Black Hole-like Behavior is Observed in Cold Atom Nanotube Setup
04.23.10 by Sarah Deren
Since I’m on a reading-up-on-nanoparticles streak…
Researchers at Harvard University have documented the occurrence of conditions similar to those of a black hole event horizon by simply using carbon nanotubes and cold atoms. The experiment, which is the first to discover these behaviors on an atomic scale, is described in the current issue of the journal of the American Physical Society, Physical Review Letters. (A synopsis is available at http://physics.aps.org/synopsis-for/10.1103/PhysRevLett.104.133002)
The researchers took a carbon nanotube, suspended it in a silicon structure and then charged it to a couple of hundred volts. A cloud of millions of single atoms was then laser-cooled to just 200 microKelvins (barely above absolute zero) and launched towards the carbon nanotube. Matter tends to demonstrate some interesting behaviors when temperatures near absolute zero (take Bose-Einstein condensates, for instance), and one of the benefits of cooling the atoms to such a low temperature is that it exponentially slows their movements down, allowing for easier detection and manipulation of individual atoms.
By aiming the cloud of super-cold atoms towards the nanotube, the ionization of the tube attracts the few atoms that come within a close enough distance with an irresistible pull, much in the same way that a black hole does with nearby stars, light and gas. The atoms begin to orbit the tube at a high speed of 2700 MPH, raising the kinetic energy of the atoms to a high enough level that the atom splits into an electron and ion pair. These mates continue their orbiting dance until the electron is “sucked into” the nanotube through a process known as quantum tunneling, a process that not only defies a simple explanation but also the laws of classical mechanics and Newtonian physics. Without it’s electron mate to keep it in orbit, the ion is repulsed away at a speed of 59,000 MPH.
Nanotechnology Applied to the Battle with Cancer
04.17.10 by Sarah Deren
In 1959, physicist Richard Feynman described the future to us, namely the ability to develop tools to manipulate individual atoms and molecules to form new, ever-smaller materials. While the actual ability to create these nanoparticles was but a dream in 1959, 50 years later, that dream is a reality, and fields from information technology to medicine are benefiting from the applications of this technology. Nanotechnology is currently used in everything from sunscreen to computer circuits, but a recently published study shows that it may help us in our fight against cancer as well.
Mark Davis heads up a team of researchers at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, and their study, recently published in Nature magazine (http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100321/full/news.2010.138.html) proves the effectiveness of using nanorobots to battle skin cancer melanomas. In this groundbreaking study of 15 participants, the use of nanorobots to effectively deliver particles that blocked the creation of cancer-building proteins was observed in three of the subjects.
The method for delivering this untypical “medication” is fairly simple – the nanoparticles are mixed with water and added to the patients bloodstream, where they find their way to the cancerous cells and deliver their deadly blast of cancer-blocking small-interfering RNA (siRNA). This keeps the cancer from it’s typical growth cycle, namely by creating new proteins and cells.
These nanoparticles reportedly fall apart and are passed out of the body through the urine once their job is complete. But part of the problem with nanomedicine and the research that is being done in the field is that it is so very new, especially when it comes to treating human subjects and not lab animals, therefore raising many questions that still need to be answered. Can future cancer research using nanoparticles produce a higher success rate, possibly even a cure for some types of cancer? Do treatments that involve nanoparticles truly leave no lasting effects on the body or the health of the individual? Can these treatments be created in a manner that is cost-effective, allowing them to become commonplace enough that they are useful to society?
More Research on Using Thorium for Nuclear Power Should be Undertaken
03.7.10 by Sarah Deren
The environmental movement has been gaining steam around the world for the past few decades, recently much more so due to the prevalence of arguments concerning global warming and its solutions. No matter whether you believe that global warming is an imminent danger that needs to be dealt with now or just a silly hoax that is being perpetrated by some political or environmental group, understanding and planning our energy futures should be important to everyone since we reap the benefits of having on-demand energy practically every minute of our lives.
We currently get our energy from many sources – we use petroleum-based gasoline in our cars and natural gas, oil, coal and nuclear power to heat and light our homes, offices and everything else. Unfortunately, fossil fuel supplies are dwindling and are estimated to run out within a few generations. Renewable energy sources, such as solar, wind and even geothermal, have been gaining popularity in recent years but are still not in widespread use due to skepticism and cost prohibitions, among other things.
Nuclear power has been used to create electricity in the United States since the late 1950’s. While nuclear energy does not produce the air pollution and environmental devastation that fossil fuels do, it still has its drawbacks. Nuclear waste storage is always an issue – nobody wants to live next to a waste disposal site, and trying to find places to safely put all of that nuclear waste is becoming a problem as the world becomes ever more populated. Furthermore, the fission process used to create nuclear energy creates weapons-grade plutonium as a byproduct, which, when put in the wrong hands, creates the potential for nuclear war.
FundScience Announces its Acceptance of Applications for Round One of Funding
03.4.10 by Sarah Deren
We here at FundScience are extremely excited to announce that beginning on Monday, March 1st 2010, we are accepting applications for our first round of project funding. Applications can be completed through the website and will be available until April 1st, 2010.
Whether you are a fledgling or an experienced researcher, we hope that you will send us your research proposals. All research proposals will be scientifically vetted and up to three will be chosen as the recipients of up to $50,000 in research grant money, or you can receive the use of CPU cycles from our friends at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center.
We are proud that we are now able to put one of our main goals into action, namely that of providing science funding to young researchers and their projects through public philanthropy. This will also allow us to continue with our aim of educating the public about science, as this will be an interactive process and we will be constantly educating about the research process and updating about the status of the chosen research projects.
We will also be writing blog posts about topics that are related to our chosen research projects so that everyone may learn more about the areas of science that are being researched and whet their appetites for discovering our wonderfully scientific world.
The best of luck to all of our applicants!
-The FundScience Team
Research Opportunities Unfortunately Nonexistant for Many
02.23.10 by Sarah Deren
We here at FundScience feel that there is often a lack of transparency within the scientific research community and would love to be able to remedy this problem by getting the public more involved. To that end, we are starting a pilot program to fund research projects.
I feel that getting the public interested in scientific research is a two-way street – not only do we need for the scientists to feel more accountable to the public for their work, but the public needs to become more interested in these issues that touch almost every aspect of our lives. By writing about many important issues that are currently being researched by the scientific community, I hope to be able to inspire you to become more curious about the world that surrounds you and more involved in the research processes that propel humankind forward.
An article was brought to my attention the other day that truly drives home the point of why an organization like FundScience is such a necessary commodity to have. This article, titled “The Matthew Effect”, appeared on SeedMagazine.com and really emphasizes the current importance of finding a better way to fund and investigate scientific research methods. In the article, author John Wilbanks writes,
The average age on first receipt of the most common “starter” grants at the NIH is now almost 42. This means younger researchers without the strength of a fame-based community are cut out of the funding process, and their ideas, separate from an older researcher’s sphere of influence, don’t get pursued. This causes a founder effect in modern science, where the prestigious few dictate the direction of research. It’s not only unfair—it’s also actively dangerous to science’s progress. (http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/the_matthew_effect)