Sweating the Small Stuff
Recent research news from the front lines of the nanotech/biotech/communications revolution:
3/04/08: Nanotube Radio
2/15/08: Nanowire arrays think big
2/12/08: Casting a long line
2/09/08: Hearing the sound of quantum drums
2/04/08: A memory breakthrough
1/16/08: DNA "fabricator" constructs walking DNA
1/03/08: The spintronics challenge
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Alex Zettl's tiny radios, built from nanotubes, could improve everything from cell
phones to medical diagnostics.
Zettl's team set out to miniaturize individual components of a radio receiver,but integrating separate nanoscale components proved difficult. About a year ago Zettl and his students had a eureka moment. "We realized that, by golly, one nanotube can do it all. Within a matter of days, we had a functioning radio." The first two transmissions it received were "Layla" by Derek and the Dominos and "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys. |
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Other science stuff
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 Tiny Tunes
A nanoradio is a carbon nanotube anchored to an electrode, with a second electrode just beyond its free end. When a voltage is applied between the electrodes, electrons flow from a battery through the nanotube, jumping off its tip to the posi tive electrode. A radio wave alternately attracts and repels the nanotube tip, causing it to vibrate in sync. When the tip is farther from the electrode, fewer electrons bridge the gap; the varying electrical signal recovers the audio signal encoded by the radio wave.
Credit: John Hersey
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