Volume 4 Issue 10, October 2009

Calls for more data on the impact of nanomaterials on human health and the environment reflect a failure to accept that there will always be unknowns associated with any new technology. Effective governance of emerging nanotechnologies will require an acknowledgement of these unknowns, an open and adaptive approach to regulation, and the courage to make decisions.

Small start-up companies are making large volumes of graphene, the world's thinnest material, for applications such as composites and electrodes.

A report on nanotechnology published in 2004 by two learned societies in the UK has had impacts in other areas of science and technology, as Richard Jones reports.

A multifunctional nanoparticle that can help doctors find and treat cancer and atherosclerosis has been synthesized.

Researchers have seen strong coupling between the mechanical motion of a carbon nanotube and the passage of single electrons through the nanotube.

A sensor consisting of an array of gold nanoparticles can distinguish the breath of lung cancer patients from the breath of healthy individuals without the need to pre-treat or dehumidify the samples.

Thermochemical lithography is able to produce features just 28 nanometres wide on polymer surfaces.

The magnetism of semiconductor nanocrystals can be controlled by shining light on them, which could have applications in information storage and processing.

DNA reactions can be used to implement simple logic programs.

The use of carbon nanotubes in medical applications will depend on the balance between risks and benefits. This article reviews these issues for imaging and therapeutic applications.

Inorganic nanoparticles only begin to show size-dependent effects when they have diameters below 20—30 nm. This has implications for the regulation of nanomaterials.

DNA strands can be used to build an autonomous programmable molecular system that is capable of performing simple logical deductions.

Germanium nanowires grown vertically on a silicon substrate are used to seed micrometre-size single-crystal germanium islands, with potential applications in three-dimensional integrated circuits.

A chemical synthesis of a copper-based catalyst allows the synthesis of silicon nanowires to be compatible with standard complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) fabrication processes.

Individual double-walled tubular aggregates are immobilized on a solid substrate out of solution using a drop-flow technique. Using near-field scanning optical microscopy, these aggregates are shown to have a remarkably uniform supramolecular structure.

Structures with dimensions of 28 nm have been produced in semiconducting polymers using a thermochemical approach to patterning.

An array of nine sensors made up of gold nanoparticles functionalized with different organic groups can distinguish the breath of lung cancer patients from healthy individuals in an atmosphere of high humidity.

The mobility of field-effect transistors made from self-assembled monolayers of liquid-crystal molecules depends on channel length only when the monolayer coverage is incomplete.

The room-temperature magnetism of colloidal doped semiconductor nanocrystals can be manipulated reversibly by controlling their electric charge state, making such materials attractive for potential spintronics applications.

Carbon nanotubes coated with a thin layer of gold can be a good alternative to fluorescent labels and gold nanoparticles for non-invasive in vivo photoacoustic and photothermal imaging.

Organic semiconductors are easy to process and can be used to make devices that are transparent, flexible and cheap. However, they are also fragile and not particularly good at conducting electricity. Three papers in the October 2009 issue of Nature Nanotechnologyshow that careful processing can redress these drawbacks, without compromising those qualities that make organics attractive in the first place.