Brian Dorsett

A team of physicists headed by Christian Roos and Rainer Blatt from the Institute of Quantum Optics and Quantum Information of the Austrian Academy of Sciences realize a quantum walk in a quantum system with up to 23 steps.

Some scientists believe that, with the increased mass production of engineered nanoparticles like carbon nanotubes, there is a realistic chance for these particles to interact with water, soil and air, and subsequently enter the food chain. However, understanding the behavior and impacts of nanomaterials in the environment and in human health is a daunting task. Nevertheless, a general understanding about nanotoxicity is slowly emerging as the body of research on cytotoxicity, genotoxicity, and ecotoxicity of nanomaterials grows. In our Spotlight today we take a look at new biophysical research - a parallel study of carbon-nanoparticle uptake by plant and mammalian cells - that contributes to the general picture of the fundamental behaviors of nanoparticles in both biological and ecological systems.

For the first time, scientists have succeeded in growing empty particles derived from a plant virus and have made them carry useful chemicals.

Pursuant to this agreement, Bruker will acquire certain product lines of Varian Inc., which Agilent has committed to divest in connection with obtaining regulatory approval for Agilent's previously announced acquisition of Varian.

PV Technologies India Limited (PVTIL), a subsidiary of Moser Baer India Limited (MBIL) announces successful completion of testing and validation of breakthrough process that will enhance the stable efficiency of its single junction thin film module from 6% to 7.3%.

Magnetic quantum dot technology is expected to underpin future communications and resolve power consumption and variability issues in today's microelectronics industry by providing computers and other devices with extraordinary electrical and magnetic properties.

Alchimer S.A., a provider of nanometric deposition technology for semiconductor interconnects and through-silicon vias, said today it has opened a new applications-and-development facility in Seoul, South Korea, for demonstration of its innovative processes on 300mm wafers.

Synopsys, Inc., a world leader in software and IP for semiconductor design, verification and manufacturing, and the Belgian nanoelectronics research center, imec, today announced they have entered into a collaboration to use Synopsys TCAD (Technology Computer-Aided Design) finite-element method tools for characterizing and optimizing the reliability and electrical performance of through-silicon vias.

SUSS MicroTec, a leading supplier of equipment and process solutions for the semiconductor industry, has received orders for multiple 300mm lithography systems from Amkor Technology Inc., an industry leading supplier of innovative packaging solutions.

Einzelne Molekuele und ihre Dynamik in lebenden Zellen sichtbar machen: Das ist das Ziel von Professor Markus Sauer. Um es zu erreichen, entwickelt der neue Inhaber des Lehrstuhls fuer Biotechnologie und Biophysik der Uni Wuerzburg neueste Techniken der Fluoreszenz-Mikroskopie mit hoher zeitlicher und raeumlicher Aufloesung.

Today, the German Minister for Education and Research, Annette Schavan, officially opens the new training and conference centre for the life sciences on the campus of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg.

XsunX, Inc. today announced the company has reached a significant milestone in its development process: the completion of a co-evaporation processing chamber design that combines several thermal evaporation techniques in one unified process to produce the CIGS (Copper Indium Gallium diSelenide) solar cell's absorber layer.

Imaging soft biological samples in liquid with Atomic Force Microscope has long stood as a very challenging task. Until recently, most of the works in this field has been carried out in tapping mode AFM, during which the cantilever driven by a piezoelectric actuator vibrates in the vicinity of the cantilever's resonance frequency, and briefly touches the sample surface at the bottom of each vibration cycle, resulting in a decrease of its oscillation amplitude. By keeping such amplitude at a preset value using feedback control, a topographic image of the sample surface is obtained. However, stable, high-resolution imaging of very fragile and sensitive biological samples such as live cells or individual proteins is not trivial in tapping mode due to potential sample distortion or even damage during the brief contact between the AFM tip and sample surface at the end of each oscillation cycle. The XE-series AFM with Crosstalk Elimination and high force Z-scanner has successfully solved these problems.

Consider this T-shirt: It can monitor your heart rate and breathing, analyze your sweat and even cool you off on a hot summer's day. What about a pillow that monitors your brain waves, or a solar-powered dress that can charge your phone or MP3 player? This is not science fiction - this is cotton in 2010.

In a paper published in the American Chemical Society journal, Macromolecules, scientists from IBM and Stanford University detail discoveries that could lead to the development of new types of biodegradable, biocompatible plastics.

mPhase Technologies, Inc. today announced that its mPower On Command Reserve Battery has successfully met all United Nations / US Department of Transportation (UN DOT) safety standards and has received UN DOT certification for the safe transport of lithium-containing batteries.

Leading manufacturer of carbon nanotubes Thomas Swan has achieved commercial scale production to meet growing demand in the USA. This success has been marked by the company's announcement that it has issued a 'Notice of Commencement of Manufacture or Import' to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in relation to its Elicarb SW single-wall carbon nanotube products.

A GBP 1.1 million project aimed at creating new platinum based catalyst layer designs for fuel cells has been awarded funding by the UK Technology Strategy Board.

The University of New Mexico College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona has established the Center for Quantum Information and Control. CQuIC is founded on a three-year, $1.26 million grant from the National Science Foundation's Physics at the Information Frontiers program.

GENEWIZ, Inc., a leading provider of DNA services, announced the expansion of its molecular biology portfolio with the addition of Gene Synthesis services. Gene synthesis provides researchers with a time- and cost-saving alternative to molecular cloning, DNA engineering, protein engineering and directed evolution for custom construct production.