Medical use? Meh. I say it's about time we start the nerdiest breakdancing team of all time. [Duke via DailyTech]

Even more amazing is the fact that this mish-mash of nanowires has the look and feel of paper, but sucks up only oil, leaving every ounce of water behind. Based on that, you know what comes next, right? Water filtration, said Jing Kong, an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.And unlike most nanotechnology, the mesh is inexpensive to produce, since the nanowires can be fabricated in larger quantities than other nanomaterials. Great. Let's get huge sheets of this stuff manufactured and distributed to every oil rig, developing nation and tanker like, yesterday. [MIT News]

The study used a computer simulation only, not actual physical science. And we don't know whether or not these carbon spheres would necessarily damage the cells they inhabit.

But that's exactly the point, right? While the complete biochemical theories behind these processes is admittedly a bit beyond us, it really seems like while one group is high-fiving that we can deliver drugs directly into cells, another group says, "Shit, this stuff penetrates our cells!"

With such materials already available commercially, it really feels like we haven't done our homework on whether or not our fancy new toys will actually be poisoning our bodies in an irreversible way. Maybe we should take a few steps back before readily adopting even promising materials that we apparently know so little about. [DailyTech]

Silver has long been known to have antimicrobial powers, and with nanotech (and better hygiene) being all the rage, companies have added nanoparticle silver to everything from children's toys to washing machines. But as elements get smaller, the way they react to their environments change—and nobody's sure that itty bitty silver pieces aren't going to kill us all.

Studies have already shown that nano-silver is screwing with fishes and destroying benign bacteria at wastewater facilities. The legal petition asks the EPA to regulate nano-silver as a pesticide, insist on product labels, and analyze the potential human health effects (especially on children) before allowing nano-silver goods to be sold.

So unless you absolutely have no other way of keeping things clean and smell-free, lay off the nano-silver for now, mmkay? [ICTA via NY Times]

The process isn't perfect yet; in testing, only one pull in a hundred was able to reach 100,000 times the weight of the bacterium. If the scientists are able to improve the consistency, the days of molecular machines driven by gonorrhea could be near. However, this is still no excuse to spread your VD in the name of science, so take care of that already. [New Scientist via io9, song by Honest Bob and the Factory-to-Dealer Incentives]

Professor Zhong Lin Wang and team of the Georgia Institute of Technology coated kevlar strands with zinc oxide nanowires, protecting the bushy wires with a polymer and adding gold to other fibers to act as a conductor. The piezoelectric power-generating action comes when the nanowires bend as two fibers rub together, translating bending of the material into electricity which flows along the gold fibers.

Professor Wang says that across several square feet of fabric the nanowire fibers can generate power adding up to tens of milliwatts, which is not a huge amount, but is certainly enough for a dribble top-up charge for your portable devices.

With a little more power, the idea could be great in smart fabrics for consumers, or even for medical or military use, but it's clearly an invention in its infancy—as Wang notes, "What we've done is demonstrate the principle and the fundamental mechanism." For the time being it also has a fundamental flaw: it's not waterproof, and putting your smart clothes in the wash would dissolve the nanowires. [BBC News and Reuters]

Anatase titanium dioxide is applied as particles just five nanometers across, and acts as a photocatalyst to break down dirt and bacteria using sunlight. The non-toxic coating creates a layer so thin that the material's texture remains the same—ie, silk still feels like silk.

Dr Walid Daoud and team of Monash University, Australia, have demoed their invention by using it to attack a red wine stain on wool (as the photo shows: the top row is untreated wool, the middle row has a stain-treating agent and the bottom row the new nanotech coating.)

So far the coating bonds to wool and silk, so it's stain- and smell-busting powers are limited to wool-sock wearers and businessmen who have frequent egg-on-tie accidents. I'm waiting for the next-gen nanotech clothes that wash, iron and hang themselves. I reckon it's my scientific curiosity—my wife thinks it's just laziness. [The Telegraph]

A single carbon nanotube molecule serves simultaneously as all essential components of a radio — antenna, tunable band-pass filter, amplifier, and demodulator. Using carrier waves in the commercially relevant 40-400 MHz range and both frequency and amplitude modulation (FM and AM), we were able to demonstrate successful music and voice reception.

Zettl and his colleagues imagine that there will be many applications for the radio. It could be used in medical devices that swim through your body, responding to radio commands. Or it could be put inside tiny wireless devices. It could even be put inside a human ear, an idea which inevitably leads to visions of a dark future where people are implanted with radios and telephones that they can't ever turn off.

So how does it work? Essentially, the nano radio is a very tiny vacuum tube. According to a release about the invention:

The carbon nanotube radio consists of an individual carbon nanotube mounted to an electrode in close proximity to a counter-electrode, with a DC voltage source, such as from a battery or a solar cell array, connected to the electrodes for power. The applied DC bias creates a negative electrical charge on the tip of the nanotube, sensitizing it to oscillating electric fields. Both the electrodes and nanotube are contained in vacuum, in a geometrical configuration similar to that of a conventional vacuum tube.

Incoming radio waves cause the tube to vibrate. The tube itself can be "tuned" to respond to vibrations that match certain frequencies, or "channels" on the radio dial. This makes the UC Berkeley nanoradio slightly better than the UC Irvine nanoradio we talked about last week — that one was only a demodulator. (Can we have a fight between Irvine and Berkeley nano geeks please? That would rule.)

Of course, Zettl, Jensen and their lab buddies tested the nano radio by broadcasting the Beach Boys song "Good Vibrations." Says Zettle proudly, "The nanotube radio faithfully reproduced the audio signal, and the song was easily recognizable by ear." Image courtesy of Los Alamos National Lab. [Eurekalert]

As you see in the video, the bummer is that the teeny weeny radio still needs what looks like a AAA battery to power up. This doesn't have Rutherglen and his prof, Peter Burke, too upset. It's a breakthrough that will spread, as they explain in their research paper:

"Though we have only demonstrated the critical component of the entire radio system out of a nanotube (the demodulator), it is conceivable in the future that all components could be nanoscale, thus allowing a truly nanoscale wireless communications system."

Put together a swarm of thousands of these babies, teach them to communicate with one another, and you'll have a whole herd of sensors that can coordinate their movements, exploring planets, riding Martian winds and terrifying the neighbors. The scientists admit there are no censors small enough to fit into such grains of sand, and they're saying technology allowing this little trick might be coming along in the next few decades. How far-fetched is this, anyway?

This may not be that far from reality. A few years ago, Ray Kurzweil told us of smart dust swarms already being used for spying, so the idea of using them to explore other planets sounds like an even better idea. Maybe those techno-wizards could build puny little spaceships for the dust particles, much more efficient than today's cumbersome space probes. – Charlie White

'Smart dust' to explore planets [BBC]

The generator uses a clever technique of lining up zinc oxide nanowires inside of a special electrode, where those tiny filaments are sent into movement by forces such as ultrasonic waves, mechanical vibration, blood flow, or even movements such as walking. It doesn't sound like it's going to create a lot of electricity, but that'll be plenty of juice to power up cute little nanoscale robots, and even biosensors implanted in the human body.

But wait. These generators could be able to power so much more than that. You might even use this tech someday to power a cellphone. Really? Here's the best part:

Says Professor Zhong Lin Wang, one of the brains behind this mind-boggling breakthrough:

"If you had a device like this in your shoes when you walked, you would be able to generate your own small current to power small electronics. Anything that makes the nanowires move within the generator can be used for generating power. Very little force is required to move them."

Nanogenerator provides continuous power by harvesting energy from the environment [Physorg.com]

According to the manufacturer's tests, these Strom lures caught four times more fish than other lures. The manufacturer failed to mention that those competing lures were covered with dogshit. Anyway, the Strom lure will be available in two types, one that weighs 2.4g and another at 3.7g, and both go on sale online next month for $25. – Charlie White

Fishing with nanotech [Pink Tentacle]

Vivek Maheshwari and Ravi Saraf used nanotech to create a specialized electroluminescent film that glows when force is applied to it. Then, a special camera sees that light, turning it into data that gives a robot hand the machine equivalent of a sense of touch that's roughly as precise as human fingers.

This kind of tactile feedback is important if robot builders want to endow the machines with the ability to sense textures and hardness of objects, allowing them to manipulate delicate items and complex configurations with great precision. Now, when the robots decide it's time to begin to disobeying the Three Laws of Robotics, they'll be able to feel when they've broken every bone in our bodies.

Nanotech Sensors Afford Robots A Light Touch [Reuters, via 14U News]