Monthly Archives: October 2015

Upcoming PoetryFilm appearances and events

It’s been a while since I last (in a March 17, 2015 post) featured PoetryFilm. Here’s the latest from the organization’s Oct. 2015 newsletter,

Forthcoming
  • I have been invited to join the International Jury for the CYCLOP International Videopoetry Festival, 20-22 November 2015 (Kiev, Ukraine)
  • PoetryFilm Paradox events, featuring poetry films about love, as part of the BFI LOVE season, 6 and 22 December 2015 (London, UK)
  • PoetryFilm screening + Zata Banks in conversation with filmmaker Roxana Vilk at The Scottish Poetry Library, 3 December 2015 (Scotland, UK)
  • I have been invited to judge the Carbon Culture Review poetry film competition (USA)
  • poetryfilmkanal in Germany recently invited me to write an article about the poetry film artform – it can be read here

FYI, the “I” in the announcement’s text is for Zata Banks, the founder and director of PoetryFilm since 2002.

There’s more about the CYCLOP International Videopoetry Festival in a Sept. 13, 2015 posting on the PoetryFilm website,

*The 5th CYCLOP International Videopoetry Festival will take place on 20 – 22 November 2015 in Ukraine (Kyiv). The festival programme features video poetry-related lectures, workshops, round tables, discussions, presentations of international contests and festivals, as well as a demonstration of the best examples of Ukrainian and world videopoetry, a competitive programme, an awards ceremony and other related projects.

One of the projects is a new Contest for International poetry films within the framework of the CYCLOP festival. The International Jury: Alastair Cook (Filmpoem Festival, Edinburgh, Scotland), Zata Banks (PoetryFilm, London, United Kingdom), Javier Robledo (VideoBardo, Buenos Aires, Argentina), John Bennet (videopoet, USA),  Alice Lyons (Videopoet, Sligo, Ireland), Sigrun Hoellrigl (Art Visuals & Poetry, Vienna, Austria), Lucy English (Liberated Words, Bristol, United Kingdom), Tom Konyves (poet, video producer, educator and a pioneer in the field of videopoetry, British Columbia, Canada), Polina Horodyska (CYCLOP Videopoetry Festival, Kyiv, Ukraine) and Thomas Zandegiacomo (ZEBRA Poetry Film Festival, Berlin, Germany).

*Copy taken from the CYCLOP website

You can find the CYCLOP website here but you will need Ukrainian language reading skills.

I can’t find a website for the Carbon Culture Review poetry film competition or a webpage for it on the Carbon Culture Review website but  here’s what they have to say about themselves on the journal’s About page,

Carbon Culture Review is a journal at the intersection of new literature, art, technology and contemporary culture. We define culture broadly as the values, attitudes, actions and inventions of our global society and its subcultures in our modern age. Carbon Culture Review is distributed in the United States and countries throughout the world by Publisher’s Distribution Group, Inc. and Annas International as well as digitally through 0s&1s, Magzter and Amazon. CCR is a member of Councils of Literary Magazines and Presses and also publishes monthly online issues.

The last item from the announcement that I’m highlighting is Zata’s essay for poetryfilmkanal ,

Poetry films offer creative opportunities for exploring new semiotic modes and for communicating messages and meanings in innovative ways. Poetry films open up new methods of engagement, new audiences, and new means of self-expression, and also provide rich potential for the creation, perception and experience of emotion and meaning.

We are surrounded by communicative signs in literature, art, culture and in the world at large. Whilst words represent one system of communicating, there are many other ways of making meanings, for instance, colour semiotics, typographic design, and haptic, olfactive, gustatory and durational experiences – indeed, a comprehensive list could be infinite. The uses of spoken and written words to communicate represent just two approaches among many. Through using meaning-making systems other than words, by communicating without words, or by not using words alone, we can bypass these direct signifiers and tap directly into pools of meaning, or the signifieds, associated with those words. Different combinations of systems, or modes, can reinforce each other, render meanings more complex and subtle, or contrast with each other to illuminate different perspectives. Powerful juxtapositions, associations and new meanings can therefore emerge.

The essay is a good introduction for beginners and a good refresher for those in need. Btw, I understand Zata got married in March 2015. Congratulations to Zata and Joe!

Industry Standard vodka: a project that blurs the lines between art, science, and liquor distillery

“Industry City Distillery has been a beautiful accident from the start,” so begins Robb Todd’s Oct. 23, 2015 article for Fast Company about a remarkable vodka distillery situated in New York City,

Cofounders David Kyrejko and Zachary Bruner didn’t decide to make vodka because they love vodka. The distillery came about as the byproduct of a byproduct, faced challenges most distilleries don’t face, and had a goal very different from others in the drinking game.

“We make booze to pay for art and science,” Kyrejko says. [emphasis mine]

It all started with experiments focused on aquatic ecosystems and carbon dioxide production,

He [Kyrejko]  used fermentation to create CO2 [carbon dioxide] and the byproduct was alcohol. That byproduct made Kyrejko think about its applications and implications. Now, that thinking has manifested as a liquid that more and more people in New York City are coveting in the form of Industry Standard vodka.

At least part of the reason this vodka is so coveted (Note: A link has been removed),

“Vodka is one of the easiest things to make if you don’t care,” Kyrejko says, “and one of the hardest if you do.”

Vodka is difficult because there’s no way to mask the imperfections as with other liquors. To make a spirit there are usually three “cuts” made during distillation: heads, hearts, and tails. What most people drink comes from the hearts. But Kyrejko and Bruner cut theirs 30 times.

“The art is knowing how to blend cuts,” Kyrejko says, adding that other makers do not blend their vodka. “It’s a giant pain in the ass.”

Thought has been put into reducing the company’s footprint,

They say they’ve considered the waste they produce from business and environmental standpoints, as well as the energy they use to create their burning water. So they lean on beet sugar instead of grain, and sacrifice the aesthetics of their stills by insulating them rather than polishing the copper to impress tour groups. And even with about 10,000 square feet of space, they use very little of it for equipment.

“The truth is, running a distillery in an urban setting using ‘traditional’ technology just doesn’t make any sense at all,” Kyrejko says.

This is why their initial goal was to build machines that were three times more efficient than what is commercially available, he says. Now, though, he says their machines and processes are up to six times more efficient, and take up a fraction of the space and resources as traditional methods.

It’s an interesting story although I do have one quibble; I would have liked to have learned more about their art and scienceor art/science, efforts. Maybe next story, eh?

You can find the Industry City Distillery website here.

Bicycle tyres, graphene, and a cycling revolution

Despite the wording in an Oct. 29, 2015 news item on Azonano you are not being invited to visit a factory (Note: A link has been removed),

Vittoria and Directa Plus host a unique opportunity to get an inside view in the factory where pristine Graphene is produced.

Not only will a select audience get a first-hand experience in seeing the blocking patent-protected end-to-end manufacturing process, they are exclusively selected to share the story of a material that is making it possible for Vittoria to lead a cycling revolution.

You are being invited to view this video,

An Oct. 26, 2015 Vittoria press announcement, which originated the news item, waxes eloquent about its graphene-producing partner, Directa Plus, and its new ‘graphene tyres’,

Directa Plus started its journey in 2005 [emphasis mine], in a time when a number of companies joined a race in blocking patents that would give them a huge head start in the market for recently isolated material Graphene.

With a philosophy of environmental neutrality, Directa Plus chose a unique clean direction that eventually gave them the edge in the bulk manufacturing of pristine Graphene nanoplatelets. At exactly the right time for both companies, the chairmen met each other at a function. When the application of Graphene became a logical next step, Vittoria offered the challenge to try and make this material work for cycling wheels and tires.

With continuous and significant investments, Vittoria is always seeking the cutting edge in cycling performance products through innovation. Through the Directa Plus-Vittoria partnership, both companies have unlocked a whole new level.

Unique Properties of Revolutionary Material Graphene

The guided tour immediately makes clear that the state of the art facilities of Directa Plus set the bar for next generation manufacturing. In a very white and clean environment, every step in the manufacturing process takes place in a very compact area and provide a different product with a dedicated purpose.

The company is extremely proud of the achievement to have zero impact on the environment. Both Vittoria and Directa Plus share an intense focus on quality, safety, health and environmental protection and this is clearly visible throughout the factory tour. After a close look at the overall production plant, the super-expansion process, the exfoliation and the output of 30 tons of Graphene end products in various shapes and forms, unique real-life applications are demonstrated.

One of the Graphene Plus’ products is a super-performant adsorbent towards hydrocarbons for water and soil purification. As demonstrated in the presence of the attendees, a highly polluted water tank is filtered with Graphene resulting in potable water.

Safety requirements prevent a live fireresistance demo, but Directa Plus shows a video that demonstrates the ability to treat a material with Graphene to achieve a completely non-flammable end result. Additional practical applications were illustrated through Vittoria best practices: commercial products, available for sale worldwide.

The Vittoria Best Practices: Carbon, Rubber, Special Applications

Vittoria introduced Graphene-enhanced carbon wheels for high performance road and MTB wheels in 2014. In close collaboration with Directa Plus, Vittoria will also soon introduce full carbon clinchers that can be mounted as a tubeless system.

In September this year, Vittoria announced a massive revision of its product range that includes the fastest road tire ever measured, as well as the best uncompromised competitive products for road racing in the market.

Furthermore, a highly innovative combination of Graphene and Vittoria’s 4C (4 compound) technology has enabled the introduction of more strength, more grip and greater durability for performance MTB tires. Vittoria even extended its newfound Graphene expertise to deliver fast-rolling and durable city tires that bring the greatly enhanced rubber properties to all consumers.

Perhaps the most remarkable achievement of all is the combined expertise of Directa Plus for
Graphene and the tire construction capabilities of Vittoria’s manufacturing facility Lion Tyres, dedicated to the special application of electric mountain bike tires. Again leveraging the 4C technology and specific Graphene-enhanced compounds, Vittoria has now developed 2 tires that can handle the electric engine torque as well as the roughest of terrains seemingly without effort.

No Compromise.

Effectively, the introduction of Graphene allows for natural material barriers of rubber to be removed, which means that there is no longer the need for compromises between speed, grip, durability and puncture resistance. All these features are now reaching their maximum possibilities.

Full carbon wheels will also reach new heights. With the application of Graphene, the natural properties of carbon are pushed way beyond natural limits in lateral stiffness, impact strength, weight reduction and heat dissipation, just to highlight a few key areas. The features of carbon are now extended to withstand the high pressure of tubeless mounted tires even under heavy braking circumstances without compromise.

In short, this is why Vittoria has started a cycling revolution.

Directa Plus started its graphene journey very early when you consider that the material was not successfully isolated until 2004 by Andre Geim and Konstantin (Kostya) Novosolov at the University of Manchester.

A nanoscale bacteria power grid

It’s not often you see the word ‘spectacular’ when reading a science news item but it can be found in an Oct. 21, 2015 news item on ScienceDaily,

Electrical energy from the socket — this convenient type of power supply is apparently used by some microorganisms. Cells can meet their energy needs in the form of electricity through nano-wire connections. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen have discovered these possibly smallest power grids in the world when examining cell aggregates of methane degrading microorganisms. They consist of two completely different cell types, which can only jointly degrade methane. Scientists have discovered wire-like connections between the cells, which are relevant in energy exchanges.

It was a spectacular [emphasis mine] scientific finding when researchers discovered electrical wiring between microorganisms using iron as energy source in 2010. Immediately the question came up if electric power exchange is common in other microbially mediated reactions. One of the processes in question was the anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) that is responsible for the degradation of the greenhouse gas methane in the seafloor, and therefore has a great relevance for Earth climate. The microorganisms involved have been described for the first time in 2000 by researchers from Bremen and since then have been extensively studied.

This image accompanies the research,

Caption: Electron micrograph of the nanowires shows connecting archaea and sulphate reducing bacteria. The wires stretch out for several micrometres, longer than a single cell. The white bar represents the length of one micrometre. The arrows indicate the nanowires (A=ANME-Archaeen, H=HotSeep-1 partner bacteria). Credit: MPI f. Biophysical Chemistry

Caption: Electron micrograph of the nanowires shows connecting archaea and sulphate reducing bacteria. The wires stretch out for several micrometres, longer than a single cell. The white bar represents the length of one micrometre. The arrows indicate the nanowires (A=ANME-Archaeen, H=HotSeep-1 partner bacteria).
Credit: MPI f. Biophysical Chemistry

A Oct. 21, 2015 Max Planck press release (also on EurekAlert), which originated the news item, provides more information about methane in the ocean, power wires, and electron transporters,

In the ocean, methane is produced from the decay of dead biomass in subsurface sediments. The methane rises upwards to the seafloor, but before reaching the water column it is degraded by special consortia of archaea and bacteria. The archaea take up methane and oxidise it to carbonate. They pass on energy to their partner bacteria, so that the reaction can proceed. The bacteria respire sulphate instead of oxygen to gain energy (sulphate reducers). This may be an ancient metabolism, already relevant billions of years ago when the Earth’s atmosphere was oxygen-free. Yet today it remains unknown how the anaerobic oxidation of methane works biochemically.

Gunter Wegener, who authors the publication together with PhD student Viola Krukenberg, says: “We focused on thermophilic AOM consortia living at 60 degrees Celsius. For the first time we were able to isolate the partner bacteria to grow them alone. Then we systematically compared the physiology of the isolate with that of the AOM culture. We wanted to know which substances can serve as an energy carrier between the archaea and sulphate reducers.” Most compounds were ruled out quickly. At first, hydrogen was considered as energy source. However, the archaea did not produce sufficient hydrogen to explain the growth of sulphate reducers – hence the researchers had to change their strategy.

Direct power wires and electron transporters

One possible alternative was to look for direct connections channelling electrons between the cells. Using electron microscopy on the thermophilic AOM cultures this idea was confirmed. Dietmar Riedel, head of electron microscopy facilities at the Max Planck Institute in Goettingen says: “It was really challenging to visualize the cable-like structures. We embedded aggregates under high pressure using different embedding media. Ultrathin sections of these aggregates were then examined in near-native state using transmission electron microscopy.”

Viola Krukenberg adds: “We found all genes necessary for biosynthesis of the cellular connections called pili. Only when methane is added as energy source these genes are activated and pili are formed between bacteria and archaea.”

With length of several micrometres the wires can exceed the length of the cells by far, but their diameter is only a few nanometres. These wires provide the contact between the closely spaced cells and explain the spatial structure of the consortium, as was shown by a team of researchers led by Victoria Orphan from Caltech.

“Consortia of archaea and bacteria are abundant in nature. Our next step is to see whether other types also show such nanowire-like connections. It is important to understand how methane-degrading microbial consortia work, as they provide important functions in nature”, explains Antje Boetius, leader of the research group at the Institute in Bremen.

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Intercellular wiring enables electron transfer between methanotrophic archaea and bacteria by Gunter Wegener, Viola Krukenberg, Dietmar Riedel, Halina E. Tegetmeyer, & Antje Boetius. Nature 526, 587–590 (22 October 2015) doi:10.1038/nature15733 Published online 21 October 2015

This paper is behind a paywall.

Nanotechnology-enabled full suit body protection against viral, biological, and chemical threats

Demron ICE: the world's first full-body suit that protects against viral, biological and chemical threats. Courtesy: Radiation Shield Technologies

Demron ICE: the world’s first full-body suit that protects against viral, biological and chemical threats. Courtesy: Radiation Shield Technologies

I liked it better when I thought the suit was called Demon ICE but it’s real name is Demron ICE and it’s being introduced at a trade show on the day before Hallowe’en 2015 according to an Oct. 28, 2015 news item on Azonano,

Radiation Shield Technologies, a global developer of advanced personal-protection gear, today announced its introduction of Demron ICE: the world’s first full-body suit that protects against viral, biological and chemical threats using a patented self-cooling fabric that is ASTM F1671 Blood and Viral Penetration Resistance certified.

The suit will be unveiled and exhibited Tuesday through Friday at the 8th Annual CBRNe [Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and high yield Explosives] Convergence Congress & Exhibition in Orlando, Fla. Specifically, the suit will be exhibited at the RST Booth No. 112, where live radiation testing of the company’s patented technologies will also take place.

An Oct. 27, 2015 Radiation Shield Technologies (RST) press release on BusinessWire, which originated the news item, provides more details about the presentation,

With a focus on promoting industry collaboration and preparedness for all hazard threats, the conference is considered the most important annual event for the global CBRNe community. Planned by the editor of CBRNe World magazine, the program unites top regional and international military and civil expert speakers providing shortcuts to best practice. Discussion topics will cover the latest hot-button issues, including responding to everything from nuclear threats to the Ebola virus. Ronald DeMeo, MD, president and CEO of RST, will provide a presentation on “Nuclear Countermeasures” at noon Thursday at “Stream H.” The presentation will explore varied topics including:

  • Preparing for CBRNe threats
  • Multi-hazard protection available today
  • Military first responders: the first line of defense
  • Military partners: case studies and examples

A key component of the presentation will focus on the increased need for advanced solutions such as Demron ICE, which is differentiated from others on the market by its proven ability to enable the longest extended use with the lowest degree of heat stress. The gear, available at www.Radshield.com, is made with the Demron fabric and includes booties, gloves and a face seal.

The press release also provides an explanation for why this new suit was developed without  explaining how this is a nanotechnology-enabled product,

“We developed Demron ICE in response to a growing global demand from healthcare workers, members of the military and other first responders for a comfortable full-body suit that provides protection against viral, biological, and chemical threats and may be comfortably worn for prolonged periods of time with significantly less heat stress than other gear on the market,” said Ronald DeMeo, M.D., MBA, president of RST and the surgeon who invented Demron.

Here’s how other CBRN suits work: When first responders wear the CBRN suits, their body heat is quickly trapped in the suits, causing the users to become increasingly weak until they are incapacitated. Because the suits are designed to keep chemical agents from entering, they also keep heat from exiting. However, Demron ICE is differentiated by its unique thermally conductive properties that enable heat to leave the suits through thermal radiation and also enable the suits to be cooled externally without compromising the suits.

“With Demron ICE, first responders can operate in the field longer and safer than ever before,” Dr. DeMeo said. “As a global leader in advanced personal protection gear, Radiation Shield Technologies will continue to innovate and introduce new products to keep pace with increased threats from an ever-changing enemy in today’s uncertain world.”

Demron ICE, which exceeds the latest Centers for Disease Control guidelines, is the most thermally conductive impermeable suit on the market today. Demron ICE’s self-cooling system also makes it possible to provide external cooling with ice packs or wet towels and to monitor the user’s body temperature without having to remove or penetrate the suit. The Demron ICE material also is differentiated for its superior flexibility, ruggedness, durability, and ability to withstand tearing, extensive use, and decontamination procedures and corrosive agents.

Certifications include: ASTM F1670, ASTM F1671 Blood and Viral Penetration. Resistance: NFPA 1994/2007 for Chem/Bio (2012 pending), ISO 8194 Certified: Radiation Protective Clothing, ISO 9001 Certified: Quality Management.

Demron ICE is part of the Demron product line, which also includes a series of full-body suits, vests, blankets and medical X-ray vests and aprons that provide chemical, biological, radiation and heat-stress protection. Demron, which has many U.S. and international patents, consists of an advanced radiopaque nanopolymeric compound [emphasis mine] fused between layers of fabric to manufacture the personal-protection gear.

Demron products are currently deployed worldwide by every branch of the U.S. military, U.S. CST teams, FDNY, IAEC, NASA, and many international first responder and military teams in China, Iraq, Kuwait, South Korea, Pakistan, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, and Singapore. Scientists have selected Demron for thermo-mechanical suits for future space travel. RST manufactures Demron and the nano materials at its research and development facility in Miami.

The Radiation Shield Technologies website can be found here.

Science City: Manchester 2016

Manchester (UK) is celebrating its designation as the European City of Science concurrently with the European Open Science Forum (ESOF) 2016 which will be held there as I noted in a May 8, 2015 posting, which focused largely on the forum. An Oct. 22, 2015 Manchester: European City of Science announcement reveals early details about the city’s celebration of science,

Be part of the Manchester Science Formula

We’re concocting something special for Manchester for 2016. You might have already heard about Manchester becoming the European City of Science, and we would like to invite you to get involved!

Manchester’s year was started by celebrating alongside the launch 2015 Manchester Science Festival, at the Museum of Science and Industry. We captured everyone’s enthusiasm for science in our pop-up photo booth, where many made a promise to bring science alive in Manchester over the next year.  You can see more pictures and promises here.

We’re inviting everyone to be involved and make the most of the focus on science in Manchester in 2016. If you would like to find out how to join us, please visit manchestersciencecity.com to join our newsletter and you can also discover more about our plans for The Manchester Robot Orchestra and the Big School Science Share, just two of the exciting developments announced at the launch.

The 2015 Manchester Science Festival is still ongoing and once it ends Manchester is hosting a science policy week,

Manchester Science Festival

Running from 22 October – 1 November, the Manchester Science Festival is in its 9th year and promises to be bigger and better than ever before.

Curated by the Museum of Science and Industry, there will be events held city-wide that are suitable for all ages.

Keep an eye on #MSF15 for trending topics and the website for all the available events.

Manchester Policy Week

For five jam-packed days in November, the Manchester Policy Week takes over the University of Manchester. There will be everything from lectures to workshops to films and they’re open to everyone.

This year, Manchester Policy Week has the theme of ‘Science, Technology and Public Policy’ as part of the European City of Science.

Policy week runs from 2-6 November.

I’m quite taken with what they’re doing in Manchester and with how this ‘city of science’ festival has grown. I believe it was introduced by the Irish when they hosted ESOF 2012 in Dublin and later adopted by Copenhagen when they hosted ESOF 2014. Each city has given this festival its own flavour and it is becoming a richer experience each time. Bravo!

Structural colo(u)r with a twist

There’s a nice essay about structural colour on the Duke University website (h/t Nanowerk). Long time readers know my favourite piece of writing on the subject is by Cristina Luiggi for The Scientist magazine which I profiled here in a Feb. 7, 2013 posting.

This latest piece seems to have been *written by Anika Radiya-Dixit* and it is very good. From the Oct. 27, 2015 Duke University blog posting titled, Iridescent Beauty: Development, function and evolution of plant nanostructures that influence animal behavior,

Iridescent wings of a Morpho butterfly

Iridescent wings of a Morpho butterfly

Creatures like the Morpho butterfly on the leaf above appear to be covered in shimmering blue and green metallic colors. This phenomenon is called “iridescence,” meaning that color appears to change as the angle changes, much like soap bubbles and sea shells.

In animals, the physical mechanisms and function of structural color have been studied significantly as a signal for recognition or mate choice.

Glover, one of the post’s authors, is a scientist who believes there may be another reason for iridescence,

On the other hand, Beverley Glover believes that such shimmering in plants can actually influence animal behavior by attracting pollinators better than their non-iridescent counterparts. Glover,Director of Cambridge University Botanic Garden,  presented her study during the Biology Seminar Series in the French Family Science Center on Monday [Oct. 26, 2015] earlier this week.

Hibiscus Trionum

Hibiscus Trionum

The metallic property of flowers like the Hibiscus Trionum above are generated by diffraction grating – similar to the way CD shines – to create color from transparent material.

In order to observe the effects of the iridescence on pollinators like bees, Glover created artificial materials with a surface structure of nanoscale ridges, similar to the microscopic view of a petal’s epidermal surface below.

Nanoscale ridges on a petal's epidermal surface.

Nanoscale ridges on a petal’s epidermal surface.

In the first set of experiments, Glover and her team marked bees with paint to follow their behavior as they set the insects to explore iridescent flowers. Some were covered in a red grating – containing a sweet solution as a reward – and others with a blue iridescent grating – containing a sour solution as deterrent. The experiment demonstrated that the bees were able to detect the iridescent signal produced by the petal’s nanoridges, and – as a result – correctly identified the rewarding flowers.

It’s worth reading the Oct. 27, 2015 Duke University blog posting to just to see the pictures used to illustrate the ideas and to find out about the second experiment.

*’written by Beverley Glover and Anika Radiya-Dixit’ has been changed to ‘Anika Radiya-Dixit’ as per information in a comment received November 27, 2021.

Snake venom as a healing agent in hydrogels

The Brazilian lancehead is one of several South American pit vipers that produce venom that has proven to be a powerful blood coagulant. Scientists at Rice University have combined a derivative of the venom with their injectable hydrogels to create a material that can quickly stop bleeding and protect wounds, even in patients who take anti-coagulant medications. (Credit: Photo by Greg Hume via Wikipedia)

The Brazilian lancehead is one of several South American pit vipers that produce venom that has proven to be a powerful blood coagulant. Scientists at Rice University have combined a derivative of the venom with their injectable hydrogels to create a material that can quickly stop bleeding and protect wounds, even in patients who take anti-coagulant medications. (Credit: Photo by Greg Hume via Wikipedia)

Mesmerizing and beautiful in their way, venomous snakes are healers, as well as, killers. An Oct. 27, 2015 news item on Azonano describes a new healing use for their venom,

A nanofiber hydrogel infused with snake venom may be the best material to stop bleeding quickly, according to Rice University scientists.

The hydrogel called SB50 incorporates batroxobin, a venom produced by two species of South American pit viper. It can be injected as a liquid and quickly turns into a gel that conforms to the site of a wound, keeping it closed, and promotes clotting within seconds.

An Oct. 26, 2015 Rice University news release, which originated the news item, provides more details (Note: Links have been removed),

Rice chemist Jeffrey Hartgerink, lead author Vivek Kumar and their colleagues reported their discovery in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Biomaterials Science and Engineering. The hydrogel may be most useful for surgeries, particularly for patients who take anti-coagulant drugs to thin their blood.

“It’s interesting that you can take something so deadly and turn it into something that has the potential to save lives,” Hartgerink said.

Batroxobin was recognized for its properties as a coagulant – a substance that encourages blood to clot – in 1936. It has been used in various therapies as a way to remove excess fibrin proteins from the blood to treat thrombosis and as a topical hemostat. It has also been used as a diagnostic tool to determine blood-clotting time in the presence of heparin, an anti-coagulant drug.

“From a clinical perspective, that’s far and away the most important issue here,” Hartgerink said. “There’s a lot of different things that can trigger blood coagulation, but when you’re on heparin, most of them don’t work, or they work slowly or poorly. That obviously causes problems if you’re bleeding.

“Heparin blocks the function of thrombin, an enzyme that begins a cascade of reactions that lead to the clotting of blood,” he said. “Batroxobin is also an enzyme with similar function to thrombin, but its function is not blocked by heparin. This is important because surgical bleeding in patients taking heparin can be a serious problem. The use of batroxobin allows us to get around this problem because it can immediately start the clotting process, regardless of whether heparin is there or not.”

The batroxobin combined with the Rice lab’s hydrogels isn’t taken directly from snakes, Hartgerink said. The substance used for medicine is produced by genetically modified bacteria and then purified, avoiding the risk of other contaminant toxins.

The Rice researchers combined batroxobin with their synthetic, self-assembling nanofibers, which can be loaded into a syringe and injected at the site of a wound, where they reassemble themselves into a gel.

Tests showed the new material stopped a wound from bleeding in as little as six seconds, and further prodding of the wound minutes later did not reopen it. The researchers also tested several other options: the hydrogel without batroxobin, the batroxobin without the hydrogel, a current clinical hemostat known as GelFoam and an alternative self-assembling hemostat known as Puramatrix and found that none were as effective, especially in the presence of anti-coagulants.

The new work builds upon the Rice lab’s extensive development of injectable hydrogel scaffolds that help wounds heal and grow natural tissue. The synthetic scaffolds are built from the peptide sequences to mimic natural processes.

“To be clear, we did not discover nor do any of the initial investigations of batroxobin,” Hartgerink said. “Its properties have been well-known for many decades. What we did was combine it with the hydrogel we’ve been working on for a long time.

“We think SB50 has great potential to stop surgical bleeding, particularly in difficult cases in which the patient is taking heparin or other anti-coagulants,” he said. “SB50 takes the powerful clotting ability of this snake venom and makes it far more effective by delivering it in an easily localized hydrogel that prevents possible unwanted systemic effects from using batroxobin alone.”

SB50 will require FDA approval before clinical use, Hartgerink said. While batroxobin is already approved, the Rice lab’s hydrogel has not yet won approval, a process he expects will take several more years of testing.

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Nanofibrous Snake Venom Hemostat by Vivek A. Kumar, Navindee C. Wickremasinghe, Siyu Shi, and Jeffrey D. Hartgerink. ACS Biomater. Sci. Eng., Article ASAP
DOI: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.5b00356 Publication Date (Web): October 22, 2015

Copyright © 2015 American Chemical Society

This paper is behind a paywall.

A perovskite memristor with three stable resistive states

Thanks to Dexter Johnson’s Oct. 22, 2015 posting on his Nanoclast blog (on the IEEE [Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers]) website, I’ve found information about a second memristor with three terminals, aka, three stable resistive states,  (the first is mentioned in my April 10, 2015 posting). From Dexter’s posting (Note: Links have been removed),

Now researchers at ETH Zurich have designed a memristor device out of perovskite just 5 nanometres thick that has three stable resistive states, which means it can encode data as 0,1 and 2, or a “trit” as opposed to a “bit.”

The research, which was published in the journal ACS Nano, developed model devices that have two competing nonvolatile resistive switching processes. These switching processes can be alternatively triggered by the effective switching voltage and time applied to the device.

“Our component could therefore also be useful for a new type of IT (Information Technology) that is not based on binary logic, but on a logic that provides for information located ‘between’ the 0 and 1,” said Jennifer Rupp, professor in the Department of Materials at ETH Zurich, in a press release. “This has interesting implications for what is referred to as fuzzy logic, which seeks to incorporate a form of uncertainty into the processing of digital information. You could describe it as less rigid computing.”

An Oct. 19, 2015 Swiss National Science Foundation press release provides context for the research,

Two IT giants, Intel and HP, have entered a race to produce a commercial version of memristors, a new electronics component that could one day replace flash memory (DRAM) used in USB memory sticks, SD cards and SSD hard drives. “Basically, memristors require less energy since they work at lower voltages,” explains Jennifer Rupp, professor in the Department of Materials at ETH Zurich and holder of a SNSF professorship grant. “They can be made much smaller than today’s memory modules, and therefore offer much greater density. This means they can store more megabytes of information per square millimetre.” But currently memristors are only at the prototype stage. [emphasis mine]

There is a memristor-based product on the market as I noted in a Sept. 10, 2015 posting, although that may not be the type of memristive device that Rupp seems to be discussing. (Should you have problems accessing the Swiss National Science Foundation press release, you can find a lightly edited version (a brief [two sentences] history of the memristor has been left out) here on Azonano.

Jacopo Prisco wrote for CNN online in a March 2, 2015 article about memristors and Rupp’s work (Note: A link has been removed),

Simply put, the memristor could mean the end of electronics as we know it and the beginning of a new era called “ionics”.

The transistor, developed in 1947, is the main component of computer chips. It functions using a flow of electrons, whereas the memristor couples the electrons with ions, or electrically charged atoms.

In a transistor, once the flow of electrons is interrupted by, say, cutting the power, all information is lost. But a memristor can remember the amount of charge that was flowing through it, and much like a memory stick it will retain the data even when the power is turned off.

This can pave the way for computers that will instantly turn on and off like a light bulb and never lose data: the RAM, or memory, will no longer be erased when the machine is turned off, without the need to save anything to hard drives as with current technology.

Jennifer Rupp is a Professor of electrochemical materials at ETH Zurich, and she’s working with IBM to build a memristor-based machine.

Memristors, she points out, function in a way that is similar to a human brain: “Unlike a transistor, which is based on binary codes, a memristor can have multi-levels. You could have several states, let’s say zero, one half, one quarter, one third, and so on, and that gives us a very powerful new perspective on how our computers may develop in the future,” she told CNN’s Nick Glass.

This is the CNN interview with Rupp,

Prisco also provides an update about HP’s memristor-based product,

After manufacturing the first ever memristor, Hewlett Packard has been working for years on a new type of computer based on the technology. According to plans, it will launch by 2020.

Simply called “The Machine”, it uses “electrons for processing, photons for communication, and ions for storage.”

I first wrote about HP’s The Machine in a June 25, 2014 posting (scroll down about 40% of the way).

There are many academic teams researching memristors including a team at Northwestern University. I highlighted their announcement of a three-terminal version in an April 10, 2015 posting. While Rupp’s team achieved its effect with a perovskite substrate, the Northwestern team used a molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) substrate.

For anyone wanting to read the latest research from ETH, here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Uncovering Two Competing Switching Mechanisms for Epitaxial and Ultrathin Strontium Titanate-Based Resistive Switching Bits by Markus Kubicek, Rafael Schmitt, Felix Messerschmitt, and Jennifer L. M. Rupp. ACS Nano, Article ASAP DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.5b02752 Publication Date (Web): October 8, 2015

Copyright © 2015 American Chemical Society

This paper is behind a paywall.

Finally, should you find the commercialization aspects of the memristor story interesting, there’s a June 6, 2015 posting by Knowm CEO (chief executive officer) Alex Nugent waxes eloquent on HP Labs’ ‘memristor problem’ (Note: A link has been removed),

Today I read something that did not surprise me. HP has said that their memristor technology will be replaced by traditional DRAM memory for use in “The Machine”. This is not surprising for those of us who have been in the field since before HP’s memristor marketing engine first revved up in 2008. While I have to admit the miscommunication between HP’s research and business development departments is starting to get really old, I do understand the problem, or at least part of it.

There are two ways to develop memristors. The first way is to force them to behave as you want them to behave. Most memristors that I have seen do not behave like fast, binary, non-volatile, deterministic switches. This is a problem because this is how HP wants them to behave. Consequently a perception has been created that memristors are for non-volatile fast memory. HP wants a drop-in replacement for standard memory because this is a large and established market. Makes sense of course, but its not the whole story on memristors.

Memristors exhibit a huge range of amazing phenomena. Some are very fast to switch but operate probabilistically. Others can be changed a little bit at a time and are ideal for learning. Still others have capacitance (with memory), or act as batteries. I’ve even seen some devices that can be programmed to be a capacitor or a resistor or a memristor. (Seriously).

Nugent, whether you agree with him or not provides, some fascinating insight. In the excerpt I’ve included here, he seems to provide confirmation that it’s possible to state ‘there are no memristors on the market’ and ‘there are memristors on the market’ because different devices are being called memristors.

US White House’s grand computing challenge could mean a boost for research into artificial intelligence and brains

An Oct. 20, 2015 posting by Lynn Bergeson on Nanotechnology Now announces a US White House challenge incorporating nanotechnology, computing, and brain research (Note: A link has been removed),

On October 20, 2015, the White House announced a grand challenge to develop transformational computing capabilities by combining innovations in multiple scientific disciplines. See https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2015/10/15/nanotechnology-inspired-grand-challenge-future-computing The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) states that, after considering over 100 responses to its June 17, 2015, request for information, it “is excited to announce the following grand challenge that addresses three Administration priorities — the National Nanotechnology Initiative, the National Strategic Computing Initiative (NSCI), and the BRAIN initiative.” The grand challenge is to “[c]reate a new type of computer that can proactively interpret and learn from data, solve unfamiliar problems using what it has learned, and operate with the energy efficiency of the human brain.”

Here’s where the Oct. 20, 2015 posting, which originated the news item, by Lloyd Whitman, Randy Bryant, and Tom Kalil for the US White House blog gets interesting,

 While it continues to be a national priority to advance conventional digital computing—which has been the engine of the information technology revolution—current technology falls far short of the human brain in terms of both the brain’s sensing and problem-solving abilities and its low power consumption. Many experts predict that fundamental physical limitations will prevent transistor technology from ever matching these twin characteristics. We are therefore challenging the nanotechnology and computer science communities to look beyond the decades-old approach to computing based on the Von Neumann architecture as implemented with transistor-based processors, and chart a new path that will continue the rapid pace of innovation beyond the next decade.

There are growing problems facing the Nation that the new computing capabilities envisioned in this challenge might address, from delivering individualized treatments for disease, to allowing advanced robots to work safely alongside people, to proactively identifying and blocking cyber intrusions. To meet this challenge, major breakthroughs are needed not only in the basic devices that store and process information and the amount of energy they require, but in the way a computer analyzes images, sounds, and patterns; interprets and learns from data; and identifies and solves problems. [emphases mine]

Many of these breakthroughs will require new kinds of nanoscale devices and materials integrated into three-dimensional systems and may take a decade or more to achieve. These nanotechnology innovations will have to be developed in close coordination with new computer architectures, and will likely be informed by our growing understanding of the brain—a remarkable, fault-tolerant system that consumes less power than an incandescent light bulb.

Recent progress in developing novel, low-power methods of sensing and computation—including neuromorphic, magneto-electronic, and analog systems—combined with dramatic advances in neuroscience and cognitive sciences, lead us to believe that this ambitious challenge is now within our reach. …

This is the first time I’ve come across anything that publicly links the BRAIN initiative to computing, artificial intelligence, and artificial brains. (For my own sake, I make an arbitrary distinction between algorithms [artificial intelligence] and devices that simulate neural plasticity [artificial brains].)The emphasis in the past has always been on new strategies for dealing with Parkinson’s and other neurological diseases and conditions.