US - WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Engineers at Purdue University are creating a wireless device the size of a rice grain that could be implanted in tumors to tell doctors the precise dose of radiation received and locate the exact position of tumors during treatment.

Researchers at Purdue's Birck Nanotechnology Center have tested a dime-size prototype to prove the concept and expect to have the miniature version completed by the end of summer, said Babak Ziaie (pronounced Zee-Eye-Eee), an associate professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Mechanical engineers at Purdue University have proven that the same sort of "deterministic chaos" behind the baffling uncertainties of the stock market and long-term weather conditions also interferes with measurements taken with a commonly used scientific instrument.

   Scientists from Stuttgart demonstrate how carnivorous plants set traps using an ingenious material design.

Plants are able, using organic substances, to achieve effects that we otherwise mostly know only from technical materials. One example of this is the carnivorous pitcher plant, as researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research and the University of Hohenheim have shown. These plants catch insects and hold them using traps with a double layer of crystalline wax. The upper layer has crystalloids which contaminate the attachment organs that insects use to adhere themselves to surfaces. The lower layer additionally reduces the contact area between the insect feet and plant surface. The insects thus slip into the pitcher-shaped traps, where they are digested (The Journal of Experimental Biology, December 2005). These results provide ideas for further developments of technological anti-adhesive surfaces.

LEUVEN, Belgium & HSINCHU, Taiwan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 16, 2006--IMEC, Europe's largest independent research center in the field of nanoelectronics, and UMC (NYSE: UMC - News ; TSE: 2303 - News ), a world-leading semiconductor foundry, today announced the extension of IMEC's Europractice IC Service with the offering of UMC's 90nm process technology. UMC and Europractice have collaborated closely for many years in offering UMC's Silicon Shuttle® Multi Project Wafer (MPW) platform for prototyping and production services to European companies and academia. The availability of 90nm technology will be of particular interest to European-based companies and institutes with low-volume manufacturing needs, such as universities, research centers, start-up companies, and companies with niche markets.

.. with Nanofiber Technology for Automotive and Light Truck Applications

Nano Products - USA - AMSOIL INC. of Superior, WI announces the introduction of a new premium, high efficiency air filter utilizing nanofiber technology with a four year/100,000 mile service life guarantee and superior air flow. Positioning itself to be a world class leader in filtration, the AMSOIL Ea Filter is incomparable in both design and performance.

In lab testing Ea media with nanofibers removed 5 times more dust than the average cellulose filter and 50 times more dust than the average wet gauze media. Ea media also has 3 times the airflow of cellulose filters and is equal to wet gauze filters at the very low 0.5 inches of restriction. The proprietary Ea media held 15 times more dust than the average wet gauze type filter. In short, AMSOIL Ea Filters offer superior performance in the three critical performance benchmarks of efficiency, flow and capacity ...more >>

A component of many proteins has been found to constitute one of the most powerful and resilient molecular "springs" in nature, researchers have discovered. The engineers and biologists from Duke University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute say their discovery could lead to a new understanding of mechanical processes within the living cell. The discovery also could provide potent nanoscale "shock absorbers" or "gate-opening springs" in tiny nanomachines. The team's findings were published in an advanced online publication of Nature on Jan. 15, 2006.

The finding that the protein components, called "ankyrin repeats," exhibit such unprecedented elastic properties could lead to a new understanding of how organisms, including humans, sense and respond to physical forces at the cellular level, the researchers said. The nanometer-sized springs are also ideal candidates for building biologically-inspired springy nanostructures and nanomaterials with an inherent ability to self-repair, they reported. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter.

Company set to capture marketing, growth opportunities in nanotechnology  

LONGMONT, Colo. – NanoProducts Corp. will expand its nanoscale material manufacturing and marketing capability following a $16.4 million investment led by a subsidiary of Koch Genesis Company, LLC. Koch Nanomaterials, LLC, which becomes a majority owner in the company, is a new investor; Southern California Gas Company has also recently increased its investment.

DUBLIN, Ireland and ROCKVILLE, Md., Jan. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Elan Corporation, plc (NYSE: ELN) and EntreMed, Inc. (Nasdaq: ENMD) today announced that they have entered into a License Agreement in which EntreMed has been granted rights to utilize Elan's proprietary NanoCrystal Technology to develop the oncology product candidate, Panzem® NCD (2ME2 or 2-methoxyestradiol). Under the terms of the License Agreement, Elan is eligible to receive payments upon the achievement of certain clinical, manufacturing, and regulatory milestones. Additionally, Elan will receive royalty payments based on sales of Panzem® NCD.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Several researchers from Sandia National Laboratories, led by principal investigator Susan Rempe, are part of a multi-institutional, multidisciplinary team developing a nano-size battery that one day could be implanted in the eye to power an artificial retina.

They are among the recipients of a five-year, $6.5 million grant recently awarded by the National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to establish a new center, the National Center for Design of Biomimetic Nanoconductors. Based at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign under the direction of principal investigator Eric Jakobsson, the center is designed to rapidly launch revolutionary ideas in the use of nanomedicine.

The center will design, model, synthesize, and fabricate nanomedical devices based on natural and synthetic ion transporters — proteins that control ion motion across the membranes of every living cell.

UK --- Scientists in Sheffield working on the fundamental biological processes of plants could make significant difference to the lives of farmers in many parts of the world. Using model plant species, such as the tiny weed Arabidopsis, the researchers have uncovered one of the processes used by the plants to protect themselves from potentially lethal environmental conditions. Their discoveries are now being applied to improve the productivity of bean farmers in South America and rice producers in Asia.