Researchers in California have developed a way to quickly reduce the blood alcohol levels of drunken mice, potentially paving the way for a so-called "booze pill" that would instantaneously combat intoxication. The study, led by UCLA professor Yunfeng Lu and USC's Cheng Ji, involves the combination of two enzymes, wrapped in a nanoscale shell. Drunken mice injected with this enzyme nanocapsule saw their alcohol levels drop significantly faster than those in the control group.

"millions of liver cell units inside your stomach."

Researchers have long tried to mimic enzyme complexes in the lab, but have struggled to develop and control stable p …

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IBM has helped to develop a new substance it says will aid in the fight against deadly infections. Superbugs like MRSA cause thousands of deaths per year thanks to their resistance to traditional antibiotics. MRSA, for example, can survive and multiply in "biofilms" - extra-cellular matrixes that can thrive on virtually any surface. Hospitals can kill MRSA using traditional disinfectants, but such ethanol- and bleach-based substances evaporate rapidly and aren't ideal for application to skin.

In collaboration with the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (or IBN, confusingly), IBM has developed a new kind of hydrogel, a substance …

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Researchers from MIT's Microsystems Technology Laboratories claim to have created the smallest transistor ever to be made out of a material other than silicon. The transistor is made of indium gallium arsenide, a material already used in fiber-optic and radar technologies, and is just 22 nanometers thick - the size of about nine strands of human DNA. Because this is the same type of transistor typically used in microprocessors, it could mean more densely packed - and consequently higher performance - chips.

Researchers hope to have found an alternative to silicon, the speed and effectiveness of which dwindles on extremely small scales, thre …

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Researchers at IBM's T.J. Watson Research Center claim to have made a breakthrough in chip-manufacturing technology, according to a recent study published in Nature Nanotechnology. The breakthrough centers on carbon nanotubes, which are sheets of carbon atoms rolled into cylinders. After placing the small molecules in a solution of soapy water, researchers relied on the principles of self-assembly to create patterned arrays of these nanotubes, which could be used to create chips with a density over two orders of magnitude higher than previous attempts.

Carbon nanotubes are both smaller and faster than the current materials used in chipmakin …

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"What we have here is the Bell Labs of the 21st century," proclaimed Mike Lazaridis, co-founder and vice-chairman of Research In Motion, at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Mike & Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum-Nano Centre (QNC) last week. Nestled in the middle of the University of Waterloo's campus, the new facility is designed to bring researchers from quantum computing and nanotechnology together under one roof. "We're going to have an insight that we believe will be unique," Lazaridis says of bringing the two disciplines together. And just as Bell Labs fostered a boom of innovation leading to the creation of Silicon Valley in California, L …

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Major advances in technology often stir opposition, and as Nature reports, nanotechnology is no exception: an eco-anarchist group known as Individuals Tending Towards Savagery (ITS) has been responsible for several bombings at prominent nanotechnology universities in Mexico over the past two years. The group reportedly looks to prevent "nanocontamination" and agrees with author Derrik Jensen's view that "industrial civilization is responsible for environmental destruction and must be dismantled." Nanotechnology concerns are a global issue - in 2010 another group attempted to bomb IBM's nanotechnology lab in Switzerland - but Nature explores …

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Researchers at Italy's Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), home of the iCub, have created a way of giving extra properties to paper, including magnetism, waterproofing, fluorescence, and even the ability to clean itself and fight bacteria. However, despite these fundamental changes, it still looks and behaves like ordinary paper, and can be printed upon in the same way. The work centers around combining liquefied cellulose molecules (monomers) from wood or other plant material with the nanoparticles. These entirely coat the momomer fibers and create a polymer solution, which can be applied to any non-woven material like paper or fabric by …

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Nosang Myung, a researcher at the University of California, Riverside has created an electronic 'nose' using nanotechnology, which he says could be integrated into portable technology like cellphones to 'smell' harmful airborne substances. Applications for the tech don't stop there, though: the same tech could also be used to measure concentrations of pesticides in agriculture, monitoring for chemical leaks in industry, or even warning of bio-terrorism. The device uses carbon nanotubes, which have been arranged in such a way that they can detect a variety of air-borne substances.

The technology has been licensed to start-up Nano Engineering …

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A team based at the University of New South Wales has created a "perfect" single atom transistor, leading the way for smaller and more powerful electronics. The active component in the device is a single phosphorus atom, which is placed onto a silicon wafer using a combination of scanning tunnelling microscope microscopy (STM) and hydrogen-resist lithography. To achieve this, a silicon wafer is coated in hydrogen, before individual hydrogen atoms are lifted away using STM. The wafer is then treated with phosphene, which only binds to the silicon at points where the hydrogen has been removed (similar to creating a circuit board in an acid bat …

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