep 28, 2018
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Researchers from the University of Amsterdam have discovered that machines just one molecule in size move far quicker if you add a 'lubricant' to their surroundings. To their surprise, water proved to be the best lubricant ...
Materials Science
Sep 1, 2013
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Hybrid, multifunctional nanostructures with diverse 3D shapes and complex material composition can now be manufactured with a precise and efficient fabrication technique.
Nanomaterials
Aug 14, 2013
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Nanorobotics is the emerging technology field of creating machines or robots whose components are at or close to the microscopic scale of a nanometer (10−9 meters). More specifically, nanorobotics refers to the nanotechnology engineering discipline of designing and building nanorobots, with devices ranging in size from 0.1-10 micrometers and constructed of nanoscale or molecular components. The names nanobots, nanoids, nanites, nanomachines or nanomites have also been used to describe these devices currently under research and development.
Nanomachines are largely in the research-and-development phase, but some primitive molecular machines have been tested. An example is a sensor having a switch approximately 1.5 nanometers across, capable of counting specific molecules in a chemical sample. The first useful applications of nanomachines might be in medical technology, which could be used to identify and destroy cancer cells. Another potential application is the detection of toxic chemicals, and the measurement of their concentrations, in the environment. Recently, Rice University has demonstrated a single-molecule car developed by a chemical process and including buckyballs for wheels. It is actuated by controlling the environmental temperature and by positioning a scanning tunneling microscope tip.
Another definition is a robot that allows precision interactions with nanoscale objects, or can manipulate with nanoscale resolution. Such devices are more related to Microscopy or Scanning probe microscopy, instead of the description of nanorobots as molecular machine. Following the microscopy definition even a large apparatus such as an atomic force microscope can be considered a nanorobotic instrument when configured to perform nanomanipulation. For this perspective, macroscale robots or microrobots that can move with nanoscale precision can also be considered nanorobots.
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