Volume 10 Issue 8, August 2015

Bacterial cells can be sculpted into different shapes using nanofabricated chambers and then used to explore the spatial adaptation of protein oscillations that play an important role in cell division.

Synthetic muscles built from DNA nanotube scaffolds can be used to study how myosin motors work together to make real muscles function.

Molecular dynamics simulations show that the flow of water through carbon nanotubes can be enhanced by exciting the phonon modes of the nanotube.

On bending, nanowires display anelastic behaviour, recovering their initial shape over time and efficiently dissipating mechanical energy in the process.

An array of nanoscale polar domains with varying conductance and that are electrically insulated by domain walls can be induced by the interplay of strain and defects in oxide thin films.

An indium arsenide quantum well with a ferromagnetic spin injector and a spin Hall detector is used to electrically measure the conductance oscillations due to spin precession in a transistor channel.

The incorporation of carbon nanotubes in a silica matrix produces oxygen dopant states that can emit single photons at room temperature and at wavelengths relevant for applications in telecommunications.

Electrically biased suspended graphene devices show an intense electroluminescence in the visible range with a tunable emission spectrum.

The amplitude and wavelength of hyperbolic phonon polaritons in hexagonal boron nitride can be tuned using a monolayer graphene gate.

Crystalline nanowires with point defects show large anelastic behaviour, leading to efficient mechanical energy dissipation.

Molecular dynamics simulations of water molecules inside carbon nanotubes show a strong coupling between the flow of water and the phonon modes of nanotubes that enhance diffusion.

DNA nanotube scaffolds allow artificial myosin filaments to be engineered that can be used to probe the mechanical coordination of myosin motor ensembles.

Ultrafast optical spectroscopy can be used to map the contribution of all phonon modes to the thermal conductivity in nanostructures.

The anisotropic optical properties of black phosphorus can be exploited to fabricate photodetectors with linear dichroism operating over a broad spectral range.

Experiments and theory show how superlubricity can emerge in large flakes sliding on a surface when the lattices of the flake and the surface are incommensurate.

Using nanofabricated chambers, living bacterial cells can be 'sculpted' into defined shapes, such as squares and rectangles, which can be used to explore the spatial adaptation of Min protein oscillations, a Turing reaction–diffusion pattern that assists cell division.

Interacting with 3D-printed molecular models helps students to grasp insightful concepts on the kinetics and thermodynamics of molecular self-assembly, as Arthur J. Olson explains.