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Here are recent headlines in Nanotechnology . You may also view headlines specified by other categories, shown to the left.
These news feeds are made avaiable through the Environmental News Bits website.
Laundering Socks with Nano Particles Possible Health, Environmental Risk
Categories: Environmental Health, Nanotechnology - Friday Apr 25, 2008 10:02Read the full story in Occupational Hazards.
Nanotechnology particles, valued for their antibacterial and odor-fighting properties, are used in a wide range of commercial products such as bandages, washing machines and socks. But researchers from Arizona State University discovered that these socks release silver nanoparticles when washed, raising concerns about the potential impact on environmental and human health.
New from the GAO
Categories: Nanotechnology, Publications - Friday Apr 25, 2008 09:38Nanotechnology: Better Guidance Is Needed to Ensure Accurate Reporting of Federal Research Focused on Environmental, Health, and Safety Risks. GAO-08-402, March 31.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-402
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d08402high.pdf
Nanotechnology: Accuracy of Data on Federally Funded Environmental, Health, and Safety Research Could Be Improved, by Robert A. Robinson, managing director, natural resources and environment, before the Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Innovation, Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. GAO-08-709T, April 24.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-709T
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d08709thigh.pdf
PEN: Europe Nearly Doubling U.S. Spending on Nano Risk Research
Categories: Nanotechnology, Publications - Thursday Apr 24, 2008 09:07Read the full story in Occupational Health and Safety.
A new analysis by the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (PEN) indicates that European nations are investing nearly twice as much as America in research primarily aimed at addressing the potential risks of nanotechnology. The analysis, announced April 19, also highlights a substantial over-inflation of the federal government’s nanotechnology risk-research investment figures for the United States. For fiscal year 2006, the assessment found that while the U.S. investment in highly risk-relevant projects totaled $13 million, European countries invested nearly $24 million.
How to Make Graphene
Categories: Nanotechnology, Research, Solar Energy - Monday Apr 21, 2008 10:06Read the full story in Technology Review.
Graphene–a flat single layer of carbon atoms–can transport electrons at remarkable speeds, making it a promising material for electronic devices. Until recently, researchers had been able to make only small flakes of the material, and only in small quantities. However, Rutgers University researchers have developed an easy way to make transparent graphene films that are a few centimeters wide and one to five nanometers thick.
Thin films of graphene could provide a cheap replacement for the transparent, conductive indium tin oxide electrodes used in organic solar cells. They could also replace the silicon thin-film transistors common in display screens. Graphene can transport electrons tens of times faster than silicon, so graphene-based transistors could work faster and consume less power. (See “Graphene Transistors” and “Better Graphene Transistors.”)