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The UK has dropped the ball on research into the health and safety aspects of nanomaterials, but green nanotechnology presents opportunities for researchers and companies around the world.
For decades semiconductors have formed the core of microelectronic circuits. Although nanofluidics may not put silicon out of business, it will likely open a host of new applications.
Designer nanotubes based on mesoporous silica can now penetrate the thick cell walls of plants and deliver DNA and their activators. This opens the way to precisely manipulate gene expression in plants at the single-cell level.
A new approach to magnetic resonance force microscopy has demonstrated a resolution of 90 nm, and with further improvements it may be possible to determine the chemical compositions of single molecules.
Molecular beam epitaxy is widely used in research and industry to make semiconductor devices and structures. However, despite its ability to control matter with near-atomic precision, the technique is overlooked in most histories of nanoscience and nanotechnology.
A combination of theory and experiment is shedding new light on the structural and electronic properties of gold nanoclusters, including cage-like structures that contain other atoms.
The results of exercises in which members of the public discuss nanotechnology with scientists might not be surprising but, as Richard Jones explains, they are still worthwhile.