Researchers, including Dr Anirban Bandyopadhyay of the International Center for Young Scientists, Tsukuba, Japan, have created a chemical ‘brain’ capable of remotely controlling multiple nano-machines. The ‘logic device’ composed of 17 molecules of the chemical duroquinone, is only two and a half nanometers in size. It looks like a ring with four spokes, which can be rotated to four different states. One duroquinone molecule sits in the middle, surrounded by the other 16, connected by hydrogen bonds. The state of the molecule in the middle can be switched using a scanning tunneling microscope (STM), a standard issue nanotech tool. Since instructing one molecule simultaneously activates 16 others, there are four billion different possible combinations of outcome. Researchers say the idea was inspired by the communication of glial cells in the human brain. They tested the logic device by hooking it up to eight nano-elevators, which can be commanded to move up and down about one nanometer, and were able to make all eight function successfully. This development could have big implications for computer technology. Whereas a typical CPU only carries one instruction at a time, one modeled on the logic device could carry 16 simultaneously. The researchers they have already completed faster machines that are capable of 256 and even 1024 concurrent operations. Of course, such a computer’s application is limited, because it relies on STM to work, still, soon these molecular brains may be integrated in other nanobots to bring significant advances in nano-assembly and targeted drug delivery.

Chemical brain controls nanobots, BBCNews.com

Stanford researchers have used silicon nanowires to increase the life of a lithiuim battery by 10 times. A normal lithium-ion (or Li-ion) battery’s capacity is determined by how much lithium fits in the battery’s anode, typically made of carbon. Silicon has a higher capacity than carbon, but it swells when it absorbs positively charged lithium atoms during charging and shrinks during use, disintegrating over time. What Yi Cui and his team did was create a lattice-work of silicon nanowires, which can expand up to four times their size as they absorb lithium and still not fracture. This could increase the life of a laptop battery to 20 hours. Further, improved batteries can help to better store solar power, as well as make the electric car a more attractive option. “It’s not a small improvement,” said Cui, “it’s a revolutionary development.”

Stanford’s nanowire battery holds 10 times the charge of existing ones, Stanford.edu
High-performance lithium battery anodes using silicon nanowires: Abstract, Nature.com

In an interface between nanoscale biophysics and evolutionary ecology, Juan Keymer and others created microscopic environments for e. coli bacteria on a microchip. The environment consisted of tiny separate rooms, each with a small local population of e. coli. Over time, the bacteria coupled with neighboring populations, and through local extinction and colonization processes evolved into a metapopulation, which differed from the original. By creating a pattern habitat, with small differences from room to room, this method allows the creation of an adaptive landscape. So, by architecting specific challenges, like stronger UV radiation, it is possible to guide the evolution of the bacteria. This evolution happens through adaptation to large-scale, low-quality (high-stress) areas. Jaun calls this practice nano-urban-biology. Below is an image of the e. coli fighting for survival. The rooms are 200x200x20 microns in a 40x40 grid.

Bacterial metapopulations in nanofabricated landscapes, PubMedCentral.nih.gov
Can bacteria compute? AIP.org

Scientists at the University of Akron, Ohio U. and Clemson U. have created and captured the largest man-made nanoscale fractal molecule (about 12 nanometers wide). They used molecular self-assembly techniques to synthesize the molecule in a lab; bound with ions of iron and ruthenium, it forms a hexagonal gasket. To photograph the molecules, they sprayed them on a piece of gold, chilled to -449 degrees Fahrenheit to keep them stable, and focused with a scanning tunneling microscope. "Blending mathematics, art and science, these nanoscopic hexagonal-shaped materials can be self-assembled and resemble a fine bead necklace. These precise polymers - the first example of a molecule possessing a ‘Star of David’ motif - may provide an entrée into novel new types of photoelectric cells, molecular batteries and energy storage," said George R. Newkome, lead author and dean of the Graduate School at the University of Akron.

Scientists Create the First Synthetic Nanoscale Fractal Molecule, OhioU.edu

Researchers at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, have engineered blood-compatible nanoscale materials using an anticoagulant called heparin, a therapeutic used to maintain blood flow and prevent clotting during medical procedures. Robert Linhardt and co. have shown that a composite heparin membrane with nanopores can work as a dialyzer, an artificial kidney, filtering the flood and maintaining blood flow. Furthermore, now that nanotech is hemo-compatible, it opens the door for nerve and tissue repair, as well as nanomed cancer treatments. Just imagine, a swarm of nanobots swimming around your bloodstream, fighting bad cholestarol, cleaning up carcinogens, unclogging capillaries, improving circulation, and easing stress on the heart. Stick them in my vein.

Blood-compatible nanoscale materials possible using heparin, EurekAlert.org

Recent research conducted at the Mediterranean University in Marseille, France, has identified a new virus, Mimi, that is vastly more complex than all previously discovered viruses (as well as a number of bacteria). A precursor, over the past few years J. Craig Venter, who decoded the human genome, sailed around and every few hundred miles analyzed the ocean water. With each sample, he discovered millions of new viruses that increased the number of known genes 10-fold. According to Didier Raoult, one of the researchers that discovered Mimivirus, “this thing shows that some viruses are organisms that have an ancestor that was much more complex than they are now. We have a lot of evidence with Mimivirus that the virus phylum is at least as old as the other branches of life and that viruses were involved very early on in the evolutionary emergence of life.” Mimi is one of the few viruses visible under a standard light microscope (1 millionth of a meter) and weighs 10 times the average virus (at 1.2 million letters). Moreover, it contains genes for translation of proteins and DNA repair enzymes, functions thought to be exclusive to cellular organisms. So it’s not surprise that Mimi is blurring the line separating virus and bacteria. Approximately 1 percent of the living things on the planet have been officially discovered and documented, and with about 10 times more viruses than organisms, who knows what else they can do.

Unintelligent design, Discover.com