Nanoscience and nanotechnology

Andrea Timpano of Boston Magazine reports on the new biodegradable nanoscale film developed by MIT researchers. The film could be used to deliver long-lasting medication for patients suffering from chronic pain. 

WBUR’s Bruce Gellerman reports on MIT.nano, the nanotechnology research facility that when completed will provide cutting-edge laboratory space for thousands of researchers. “The world is built on nanoscale and the 21st century will be defined by it,” says Prof. Vladimir Bulovic. 

Cynthia Graber of Scientific American reports on the new MIT technique to use solar energy to generate steam.  Graber reports that the new system reaches, “85 percent efficiency in converting the solar energy into steam." 

“A new technology creates steam by harnessing solar energy, using a relatively cheap sponge-like material, and it does it with greater efficiency that ever previously achieved,” writes Douglas Main in a piece for Popular Science about a new solar sponge created by MIT scientists. 

Jeremy Hobson interviews Prof. Sangeeta Bhatia about her work 3-D printing tiny human livers on NPR’s Here and Now. The livers are, “about the size of the pin of a needle, and they allow us to do drug testing to test if drugs would be safe when they got into humans,” Bhatia explains. 

ArchDaily reporter Karissa Rosenfield reports on plans to construct a new facility on the MIT campus for nanoscience and nanotechnology research. “Centrally located at the heart of MIT, the new glass-encased, four-story structure will house two floors of high-performance cleanrooms, as well as imaging and prototyping facilities that are all designed to foster innovation through cross-discipline collaboration,” writes Rosenfield.

Kath Xu writes about plans for the new MIT nanotechnology facility in an article for The Tech. “For a long time, [nanotechnology] was just science and we were playing in the lab and doing measurements and it was really fun,” Professor Polina Anikeeva told The Tech. “But now it’s exploding and it’s really becoming its own field… Nanotechnology has entered every part of engineering.”

MIT.nano "will break down barriers traditionally separating subjects in the name of nanoscale research,” writes Chemistry World reporter Andy Extance, who quotes MIT’s Moungi Bawendi as explaining: “It is a shared space in a state-of-the-art building that will house state-of-the-art instrumentation. I expect there will be many new activities fostered by this new space.”

The Associated Press reports on the 200,000-square-foot nanotechnology research facility to be constructed in the heart of the MIT campus. “An estimated 2,000 MIT researchers may ultimately use the building in fields including energy, health, life sciences, quantum sciences, electronics and manufacturing,” the AP reports.

The Boston Globe's Carolyn Johnson reports on how MIT is building a new space specifically devoted to nanotechnology research. The building will, "double the size of the nanotechnology clean room and imaging facilities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology," Johnson reports.

John Daly writes about new research from MIT that shows organic materials could be used to conduct electricity and emit different colors of light. The research could have major implications for the development of photovoltaic cells and solar energy

The Guardian reports on new MIT research that shows that adding carbon nanotubes to plants can enhance the natural photosynthesis process. The bionic plants could be used to harvest sunlight or detect environmental pollutants.

“Living materials based on bacteria and grown in a Boston lab could point to a greener way of manufacturing,” writes BBC News reporter Roland Pease of new MIT work to develop living materials.

“Now researchers at MIT have devised a way to combine a living E. coli cell with inanimate building blocks, like gold nanoparticles and quantum dots, to create a hybrid ‘living material,’” writes Dexter Johnson in IEEE Spectrum.

Nadia Drake writes in Wired about MIT researchers developing living materials. “By tricking E.coli into incorporating gold nanoparticles or quantum dots into their proteins, the team has crafted biofilms with a range of crazy capabilities,” Drake reports.