Volume 6 Issue 12, December 2011

The observation that charges flowing through one quantum wire can drag charges in a second, unconnected wire either forwards or backwards requires a re-interpretation of Coulomb drag.

Signals that damage cells grown underneath a cellular barrier are transmitted only when the barrier is more than one layer thick.

Artificial nanopores with hydrophobic surface patches can be reversibly filled with water by applying electric fields.

Lipid monolayers and bilayers can stabilize networks of water droplets inside larger drops of oil to create structures that could have a range of applications.

DNA molecules have been used to build a variety of novel nanoscale structures and devices over the past 30 years. This article reviews the challenges facing the field of structural DNA nanotechnology and outlines promising potential applications in areas such as molecular and cellular biophysics, energy transfer and photonics, and diagnostics and therapeutics for human health.

A review of the unique issues involved in making electrical contacts to nanostructures.

Multi-criteria decision analysis and a value of information approach are used to develop a model for prioritizing research strategies into the environmental and human-health aspects of nanotechnology.

Transparent films of carbon nanotubes can accommodate strains of up to 150% and demonstrate conductivities as high as 2,200 S cm⁻¹ in the stretched state.

A quantum wire induces both positive and negative electron drag in another wire 15 nm away, changing the voltage across the second wire by up to 25%.

Single hydrophobic nanopores can undergo reversible wetting and dewetting by applying an electric potential across the nanopore membrane.

Water droplets assembled into defined networks communicate with each other, and with the external aqueous environment, through protein nanopores.

Multi-harmonic atomic force microscopy can be used to map the local mechanical properties of live cells with better temporal and spatial resolution than has been achieved before.

Drug-loaded polymeric micelles with a diameter of 30 nm can penetrate poorly permeable tumours to achieve an antitumour effect.

Indirect DNA damage to cells cultured below a cellular barrier caused by nanoparticles occurs across barriers containing two or more layers, but not monolayer barriers, suggesting that the thickness of the cell barrier is important in signalling.