Top 10 Nanotechnology Sites

Nanotechnology Sites Traffic Rankings, based traffic ranks by Alexa.Com and inspired by NanoWerk.Org

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A Consumer's Guide to MEMS and Nanotechnology

As a topic, nanotechnology is complex, controversial and cool all at the same time," says Marlene Bourne, President & Principal Analyst of Bourne Research and the book's author. "A Consumer's Guide to MEMS and Nanotechnology puts it all into perspective--not by looking at future 'imagine this' or 'what if' scenarios--but at how and why emerging technologies are being put to use in all kinds of really cool products today.

Divided into two parts, the first half of the book examines the commercial history of MEMS and nanotechnology, their evolution into the marketplace, and how material science (nanotech) and engineering (MEMS) have become intertwined. Dozens of MEMS devices and nanomaterials are discussed in detail--including how they work, what makes them unique, why they're useful, and who's manufacturing all of these things.

The second half of the book provides countless examples of real-life applications of MEMS and nanotechnology in cars, homes, consumer electronics, cosmetics/personal care, clothing/footwear, accessories/jewelry, sporting goods, healthcare/medicine, food production, oil exploration and more.

The book also reveals that current applications of MEMS and nanotechnology are far more innovative, and diverse, than many might think. Examples include:

• Self-cleaning windows--some of which also lower energy costs
• Interactive sensing for gaming systems and movie production
• Flat-irons with nanocoatings to reduce hair damage
• Permanent (yet removable) tattoo ink
• Swimwear with special fibers that prevent sand from sticking
• Protective gear for football, hockey, snowboarding, motocross and more
• Lab-on-a-chip devices that can detect a heart attack in just minutes
• Sensors implanted into the body to wirelessly monitor pressure
• Plastic bottles that prevent beer from going flat

'A Consumer's Guide to MEMS and Nanotechnology' is a must-read for anyone interested in emerging technologies--from curious technophiles and university students, to scientists, engineers, executives, the media and more. The 287-page book includes more than 60 photos and illustrations.

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Nanotechnology Product

The data base, which is the largest of its kind on the Internet, shows Nanotechnology products which are available today. Currently products from 23 countries are listed.

Different categories and subcategories like building products, paint, glass, automotive, electronics, textile, nanoparticles, consumer products and many more make it easy to find the right application and the suppliers for such Nanotechnology solutions.

The new directory is growing rapidly and participating companies are already enjoying increased exposure and lead generating as a result.

Even with a free listing, the directory offers a number of powerful features. Visitors can use a full text search and can contact the listed companies through a secure web form or through a direct link to their website.

Hundreds of interesting Nanotechnology applications and products can be found in the Nanotechnology Product Directory at http://www.nanoshop.com.

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Nanotechnology Investing

Today's feature for instance takes a critical look at the apparent arms race going on among nanotechnology investing and consulting firms as to who can come up with the highest figure for the size of the "nanotechnology market".



The current record stands at $2.95 trillion by 2015. The problem with these forecasts is that they are based on a highly inflationary data collection and compilation methodology. The result is that the headline figures - $1 trillion!, $2 trillion!, $3 trillion! - are more reminiscent of supermarket tabloids than serious market research.

Some would call it pure hype. This type of market size forecast leads to misguided expectations because few people read the entire report and in the end only the misleading trillion-dollar headline figure gets quoted out of context, even by people who should now better, and finally achieves a life by itself.

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Carbon Nanotubes Technology

Carbon nanotubes nanotechnology has produced a new form of carbon. Scientists can grow the carbon through several different techniques and the carbon may be useful for future nanotechnology items like nanoelectronic devices and computers. One of the advantages of this type of material is its strength.

Nanotechnology has come to mean any item smaller than microtechnology, including nano powders or other items. The field deals with manipulating atoms and molecules to create materials and devices. The mechanisms that are built from these extremely small items have been referred to as Molecular Nanotechnology or MNT. This technology is used to create nano and micro scale computers and machines.



Experts believe that nanotechnology will have dramatic consequences for our daily lives, changing how we communicate and what we can do. The advancing technology will also mean less waste, less energy consumed, and greater control over the production process than we currently have. The technology has the potential to create cleaner, safer, longer lasting, and better built machines and devices that impact our daily lives.

Nanotechnology may not only revolutionize our daily lives, but it may also have large impacts on commercial industry and the military. The processes may make it extremely easy and cost effective to replicate and copy any number of products and materials. This may mean that some items will be more readily available at lower costs, since there will be little cost in producing the product.

One important advantage of nanotechnology is that it is able to reproduce its own means of production. In a sense, it?s a factory that can build an exponential amount of other factories easily and safely. However, this advantage could also be a dangerous one depending on how the technology was used and what it produced.

Scientists aren?t sure when full-scale nanotechnology will be viable. Some believe that it won?t happen for another 20 or 30 years. Others believe that it could potentially come about in the next five to ten years. The technology has been rapidly advancing, which could present future issues if the world hasn?t been adequately prepared for the changes and dangers that nanotechnology can bring.

Carbon nanotubes present an important aspect to nanotechnology because they can be used to create pipes, wires, and springs among other items. These can then be used in devices, computers, and other machines developed using nanotechnology. These molecular cylinders are strong, so much so that scientists are considering using carbon nanotubes as cables in space.

Carbon nanotubes nanotechnology has many different potential implications. Their strength and ability to be cut into very small pieces give them adaptability for a wide range of potential devices and machines. Their use as springs, pipes, and bearings can make them useful in a number of different applications, including space.

by frank j vanderlugt

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What is Nanotechnology?

What is Nanotechnology? Let's join the class of Nanotechnology.

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Fast molecular rearrangements hold key to plastic’s toughness

Abstract:
Plastics are everywhere in our modern world, largely due to properties that render the materials tough and durable, but lightweight and easily workable. One of their most useful qualities, however - the ability to bend rather than break when put under stress - is also one of the most puzzling.

This property, described as "plastic flow", allows many plastics to change shape to absorb energy rather than breaking apart, says University of Wisconsin-Madison chemistry professor Mark Ediger. For example, one type of bulletproof glass stops a bullet by flowing around it without breaking. Regular window glass, unable to flow in this way, would simply shatter.

"This is an odd combination of properties... These materials shouldn't be able to flow because they're rigid solids, but some of them can," he says. "How does that happen?"

Ediger's research team, led by graduate student Hau-Nan Lee, has now described a fundamental mechanism underlying this stiff-but-malleable quality. In a study appearing Nov. 28 in Science Express, they report that subjecting a common plastic to physical stress - which causes the plastic to flow - also dramatically increases the motion of the material's constituent molecules, with molecular rearrangements occurring up to 1,000 times faster than without the stress.

These fast rearrangements are likely critical for allowing the material to adapt to different conditions without immediately cracking.

Plastics are a type of material known to chemists and engineers as polymer glasses. Unlike a crystal, in which molecules are locked together in a perfectly ordered array, a glass is molecularly jumbled, with its constituent chemical building blocks trapped in whatever helter-skelter arrangement they fell into as the material cooled and solidified.

While this atomic disorder means that glasses are less stable than crystals, it also provides molecules in the glass with some wiggle room to move around without breaking apart.

"Polymer glasses are used in many, many different applications," including polycarbonate, which is found in popular reusable water bottles, Ediger says. Aircraft windows are also often made of polycarbonate. "One of the reasons polymer glasses are used is that they don't break when you drop them or fly into a bird at 600 miles per hour."

However, their properties can change dramatically under different physical conditions such as pressure, temperature, and humidity. For example, many polymer glasses become brittle at low temperatures, as anyone knows who has ever dropped a plastic container from the freezer or tried to work on vinyl house siding in cold weather.

As plastics become more and more prevalent in everything from electronics to airplanes, scientists and engineers face questions about the fundamental properties and long-term stability of these materials over a range of conditions.

For example, next-generation commercial aircraft are trending toward including less metal in favor of higher proportions of lightweight polymer materials - roughly 50 percent in the new Boeing 787 compared to only 10 percent in the Boeing 777 - and engineers need to know how these materials will respond to different stresses: a hard landing, strong winds, or changes in temperature or humidity.

"How is it going to respond 20 years from now when it gets twisted, or stretched, or compressed? Is it going to respond by absorbing that energy and staying intact, or is it going to respond by breaking bonds and flying apart into pieces?" asks Ediger.

The Wisconsin team examined the mechanics of a common plastic called polymethylmethacrylate - also known as Plexiglas or acrylic - and found that a pulling force had a pronounced effect on the molecules within the material, speeding up their individual movements by more than a factor of 1,000. The team observed internal molecular rearrangements within 50 seconds that would have taken a full day without the force applied. They believe this increased motion allows the material to flow without breaking.

"When you pull on it, you increase the mobility in the material," Ediger says. "The act of pulling on it actually transforms the glass into a liquid that can then flow. Then when you stop pulling on it, it transforms back to a glass."

The work has benefited from collaboration between chemists and engineers in a Nanoscale Interdisciplinary Research Team (NIRT) supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), which includes UW-Madison chemical and biological engineering professor Juan de Pablo and groups at the University of Illinois and Purdue University.

"From the most fundamental perspective, we're trying to understand why pulling on a glass allows it to flow," Ediger says. "The answer to that question will help us to better model the behavior of real materials in real applications."

In addition to Ediger and Lee, the paper is authored by Keewook Paeng and Stephen Swallen. The work was funded by NSF.

For more information, please contacts:
Mark Ediger
ediger@chem.wisc.edu
608-262-7273

Jill Sakai
(608) 262-9772
jasakai@wisc.edu

Copyright © University of Wisconsin-Madison

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Physics can help fuel economic growth

National capacity in physics correlates with economic performance

Developing countries need a broad-based capacity in physics to achieve sustainable economic growth, says Reza Mansouri in a Nature supplement published to coincide with the twenty-fifth anniversary of TWAS, the academy of sciences in the developing world.

Physics is one of the most important sciences underpinning development, yet is often ignored by developing countries. Mansouri argues that national capacity in physics correlates strongly with economic performance.

For example, China, which authors 14 per cent of peer-reviewed physics papers — up from four per cent a decade ago — ranks first in the developing world in the physical sciences. It also accounts for three per cent of the world's trade in high-technology goods and services. This is no surprise, says Mansouri, as most of these are based on research and development in the physical sciences.

The lesson from China, Mansouri says, is to focus on condensed matter physics, optics and nuclear physics. Developing scientific hardware is also important — China is home to the latest physics instruments, which has helped the country transform its physics capacity into technology products and services, which have, in turn, helped fuel China's growth.

Link to full article in Nature

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