michael11-Jun-2026
#Collagen, the human body’s most abundant #protein, is liquid-like inside #cells
New study overturns a 60-year-old assumption about the body's primary structural building block, opening new avenues for treating fibrosis and cancer.
10-Jun-2026
In a potential #nanoscale breakthrough, scientists at Brown reveal 80-atom #boron #buckyball
4-Jun-2026
One-Nanometer #nanotubes for future #electronics
Finely tuned 1nm #molybdenumdisulfide tubes expand nanotube #science beyond carbon
Nanometer nanotubes for future electronics
Researchers in Japan created some of the world’s smallest semiconducting nanotubes, structures 100,000 times thinner than a human hair. By growing molybdenum disulfide inside protective tubes of boron nitride, researchers, including those from the University of Tokyo, produced highly uniform tubes just 1 nanometer wide, a scale at which it’s difficult to make stable nanotube structures. The work confirms decades-old theoretical predictions about how these ultrafine materials behave and could also provide a new route toward miniaturized electronic devices.
5-Mar-2026
#Polymers that crawl like worms: How #materials can develop direction without being told where to go
New findings can help to better understand #DNA dynamics in living #cells
Polymers that crawl like worms: How materials can develop direction without being told where to go
Researchers at the University of Vienna have uncovered a surprising phenomenon: polymer chains with segments that simply fluctuate at different intensities can spontaneously develop directional, persistent motion when densely packed – even though nothing in the system points them in any particular direction. This "entropic tug of war," driven by fundamental physical constraints, could help explain how DNA organizes and moves inside living cells, and may lead to new materials. The study was currently published in Physical Review X.
18-Feb-2026
#SelfOrganization
of cell-sized #chiral rotating actin rings driven by a chiral #myosin
Researchers explore how actin filaments and a motor protein can spontaneously give rise to cell-sized structures
Self-organization of cell-sized chiral rotating actin rings driven by a chiral myosin
Understanding how microscopic interactions between proteins in cells produce large-scale organization and asymmetry is a fundamental question in cell biology. In a recent study, researchers from Japan investigated how actin and myosin create cell-scale structures using experimental setup. They found that Chara corallina myosin XI—a fast motor protein—drives actin filaments into large unidirectionally rotating rings. Their findings reveal physical principles of self-organization, inspiring new ways to design self-organizing biomimetic materials for biotechnological applications.
14-Jan-2026
Snowflakes just got #metal: Researchers discover emergence phenomenon in metal nanocrystals
Snowflakes just got metal: Researchers discover emergence phenomenon in metal nanocrystals
In a new study from Northern Arizona University, a group of researchers discovered that when fabricated gold, copper and iron nanocrystals clump together during a lightning-fast chemical reaction, they form pentagonal constructs that strongly resemble natural snowflakes, a phenomenon that holds incredible implications for the future of nanotechnology.
It's "plenty of room at the bottom" day. https://www.livescience.com/physics-mathematics/particle-physics/science-history-richard-feynman-gives-a-fun-little-lecture-and-dreams-up-an-entirely-new-field-of-physics-dec-29-1959 #nanoworld #science #nanotechnology #richardFeynman
Science history: Richard Feynman gives a fun little lecture — and dreams up an entirely new field of physics — Dec. 29, 1959
In a short talk at Caltech, physicist Richard Feynman laid out a vision of manipulating and controlling atoms at the tiniest scale. It would precede the field of nanotechnology by decades.
29-Oct-2025
#Malaria parasites are full of wildly spinning #iron #crystals. Scientists finally know why.
28-Oct-2025
#Molecules bend, properties change! #Nanographene transforms through oxidation
Structural changes and electronic properties of pyrrole-fused aza-nanographene revealed based on oxidation state
20-Oct-2025
Did marine life in the palaeocene use a #compass?
Based on a sophisticated method, an international team has succeeded in mapping #magnetic domains in giant fossilised magnetic #microparticles: these may have served as compasses for ancient organisms
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1102450
#science #nanoworld #evolution #astrobiology #magnetotactic #microbiology
Did marine life in the palaeocene use a compass?
Some ancient marine organisms produced mysterious magnetic particles of unusually large size, which can now be found as fossils in marine sediments. An international team has succeeded in mapping the magnetic domains on one of such ‘giant magnetofossils’ using a sophisticated method at the Diamond X-ray source. Their analysis shows that these particles could have allowed these organisms to sense tiny variations in both the direction and intensity of the Earth’s magnetic field, enabling them to geolocate themselves and navigate across the ocean. The method offers a powerful tool for magnetically testing whether putative biological iron oxide particles in Mars samples have a biogenic origin.