The Nanotech BC Blog: Tougher Armor through Carbon Nanotubes

I suppose that it's inevitable that one of the first showcases for new technology is weapons. It's slightly more comforting to see that some of the new materials nanotechnology is enabling are meant to protect lives instead of kill them.

The BBC news has a good article on how carbon nanotubes are being used to create "future fibres" for use within body armor.

"Our fibre is up there with the existing high performance bibres such as Kevlar", said Professor Windle. But he added: "We've seen bits that are much better than Kevlar in all respects."

The article also has a good section explaining the process of making the super-strong material. They've convinced me that what there producing has a lot of promise, but there are a few conspicuous and unanswered questions: How much does it cost to produce, and how scalable is the manufacturing process?

The Nanotech BC Blog: Coming Soon to a Fruit Fly Larvae Near You

The intersection of nanotechnology and biology are attracting a lot of interest for many good reasons. On the one hand nanotech seems to promise new ways of curing disease and promoting health. On the other, nobody seems very sure of the extent that nanoparticles or nanotubes are harmful.

Now the brave fruit fly looks like it's about to find out:

Nanotubes Imaged In Fruit Fly Larvae

Using near-infrared fluorescence imaging, scientists at Rice University have managed to sneak a peek at single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) inside the bodies of living fruit fly larvae (Nano Lett. 2007, 7, 2650). It's the first time anyone has observed carbon nanotubes inside a living creature, according to principal investigators Kathleen M. Beckingham and R. Bruce Weisman, who think the technique could be useful for diagnosing diseases. The Rice team first fed Drosophila melanogaster larvae a steady diet of water-solubilized SWNTs. The researchers then used a near-infrared microscope and special camera to image SWNTs without harming the larvae. Neither the adult flies' viability nor their growth was reduced by ingesting the tubes. They also found that a small fraction—approximately 10^-8—of the ingested nanotubes were incorporated into the flies' organs, which suggests that SWNTs may have a negligible physiological impact on the insects.

Personally, I'm not planning on ordering a nanotube cocktail any time too soon no mater how much the flies liked it -- but the lack of damage to the larvae seems like a hopeful sign. Nanoparticles are part of the environment every time you burn a candle, but there is a strong possibility that the type and amount of nanomaterials we will all be exposed to will change.

The Nanotech BC Blog: Very Tiny Needles

What can't carbon nanotubes do? Now scientists at the University of California at Berkeley have been able to use them to inject quantum dots into living cells.

With a diameter of just one nanometer, you're not likely to see a carbon nanotube injector at your local clinic anytime soon, but they do seem poised to play a key role in cell biology research and gene delivery. Yet another example of nanotech as enabling technology paving the way for further advances to come.

The Nanotech BC Blog: Learning from Geckos

Not only is Mother Nature inventive, she's had a very long time to add to her tool box. A case in point is the humble gecko -- able to scamper up walls and hang upside-down on ceilings thanks to the tiny fibers on its feet.

Now nanotechnology is about to let us do the same thing by using carbon nanotubes to develop tape based on the same principle that makes a gecko's feet sticky -- but with four times the adhesive power. Ars Technica and PHYSORG.com report on the cutting edge of stickiness.

Better tape might seem prosaic, but it will be advances like gecko-tape that bring nanotechnology into the mainstream by providing large jumps in effectiveness in materials with huge numbers of uses.

The Nanotech BC Blog: Long Carbon Nanotubes and the Desert Bloom

It's easy to think technological progress follows an incremental and predictable path -- that research leads to development, then to commercialization and finally to the consumer.

Take a trip to a desert in spring and you'll see evidence of a different model for growth. One day the landscape is dry and bleak, and the next it explodes into plants and flowers. Years of invisible preparation have been taking place and the result is a change so swift and complete that the landscape becomes an entirely different place.

Right now the desert of nanotechnology looks dry. Billions of dollars are being invested and thousands of researchers are working all over the world on countless different issues, but we've yet to see any single, revolutionary advance. Even so, the groundwork is being laid, and every day nanotech moves forward.

One of the most exciting new developments is the production by UC engineering researchers of arrays of 18mm carbon nanotubes. That might not seem like much, but it's a huge increase in length over past efforts and is an important step towards producing a material that is stronger and more conductive than anything now in use.

What will come of this achievement? A replacement for copper wire? Energy independence? A space elevator? Nobody can say for sure because so much more work remains to be done before carbon nanotubes fulfill their promise. Even so, one thing seems certain -- we're getting closer and closer to the day the desert will bloom.