Nanopiezoelectric research hopes to pull tiny amounts of power from minuscule movements, like breathing. Now, Georgia Tech researchers have made a nanopiezoelectric jacket for hamsters that successfully generates .1 volts of electricity.
If Radiation Shield Technologies’ Demron fabric pans out, maybe our dystopian, radiation-soaked future won’t be so bad after all. At the very least, we’ll be toasty–and fashionable too! RST says the fabric (available in full body suits, blankets, gloves and boots) protects against particle ionising/nuclear radiation, and shields against X-ray and low-energy Gamma emissions. The crazy thing is it does it all without any lead inserts, which next to a few inches of solid concrete are currently most effective defence against radiation poisoning. Instead, the material uses a proprietary nanotechnology to block a host of biological, chemical and radioactive sources. The material is damn heavy too; a 90 x 75cm blanket weighs approximately 27kg. [RST via Danger Room]
These robots are just the size of a hair, but up to five of them can be independently, wirelessly controlled to work (and dance) in harmony. The robots are able to move by inch-worming 10-20 billionths of a metre at once somewhere around 20,000 times a second. The result is small robots that can make their way around with relative alacrity, but still home in on precise movements. And the example video is pretty remarkable:
Sorry, Brawny man. Your paper towels were always handy in a pinch for the occasional Coke-on-keyboard spill, but they fall apart when held up against this incredible nanomesh towel from the folks at MIT. Designed with the environmentally unfriendly act of oil spills in mind, this recyclable towel’s potassium manganese oxide fibers absorb up to 20 times their weight in oil (which can then be recovered, for future oil spills).
Just last week, we heard that carbon nanotubes could be as dangerous as asbestos. Now a new study takes another damning shot at nanotechnology, this time at the sector’s golden child, buckyballs. Hollow balls of carbon that are promising for everything from fighting cancer to coating paint, a recent study found that buckyball clusters can easily penetrate cell membranes and hang out inside, their molecular structures fully intact.
Those nano-silver socks you’ve been using to soak up the rank of your athlete’s foot—not only are they leaching poisons into fish habitats every time you wash them, their effects on your own blood stream could be just as bad but the EPA’s not doing anything about it. Fed up by government inaction, a consumer safety group is now suing the EPA for failing to regulate nanomaterials.
How many of you actually clean the toilet? How many of you have a loving partner who does it for you? I thought so. Well, You can say goodbye to those angry sighs, muffled curses and questions of your ability to shoot straight. Australian scientists have come up with a coating containing miniature robots nanoparticles that will take over the scrubbing, washing and disinfecting of your bathroom.
The coating contains tiny particles of titanium dioxide, which gets very excited by UV light – so much so that they can break down organic compounds and kill bacteria like E. coli. I’m not sure if anyone has noted that a human’s backside is made of an organic compound though, so you’d be using this at your own risk.
In any case, the result of exciting these particles is an oxidising energy which far surpasses that of your standard bathroom cleaner, bleach. And that means that no matter how hot the curry, your toilet is always going to look and smell sparkling fresh.
A nanotech invention by a US research team offers an intriguing glimpse of the future: slip on some nanowire-embedded clothes, plug your MP3 player or cellphone into them, and as you dance or walk around, your outfit generates enough power to run the gadget. More details on how the fabric works, and some nano-imagery after the jump.
Scientists in China and Australia have developed a method of cleaning fabric using nanotechnology that avoids dunking clothes in soapy water, before scrubbing and rinsing. The titanium dioxide-based coating bonds to silk and wool and uses sunlight to automagically decompose dirt, stains and microorganisms, meaning smelly socks could be a thing of the past—something that teenage boys’ mums will applaud the world over.
Winning the Green Tech Grand Award and “Innovation of the Year” nods from Pop Sci, Nanosolar PowerSheets pack a whole lot of potential into their Paris Hilton-cheap, Nicole Richie-thin panels—we’re talking solar power for 30 cents a watt, compared to the $3 it costs now, without silicon or laying the panels on glass. “You’re talking about printing rolls of the stuff—printing it on the roofs of 18-wheeler trailers, printing it on garages, printing it wherever you want it.” If you wanna know more about the black magic coating the panels, check out Pop Sci’s spectacularly detailed coverage. [Pop Sci via BBG]
