Nanoscale 'Fountain Pen' Draws Therapeutic Nanodiamonds

From PhyOrg.com:

A research team at Northwestern University has developed a tool that can precisely deliver tiny doses of drug-carrying nanomaterials to individual cells. The tool, called the nanofountain probe, functions in two different ways. In one mode, the probe acts like a fountain pen with drug-coated nanodiamonds serving as the ink, allowing researchers to create devices by “writing” with it. The second mode functions as a single-cell syringe, permitting direct injection of biomolecules or chemicals into individual cells. The research was led by Horacio Dante Espinosa, Ph.D., and Dean Ho, Ph.D., and the results appear in the journal Small.

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Could Maxwell's Demon Exist in Nanoscale Systems?

From PhysOrg.com:

Maxwell’s demon may be making a comeback. Physicists know that the demon, an imaginary creature that decreases the entropy of a system, cannot exist in macroscopic systems due to the energy it requires to perform its role. However, a recent study has shown that, on the nanoscale, Maxwell’s demon might be able to do its work with much less energy than previously thought due to tiny thermal fluctuations that occur in small systems

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Scientists invent 1.2nm molecular gear (A major advance)

This is a big deal (from PhyOrg.com:

Scientists from A*STAR's Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE), led by Professor Christian Joachim, have scored a breakthrough in nanotechnology by becoming the first in the world to invent a molecular gear of the size of 1.2nm whose rotation can be deliberately controlled. This achievement marks a radical shift in the scientific progress of molecular machines and is published in Nature Materials, one of the most prestigious journals in materials science.

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New exotic material could revolutionize electronics

From PhyOrg.com:

Move over, silicon—it may be time to give the Valley a new name. Physicists at the Department of Energy's (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University have confirmed the existence of a type of material that could one day provide dramatically faster, more efficient computer chips.

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IBM Scientists Directly Measure Charge States of Atoms Using an Atomic Force Microscope

From United Business Media's PR Newswire:

Nanoscience milestone opens up new possibilities in molecular electronics


ZURICH, June 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) scientists in collaboration with the University of Regensburg, Germany, and Utrecht University, Netherlands, for the first time demonstrated the ability to measure the charge state of individual atoms using noncontact atomic force microscopy.

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Physicists Put the Quantum Into Mechanics

From Science NOW:

Quantum mechanics and its bizarre rules explain the structure of atoms, the formation of chemical bonds, and the switching of transistors in microchips. Oddly, though, in spite of the theory's name, physicists have never made an actual machine whose motion captures the quirkiness of quantum mechanics. Now a group from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Boulder, Colorado, has taken a step in that direction by forging a mind-bending quantum connection between two mechanical widgets. Their devices don't look like electric drills or other familiar machines, however: Each is a pair of ions oscillating in an electric field, like two marbles joined by a spring.

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