Volume 7 Issue 10, October 2012

Ethical questions arising from biotechnology first, then nanotechnology, and synthetic biology now, present common features, but as Chris Toumey explains, the scientific and ethical issues arising in each case should be treated individually.

A surface plasmon resonance imaging technique can be used to probe electrocatalytic reactions occurring on individual nanoparticles.

The photocurrent of a single photosynthetic protein can be measured by using a scanning probe tip as both an electrode and a localized light source.

Valley degeneracy in carbon nanostructures can be detrimental to electron spin control and readout based on spin blockade. As a way around this problem, it is now shown how to use a combined valley–spin blockade instead.

Constructive quantum interference is verified experimentally in a parallel single-molecule circuit, potentially offering an intuitive approach to designing intramolecular circuits.

An elegant modification of nuclear magnetic resonance allows detailed structural analysis of self-assembled semiconductor quantum dots, so far hindered by the intrinsic strain in these nanostructures.

Microfluidic technologies can tackle some of the challenges in translating nanoparticles to the clinic. This Progress Article outlines these advances and offers an assessment of the near- and long-term impact of microfluidic technologies in nanomedicine.

The bandgap of a low-disorder, bent carbon nanotube is exploited to achieve Pauli blockade and spin resonance.

Current-induced magnetic domain wall motion can be triggered by an applied magnetic field, and its motion is described by the vector sum of the velocities imparted by current and magnetic field driving terms.

An all-optical logic gate using stimulated polariton scattering is made by combining two semiconductor nanowire optical switches.

Optically detected nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy can be used to measure the composition and strain distribution of individual quantum dots.

Graphene nanoribbons with a clear transport gap and high on/off ratio are grown directly into complex architectures using plasma chemical vapour deposition onto lithographically defined nickel nanobar substrates.

A single nuclear spin is detected at a distance of ∼3 nm from a nitrogen-vacancy centre in diamond.

Kirchhoff's conductance superposition law is investigated in single-molecule circuits. A single-molecule junction with two backbones in a parallel configuration can exhibit more than twice the conductance of a single-molecule junction with one backbone, a demonstration of constructive quantum interference.

A plasmonic-based electrochemical current imaging technique can be used to study the electrocatalytic properties of individual platinum nanoparticles.

The photocurrent generated by a single photosynthetic protein can be measured using a scanning near-field optical probe that functions as both an electrode and a light source.

The M13 filamentous virus can be used to deliver large numbers of magnetic nanoparticles with a minimum number of targeting ligands for improved molecular imaging.