News & Views

Symmetry is usually prized in nature, but the deliberate skewing of symmetry in nanofluidic devices can lead to elegant new ways of sorting biomolecules.

A new approach to sensing mechanical motion allows high-frequency measurements to be made with cantilevers that are smaller than the wavelength of light.

In the effort to make better and less expensive optoelectronics devices molecular self-assembly proves to be a solution — in solution.

Single-walled carbon nanotubes can now effectively target tumours in mice, which suggests that nanotubes could form the basis of a safe drug-delivery system for cancer therapy.

Most methods for making carbon nanotubes require further processing to separate tubes with different chirality. Now, seeding growth from an existing nanotube segment ties synthesis and selectivity into a single step.

The response of a cantilever to bacteria deposited on it depends on the mechanical properties of the sample, as well as its mass. This effect needs to be considered in sensor design.

By coating a nanotube with a molecular layer that is thicker on one end than the other, it is possible to make a thermal rectifier that allows heat to flow easily along the tube in one direction, but not so easily in the opposite direction.

Nanoplatelets of molybdenum sulphide have catalytically active sites along their edges that are promising for desulphurizing fuels.

Inorganic nanoribbons can be attached to an elastic surface at selected positions to make wave-like structures that maintain their semiconducting properties when stretched or compressed. These nanostructures will prove to be immediately useful in flexible electronics.

With high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, it is now possible to explore to what extent the random distribution of atomic elements in an alloy is preserved when it is reduced to a linear atomic chain, one atom thick.

Peptides can self-assemble into gels that are able to control bleeding from surgical wounds within seconds of being applied. This new nano-haemostat could dramatically change the way surgery is performed in the future.

Nature builds sophisticated materials and machines one molecule at a time with minimal energy. Scientists are now emulating these assembly processes to make artificial structures that are not found in the natural world.