Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
Gold nanoparticles are routinely used as 'seeds' to grow semiconductor nanowires and it has now been discovered that the nanowires grow faster when the gold seeds are placed closer together.
A nanoscale superconducting device in which the flow of heat can be switched on and off by a gate voltage — a heat transistor — has been demonstrated at temperatures close to absolute zero.
The ability to print pre-assembled optical and electronic structures with high resolution would greatly reduce the cost of a number of technologies. A printing method that uses a nanoparticle ink moves closer towards this goal.
A catalytic property widely used for laboratory tests and the treatment of waste water has been discovered in iron oxide nanoparticles and could lead to many applications in medical diagnostics.
The cellulose nanofibrils that are found in wood and other natural materials are similar to carbon nanotubes in many ways and could be used to strengthen composites for manufacturing.
Self-assembled monolayers of molecular diamonds on metal substrates have excellent electron-emission properties, bringing field-emission displays based on diamondoids a step closer to reality.
A combination of self-assembly techniques has been used to pattern ordered metallic nanowire arrays on silicon substrates in a versatile process that could prove useful for semiconductor electronics and sensing applications.
Nanoindentation probes can map the mechanical properties of surfaces and films with high resolution, but they are much slower than probes that image the topography. Now, a new atomic force microscopy technique can capture both pictures at once.
The indiscriminate inhalation of drugs during cancer treatment can adversely affect healthy tissues that surround the tumour. New studies in mice show that tiny aerosol droplets can be guided to the right spot in the lung with an external magnet.
A new approach to making a biosensor with a field-effect transistor provides high sensitivity with simple processing by introducing a vertical nanogap into the device structure.
Water contracts when it is cooled but, unlike other liquids, it then starts to expand at temperatures a few degrees above the melting point of ice. However, a new experimental study suggests that normal behaviour returns if the water is supercooled to low enough temperatures.
Bacteria are useful targeted delivery agents and nanoparticles are efficient transporters of plasmid DNA. Now, a hybrid of the two will improve strategies to transfect cells for vaccination and cancer treatment.
Single-walled carbon nanotubes with a helical twist have been separated into samples enriched in either the left- or right-handed forms. Many exciting experiments await these sorted nanotubes, but first we need to decide what to call them.
The performance of biosensors that rely on tiny vibrating cantilevers suffers when they are operated in a liquid. The solution is to place the liquid inside the cantilever.
When droplets of water containing metal particles are deposited on a hot surface, they are supported by a thin layer of vapour that lets them slide, essentially friction free. The metal trails the droplets leave in their wake could be useful for making nanowires.
