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Nanosecrets of Everyday Things

Posted by michael on from the attention-to-detail dept.

prostoalex writes "A recent issue of Berkeley Lab Research Review discusses the nanosecrets of everyday things. The article talks about common everyday applications of nanotechnology advances, as well as takes a look at tools used to manipulate itty-bitty widgets."

5 of 90 comments (clear)

  1. Great Field by N3WBI3 · · Score: 1, Interesting
    This is one of the coolest field of studies to date. and the applications are nearly endless, from fuel cells, to devices to help build bone in older people.

    I never got very far here, I went much more twords digitial circuit vlsi than materials but from what I do know is once they find a way to beat/get around the quantum behavior of electrons you will see a parade of innovations here.

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  2. Blob? by YanceyAI · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Often these transmission electron microscope images have a "bubble-raft" appearance, in which ordered arrays of little round blobs encounter other arrays oriented differently. Each blob represents a column of atoms; seen from a different angle, the spacing and orientation of the columns gives a different picture, although at some angles the atoms are too close together to resolve. (Emphasis mine)

    Is that the super-technical scientific use of the word blob, or do they just mean, you know, blob?

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  3. Resolution ... by jetlag11235 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Perhaps I am missing something here, but on the second page, it says: "NCEM's One-Ångstrom Microscope (OÅM) has achieved the country's highest resolution-better than 0.8 angstrom" Then, three paragraphs later, they are suddenly locating columns of silicon atoms with 1/100 angstrom precision. Does this imply that there is some mechanical resolution in the microscope at the 1/100 angstrom level? Is this possible?

  4. the slippery slope of scientific serials. by budalite · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Reading this what-probably-is-a-very-informative article reminds me of the very interesting-looking articles in Scientific American. The first page and about a half of each article is very readable and understandable. Then, all of a sudden, like a Harold LLoyd character (the guy hanging from the way-high-up clock face) stepping from a 3" mudpuddle into a 7' mudpuddle, I find myself so far in over my head so fast that I read another half page before I even realize I have no clue what the fsck I have reading. Like the chicken running around after it has been relieved of its head (another childhood image I will never get out of my head. :P ), I have been reading just because my eyes are still moving. My brain disengaged paragraphs earlier. Whew. I want to be able to understand this sort of stuff in my next life, if there is such a thing... Go, team!

  5. Gray goo by halftrack · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Not all foresee nanotech as something good. Just take a look at this page where some half nutty, half sensible people want to build lifeboats/arks in space so that they can escape from the 'gray goo.'

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