Comment |
Featured
-
-
-
Letter |
Revealing the quantum regime in tunnelling plasmonics
Two gold nanostructures with controllable subnanometre separation are used to follow the evolution of plasmonic modes; the distance at which quantum tunnelling sets in is determined, and a quantum limit for plasmonic field confinement is estimated.
- Kevin J. Savage
- , Matthew M. Hawkeye
- & Jeremy J. Baumberg
-
News & Views |
Nanotube holograms
Carbon nanotubes interact strongly with light — a property that makes them ideal components of holographic devices. The realization of such a device opens up fresh opportunities for holography.
- Stéphane Larouche
- & David R. Smith
-
News |
Small is beautiful
Photo competition highlights the complexity of microscopic natural specimens.
- Daniel Cressey
-
-
Research Highlights |
Pulsating tubes act as pumps
-
Letter |
High-performance bulk thermoelectrics with all-scale hierarchical architectures
Controlling the structure of thermoelectric materials on all length scales (atomic, nanoscale and mesoscale) relevant for phonon scattering makes it possible to increase the dimensionless figure of merit to more than two, which could allow for the recovery of a significant fraction of waste heat with which to produce electricity.
- Kanishka Biswas
- , Jiaqing He
- & Mercouri G. Kanatzidis
-
News |
Nano-safety studies urged in China
Exposure surveys and stronger regulations are required for the industry to thrive, researchers say.
- Jane Qiu
-
Editorial |
Small steps
Violent opposition to nanotechnology should be countered with public awareness.
-
News Feature |
Nanotechnology: Armed resistance
Nature assesses the aftermath of a series of nanotechnology-lab bombings in Mexico — and asks how the country became a target of eco-anarchists.
- Leigh Phillips
-
News |
A fresh chapter for organic data storage
A book complete with illustrations has been encoded in DNA.
- Monya Baker
-
-
Research Highlights |
Nanofibres foster blood vessels
-
News |
Colour printing reaches its ultimate resolution
Images made up of metal-nanostructure pixels could be used for security or optical data storage.
- Katherine Bourzac
-
Letter |
Quantum phase transition in a resonant level coupled to interacting leads
A device based on a carbon nanotube is used to emulate the rich physics of the one-dimensional electronic systems known as Luttinger liquids, providing a new platform for studying quantum critical phenomena.
- Henok T. Mebrahtu
- , Ivan V. Borzenets
- & Gleb Finkelstein
-
News |
Hairy electronic sensors rival the sensitivity of human skin
Sensors inspired by beetle hairs could bring a more nuanced sense of touch to robots and wearable electronics.
- Katherine Bourzac
-
News |
Researchers monitor volcanic activity at Santorini
Sea-floor sensors will investigate the geological unrest that shook the islands last year.
- Richard Monastersky
-
Letter |
Multiscale gigapixel photography
The AWARE-2 camera uses a parallel array of microcameras to capture one-gigapixel images at three frames per minute.
- D. J. Brady
- , M. E. Gehm
- & S. D. Feller
-
News & Views |
The importance of being modular
DNA is the material of choice for making custom-designed, nanoscale shapes and patterns through self-assembly. A new technique revisits old ideas to enable the rapid prototyping of more than 100 such DNA shapes. See Letter p.623
- Paul W. K. Rothemund
- & Ebbe Sloth Andersen
-
Brief Communications Arising |
Nanostructure-enhanced atomic line emission
- M. Sivis
- , M. Duwe
- & C. Ropers
-
Letter |
Patterning by controlled cracking
Propagating cracks—normally associated with material failure and viewed as undesirable—can be controlled in a film/substrate system, opening up new possibilities for nanofabrication and atomic-scale patterning.
- Koo Hyun Nam
- , Il H. Park
- & Seung Hwan Ko
-
Research Highlights |
Lasers sort particles by size
-
Letter |
Electron tomography at 2.4-ångström resolution
An electron tomography method is demonstrated that can determine the three-dimensional structure of a gold nanoparticle at 2.4 Å resolution, including the locations of some of the individual atoms within the sample.
- M. C. Scott
- , Chien-Chun Chen
- & Jianwei Miao
-
Article |
Quantum plasmon resonances of individual metallic nanoparticles
Metal nanoparticles with dimensions below ten nanometres exhibit plasmon resonances governed by quantum mechanical effects, as probed with electron microscopy and spectroscopy
- Jonathan A. Scholl
- , Ai Leen Koh
- & Jennifer A. Dionne
-
Letter |
DNA-based self-assembly of chiral plasmonic nanostructures with tailored optical response
Using DNA origami enables the high-yield production of chiral structures containing nanoparticles arranged in helices, with a tunable optical response.
- Anton Kuzyk
- , Robert Schreiber
- & Tim Liedl
-
Letter |
Field-driven photoemission from nanostructures quenches the quiver motion
Experiments using ultrafast mid-infrared light pulses on nanostructures access a new regime in photoelectron emission, revealing classical sub-cycle electron dynamics in optical near-fields and breaking a diffraction limit in strong-field physics.
- G. Herink
- , D. R. Solli
- & C. Ropers
-
News |
Nanopore genome sequencer makes its debut
Technique promises it will produce a human genome in 15 minutes.
- Erika Check Hayden
-
News |
DNA robot could kill cancer cells
Device identifies target then releases deadly payload.
- Alla Katsnelson
-
Letter |
Thresholdless nanoscale coaxial lasers
A new family of resonators for nanoscale lasers is described that allows the size of the laser cavity to be scaled down without increasing the threshold power required to drive lasing.
- M. Khajavikhan
- , A. Simic
- & Y. Fainman
-
-
News & Views |
Shape matters
The ligand-mediated binding of colloid particles to each other is more effective if the particles are flat rather than curved. This finding opens up opportunities for the design of self-assembling materials.
- Sharon C. Glotzer
-
Research Highlights |
'Nanoear' hears small sounds
-
News & Views |
Nanowire electronics comes of age
Three-dimensional nanowire-like electronic devices are gaining ground over conventional planar technology. They may be the means to improve the performance of the electronic circuitry of the future.
- Tomás Palacios
-
News & Views |
A ratchet for protein complexity
Molecular machines containing related protein subunits are common in cells. Reconstruction of ancient proteins suggests that this type of complexity can evolve in the absence of any initial selective advantage. See Letter p.360
- W. Ford Doolittle
-
News |
Nanoscale wires defy quantum predictions
Atomic electrical components conduct just like conventional wires, giving a new lease of life to Moore's law.
- Edwin Cartlidge
-
Research Highlights |
Swirls move tiny objects
-
News & Views |
Molecular wires get connected
A long-standing issue in nanotechnology is how to connect molecular electronic devices. A method for splicing nanoscale wires made from different materials paves the way for a solution to this problem.
- Dario M. Bassani
-
Letter |
Microwave amplification with nanomechanical resonators
Use of nanomechanical resonators has the potential to offer microwave amplification with the minimum possible added noise, namely that due to quantum fluctuations.
- F. Massel
- , T. T. Heikkilä
- & M. A. Sillanpää
-
Letter |
Implementation of a Toffoli gate with superconducting circuits
Use of a three-level system allows the Toffoli gate, an important primitive for quantum error correction schemes, to be implemented with many fewer elementary gates than was previously thought possible.
- A. Fedorov
- , L. Steffen
- & A. Wallraff
-
News & Views |
A sense for touch
Will a sense of touch similar to that of humans ever be developed in robots? Results on the physics of friction for fingerprint-like ridges sliding across textured surfaces may lead the way to tactile robotic sensors.
- C. Mathew Mate
- & Robert W. Carpick
-
News |
Nano rules fall foul of data gap
Incomplete nanotoxicology research is hampering efforts to introduce regulation.
- Eugenie Samuel Reich
-
-
-
News & Views |
A molecular four-wheel drive
Nanoscale systems designed to imitate functions from the macroscopic world lead to a new appreciation of the complexity needed to actuate motion at the limits of miniaturization. A nanoscale 'car' is the latest example. See Letter p.208
- Paul S. Weiss
-
News |
Nanoparticle solar cells make light work
Cheap, printable photovoltaics might finally live up to their early promise.
- Philip Ball
-
Letter |
Mixed aromatic–aliphatic organic nanoparticles as carriers of unidentified infrared emission features
- Sun Kwok
- & Yong Zhang
-
Research Highlights |
Sugar and shake sensor power
-
News |
Draft guidelines for nanomedicine unveiled
With hundreds of nanoproducts currently being tested in humans, recommendations aim to safeguard trial participants.
- Jessica Marshall
-
Research Highlights |
Graphene lets LEDs stretch