News & Views

The potential uses of inorganic quantum dots in biolabelling and sensing could be expanded through their ability to function as resonant energy-transfer donors. Novel quantum dot–protein sensors may be the way ahead.

Some crystalline solids, such as zeolites, can be converted into amorphous structures by heat or pressure without ever forming a liquid. Experiments and models show that the distinction between order and disorder is getting increasingly blurred.

Proteins are used by living organisms to perform important movement, transport and sensing functions. The extraction of a contractile protein from pulses (broad beans) takes us closer to making fully functional biomimetic synthetic machines.

Biomolecules are notorious for their unpredictable flexibility. Some of the smallest nanopores ever created are being used to manipulate individual DNA molecules, with far-from simple results.

Controlling the magnetization reversal behaviour of nanostructures is vital if they are to be used as tiny information units in future storage devices. Now it seems that the magnetic edge atoms make all the difference.

Attendees at a symposium on the examination and care of ancient objects find that the materials can be as complex as the modern techniques used to examine them.

After many years of speculation, effective microdevices that can separate particles by converting random motion into directed motion have finally arrived. A new study demonstrates ratcheted transport of microspheres across a microfabricated membrane.

For diamond to be a viable semiconductor it must be possible to change its conductivity by adding impurities — known as dopants. With the discovery of a new dopant that generates electron conductivity at room temperature, diamond emerges as an electronic-grade material.

The porous structure of synthetic zeolites is key to their catalytic performance. A new germanosilicate with large interconnected channels of different sizes is capable of unique catalytic selectivity.

Much of the interest in carbon nanotubes arises from the interesting interplay between their helical structure and electronic properties. With greater understanding of the way in which mechanical strain changes their conductance, it may soon be possible to continuously tune the electromechanical response of nanotubes.

The storage density of computer hard drives has increased to the point that magnetic recording media is cheaper than paper. Yet there are limits to this technology. As they decrease in size, magnetic 'bits' become thermally unstable, providing a challenge to further miniaturization.

New ways to interact with biological cells in vitro offer greater levels of control over their location and milieu — much as they would experience in real tissues in vivo. Such microscale control reveals new insights into their biology and may lead to new technologies.

Understanding plastic motion of solids — in which atoms change their neighbours as they move — is complicated because it is discontinuous and does not conserve energy. An elegant study of vortex dynamics in superconductors provides new insights.

Inorganic colloids now come in many forms — spheres, discs and rods. With the addition of branched tetrapods to this list, the potential for creating materials with interesting mechanical, optical and electrical properties is even greater.

Efficiency of power conversion and thermal stability usually don't go together in dye-sensitized solar cells. Now a novel combination of an amphiphilic dye and a polymer gel electrolyte features both these important properties.

In March 2003, ionic liquids came of age with the announcement of BASIL, the first industrial process based on room-temperature ionic liquid technology.

Future high-speed communications devices will require efficient long-wavelength emitters that are compatible with integrated circuits. The development of a 1.5 μm GaAs LED is an important step forward.