Monthly Archives: September 2013

Your heartbeat is your password

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Bionym has created a device, Nymi,  which allows you to use your heartbeat as a password according to a Sept. 10, 2013 news release on EurekAlert,

The next generation of biometric technology launches today with the Nymi, from Bionym, a technology start-up founded by University of Toronto engineering graduates. The Nymi is the world’s first wearable authentication device that uses your unique heartbeat to unlock your identity. The convenient and secure authentication is enabled through an embedded electrocardiogram (ECG) sensor. When the Nymi recognizes your personal ECG, it will communicate your identity to your devices. You remain authenticated until the Nymi is removed. The activated Nymi can then be used to gain access to all registered devices, completely bypassing passwords and PINs for seamless and secure access. Passwords, PINs and even keys and cards will become a thing of the past.

Not only is your ECG entirely unique, but the technology alone is also unlike anything currently on the market. The Nymi empowers users to bring their identity back to the digital world, not as a number, but as a person. Beyond direct access to your technology, the Nymi also allows users to take their identity to a completely interactive level. Simple, task-specific gesture commands allow for a dynamic interactive experience between the user and the technology that surrounds their daily life. Both motion sensing and proximity detection work simultaneously to enhance technological experiences. Something as simple as the twist of a wrist now has the capability to unlock a car or more.

While offering convenience and ease of use, security remains a top priority. The Nymi functions as a three-factor security system. It requires your personalized Nymi, your unique heartbeat, and a smartphone or device that has been registered to the app. This system, and the cutting edge biometrics supporting it, allow for complete security without compromising convenience. By registering with the app, users have the ability to create custom notifications, allowing for seamless connection to emails, texts, social updates and more. The app will be available on iOS, Android, Windows and Mac OSX.

Here’s a video that appears to be demonstrating the Nymi, from the Get Nymi website,

Shades of the Pebble (a watch designed to do much more, although I understand it’s a bit ‘buggy‘)! It’s nice to see the Nymi developers have considered privacy issues but I don’t see any mention of health issues in the news release or on the Bionym company website, e.g., could this cause a problem for people with pacemakers? After all, the person in the video is a young male and, presumably, healthy.

Nanocellulose and forest residues at Luleå University of Technology (Sweden)

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Swedish scientists have developed a new production technique which scales up the manufacture of cellulose nanfibres and cellulose nanocrystals (CNC, aka nanocrystalline cellulose [NCC]) from waste materials. From the Aug. 30,2013 news item on Nanowerk (Note: A link has been removed),

Luleå University of Technology is the first in Sweden with a new technology that scales up the production of nano-cellulose from forest residues. It may eventually give the forest industry profitable new products, e.g. nano-filters that can clean both the gases, industrial water and even drinking water. Better health and cleaner environment, both nationally and internationally, are some possible outcome

“There is large interest in this from industries, especially because our bionanofilters are expected to be of great importance for the purification of water all around the globe,” says Aji Mathew, Associate Professor at Luleå University of Technology, who leads the EU-funded project, NanoSelect.

The Luleå University of Technology Aug. 28, 2013 news release, which originated the news item, briefly describe the process and the magnitude of the increased production,

On Tuesday [Aug. 27, 2013], researchers at Luleå University of Technology demonstrated before representatives from the Industry and from research institutes how they have managed to scale up the process of manufacture of nano-cellulose of two different residues from the pulp industry. One is from Domsjö in Örnsköldsvik in the form of a fiber product that is grinded down to tiny nano fibers in a special machine. Through this process, the researchers have managed to increase the amount of the previous two kilograms per day to 15 kg per day. Another byproduct is nanocrystals that have been successfully scaled up from 50 to 640 grams / day. The process is possible to scale up and therefore highly interesting for the forest industry.

As noted in the news item, this development is an outcome of the EU- (European Union) funded NanoSelect project, from the Project Details webpage,

NanoSelect aims to design, develop and optimize novel bio-based foams/filters/membranes/adsorbent materials with high and specific selectivity using nanocellulose/nanochitin and combinations thereof for decentralized industrial and domestic water treatment. NanoSelect proposes a novel water purification approach combining the physical filtration process and
the adsorption process exploring the capability of the nanocellulose and/or nanochitin (with or without functionalization) to selectively adsorb, store and desorb contaminants from industrial water and drinking water while passing through a highly porous or permeable membrane.

As the news release notes,

Nano Filter for purification of process water and drinking water is not the only possible product made of nano-cellulose since cellulose has much greater potential.

– Large-scale production of nano-cellulose is necessary to meet a growing interest to use bio-based nanoparticles in a variety of products, says Kristiina Oksman professor at Luleå University of Technology.

Nano filters is today developed at Imperial College, London, in close collaboration with the researchers at Luleå University of Technology.

– We have optimized the process to produce nano filters, we can control the pore size and thus the filter porosity. It’s actually just a piece of paper and the beauty of this piece of paper is that it is stable in water, not like toilet paper that dissolves easily in water, but stable, says Professor Alexander Bismarck at Imperial College.

Nice to hear more about CNC developments.

Final report on joint OECD/NNI report on assessing nanotechnology’s economic impact

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In March 2012, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the US National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) held a symposium on assessing the economic impacts of nanotechnology, which was hosted by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Washington, DC.  Lynn Bergeson announced the release of the symposium’s final report in her Sept. 16, 2013 posting on the Nanotechnology Now website.

The title of the final report published by the OECD is Symposium on Assessing the Economic  Impact of Nanotechnology: Synthesis Report. I have excerpted some information including this introductory paragraph from the executive summary of this 81 pp report,

Governments have a fiscal and social responsibility to ensure that limited research and development resources are used wisely and cost-effectively in support of social, economic, and scientific aspirations. As a result of significant public and private investments in nanotechnology during the past decade and an expanding array of commercial applications, the field of nanotechnology has matured to the point of showing significant potential to help societies achieve the shared goal of improving efficiencies and accelerating progress in a range of economic sectors, including medicine, manufacturing, and energy. Countries that wish to promote the continued responsible development of nanotechnology will, however, need quantitative data on the economic impact of nanotechnology to guide further investment and policy decisions. Few widely accepted economic impact assessments have been conducted, however, and there are many questions regarding the best methodologies to be used. (p. 4)

The attendees considered the challenges associated with evaluating the impact of nanotechnology, some of which are common to emerging technologies in general and some or which are specific to nanotechnology (from the report),

The attendees also considered the question of a definition for nanotechnology. While operational definitions are developed at national or regional levels, e.g. for statistical or regulatory purposes, there are relatively few internationally agreed upon definitions or classifications for nanotechnology or its products and processes. Such definitions are essential for developing a methodology for an economic impact assessment and/or to facilitate data collection. Participants mentioned that definitions should be flexible so that they facilitate the development and valuation of the technology; they also noted that definitions might vary in different contexts or sectors.

Additional issues were raised:

 Its multipurpose, enabling nature makes measuring the impact of nanotechnology difficult. It can be fundamental to a product’s key functionality (e.g. battery charge time or capacity) but ancillary to the value chain (E.g. represent a small portion of the final product or process). Nanotechnology is also likely to have a range of incremental impacts on goods and services as well as existing manufacturing techniques. This requires understanding the value added at different stages of the production chain.

 Nanotechnology’s impact is often intermingled with that of many other interventions and technologies so that determining its precise role can be difficult.

 The large and varied amount of data linked to nanotechnology development may lead to difficulties in cleaning and manipulating the data meaningfully.

 Confidential business information and the proprietary nature of products and services may make it difficult to obtain information from industry. Moreover, it is not clear how a nanotechnology company or a company using nanotechnology is defined or defines itself or to what extent companies, universities and associate institutions are involved in exploiting and developing nanotechnology.

 For now, data are mainly collected through surveys. It is important to weigh the benefits against the additional workload that surveys place on administrations, research institutes and industries. Information should be obtained efficiently, focusing on the data of greatest interest for assessing the value of the technology.

 The nanotechnology policy landscape is evolving. It is important to consider non-specific, rather than nanotechnology-specific, funding strategies and policies when assessing economic impacts such as return on investment.

While certain issues may be resolved through improvements and over time, some restrict the ability to conduct valid nanotechnology impact assessments, such as the complex relationship between science, innovation and the economy; the interaction between public and private actors; the role of other factors in technology development and innovation; and the time lag between investments and their returns. (p. 8)

Of course the main issue being addressed was the development of tools/instruments to assess nanotechnology’s economic impact (from the report),

Some steps have been taken towards assessing the impact of nanotechnology. Examples mentioned during the symposium include the U.S. STAR METRICS database, which uses an input/output approach to determine the outputs of federal funding of science and technology, and Brazil’s Lattes system, in which researchers, students and institutions share information about their interests and backgrounds to facilitate information sharing and collaboration. The Lattes system is also intended to aid in the design of science, technology and innovation policies and to help understand the social and economic impacts of previous investments. DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, United Kingdom) values a given nanotechnology product in monetary terms against an incumbent and thus calculates additional value added over current technology.

Other valuation methods mentioned included the “traditional” cost/ benefit analysis (often accompanied by scenario development for immature technologies such as nanotechnology) and life cycle assessment (LCA). LCA addresses the impact of nanotechnology along the entire product value chain. It is important to conduct LCAs as early as possible in product development to define the full value of a product using nanotechnology. Value chain assessments can also help address the challenge of determining the role of nanotechnology in a final product, where economic value is most commonly assessed. (p. 9)

Participants recognised the difficulty of developing a “one size fits all” methodology. The data collected and the indicators and the methodologies chosen need to fit the situation. Precisely defining the objectives of the impact assessment is critical: “What do we want to measure?” (e.g. the impact of a specific nanotechnology investment or the impact of a nano-enabled replacement product on environmental performance). “What outcomes do we want from the analysis?” (e.g. monetary value and GDP growth or qualitative measures of environmental and social benefits).

Input indicators (e.g. R&D investment, infrastructure) are the easiest to collect; they provide information on the development of a technology in a given region, country or globally. Output indicators, such as patents and publications, provide information on the trajectories of a technology and on key areas of innovation. The most useful for policy makers are indicators of impact, but high-quality data, especially quantitative data, are difficult to collect. Indicators of impact provide a basis for assessing direct (market share, growth of companies, new products, wealth creation) and indirect impacts (welfare gains, consumer surplus). The economic and social impact of nanotechnology goes beyond what can be measured with existing statistics and traditional surveys. A pilot survey by the Russian Federation plans to examine nanotechnology issues that are not necessarily covered by traditional statistical surveys, such as technology transfer and linkages between different segments of the national innovation system. The OECD Working Party of National Experts on Science and Technology Indicators is also working on the development of a statistical framework for the measurement of emerging, enabling and general purpose technologies, which includes the notion of impact.
While quantitative measures may be preferable, impact assessments based on qualitative indicators using methods such as technology assessment scenarios and mapping of value chains can also provide valuable information.

I haven’t read the entire report yet but the material after the executive summary bears a similarity to field notes. Generally in reports like this everything is stated in an impersonal third person with the speaker being mentioned only in the header for the section  so the contents have an  authority associated with holy books. While I haven’t seen any quotes, the speakers here are noted as having said such and such, e.g., “Mr. Tassey suggested a “technology-element” model as an alternative means of driving policy and managing the R&D cycle.” (p. 15) It’s not unheard of, just unusual.

For anyone interested in the earlier reports and/or in the Canadian participation in this 2012 symposium, there’s an interview with Vanessa Clive, Industry Canada, Nanotechnology Policy Advisor in my July 23, 2012 posting where she discusses the symposium and offers links to documents used as background material for the symposium.

Materials world in Montréal, Québec, Oct. 27 – 31, 2013

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Materials Science & Technology (M S & T ’13) 2013 is being held in Montréal, Quebec from Oct. 27 – 31, 2013. From the home page,

The MS&T partnership of ACerS [American Ceramic Society], AIST [Association for Iron and Steel Technology], ASM [formerly American Society of Metals now ASM International/Materials Information Society], MetSoc [Metallurgical Society {Canada}] and TMS [The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society {US}]brings together scientists, engineers, students, suppliers and more to discuss current research and technical applications, and to shape the future of materials science and technology. NACE International [The Corrosion Society] will co-sponsor MS&T’13.

MS&T’13 Technical Program

…

Biomaterials
Ceramic and Glass Materials
Electronic and Magnetic Materials
Energy Issues
Fundamentals and Characterization
Iron and Steel
Materials-Environment Interactions
Materials Performance
Nanomaterials
Processing and Product Manufacturing
Special Topics

Apparently, you can save money if you sign up by Sept. 27, 2013.

This year’s summit is made special by a gala for the 100th anniversary of ASM International (from the Aug. 26, 2013 news release),

ASM International to Commemorate Centennial Anniversary with Celebratory Gala

MATERIALS PARK, OHIO – AUG. 26, 2013 – ASM International (ASM), the Materials Information Society, will commemorate its 100th anniversary with a celebratory gala from 5:30-9 p.m. on Oct. 27 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The anniversary gala will be held during the Society’s annual Materials Science & Technology Summit (MS&T), also in Montreal.

The Society, recognized for its ASM Handbook series, technical journals, conferences as well as other educational offerings, has a legacy of publishing high-quality materials content by and for the member community. Founded in 1913, the organization began as the Steel Treaters Club in Detroit, Michigan, with fewer than 20 members. Today, ASM International is a thriving society with more than 30,000 members and nearly 100 worldwide chapters.

ASM International’s headquarters, complete with its acclaimed geodesic dome, is located in Materials Park, Ohio.

The anniversary gala will feature a nostalgic review of ASM’s impressive past and a look toward the future during the cocktail reception, dinner, historical tributes and live entertainment. The gala will also feature a keynote speech by Dr. Peter Diamandis, chairman and CEO of the X Prize Foundation and the New York Times Bestselling author of Abundance – The Future is Better Than You Think.

“ASM International has been serving the materials community for over 100 years now….because of and through our members, countless contributions have been made to industry, government, academia and the general public,” said Thom Passek, Managing Director of ASM International. “We can’t wait to reminisce about the organization and celebrate its future with our lifelong society friends this October.”

Visit the ASM International anniversary milestones webpage for more about the organization’s history.

Register to attend the gala by clicking here.

About ASM International

Celebrating its 100th Anniversary this year, ASM International is proud to continue to serve the materials engineering community and over 30,000 members from all around the globe. The society provides high-quality, solution-focused materials information through publications, events, databases, training, and an international network of local chapters.

Diamonds in your teeth—for health reasons

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Scientists at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) in collaboration with their colleagues at the NanoCarbon Research Institute (Japan) are investigating the possibility of using nanodiamonds to promote bone growth that supports dental implants. From the Sept.18, 2013 news item on ScienceDaily,

UCLA researchers have discovered that diamonds on a much, much smaller scale than those used in jewelry could be used to promote bone growth and the durability of dental implants.

Nanodiamonds, which are created as byproducts of conventional mining and refining operations, are approximately four to five nanometers in diameter and are shaped like tiny soccer balls. Scientists from the UCLA School of Dentistry, the UCLA Department of Bioengineering and Northwestern University, along with collaborators at the NanoCarbon Research Institute in Japan, may have found a way to use them to improve bone growth and combat osteonecrosis, a potentially debilitating disease in which bones break down due to reduced blood flow.

The Sept. 17,2013 UCLA news release by Brianna Deane (also on EurekAlert), which originated the news item, describes how osteonecrosis affects bones and the impact that this new technique using nanodiamonds could have on applications for regenerative medicine (Note: A link has been removed),

When osteonecrosis affects the jaw, it can prevent people from eating and speaking; when it occurs near joints, it can restrict or preclude movement. Bone loss also occurs next to implants such as prosthetic joints or teeth, which leads to the implants becoming loose — or failing.
Implant failures necessitate additional procedures, which can be painful and expensive, and can jeopardize the function the patient had gained with an implant. These challenges are exacerbated when the disease occurs in the mouth, where there is a limited supply of local bone that can be used to secure the prosthetic tooth, a key consideration for both functional and aesthetic reasons.
….
During bone repair operations, which are typically costly and time-consuming, doctors insert a sponge through invasive surgery to locally administer proteins that promote bone growth, such as bone morphogenic protein.
Ho’s team discovered that using nanodiamonds to deliver these proteins has the potential to be more effective than the conventional approaches. The study found that nanodiamonds, which are invisible to the human eye, bind rapidly to both bone morphogenetic protein  and fibroblast growth factor, demonstrating that the proteins can be simultaneously delivered using one vehicle. The unique surface of the diamonds allows the proteins to be delivered more slowly, which may allow the affected area to be treated for a longer period of time. Furthermore, the nanodiamonds can be administered non-invasively, such as by an injection or an oral rinse.
“We’ve conducted several comprehensive studies, in both cells and animal models, looking at the safety of the nanodiamond particles,” said Laura Moore, the first author of the study and an M.D.-Ph.D. student at Northwestern University under the mentorship of Dr. Ho. “Initial studies indicate that they are well tolerated, which further increases their potential in dental and bone repair applications.”
“Nanodiamonds are versatile platforms,” said Ho, who is also professor of bioengineering and a member of the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and the California NanoSystems Institute. “Because they are useful for delivering such a broad range of therapies, nanodiamonds have the potential to impact several other facets of oral, maxillofacial and orthopedic surgery, as well as regenerative medicine.”
Ho’s team previously showed that nanodiamonds in preclinical models were effective at treating multiple forms of cancer. Because osteonecrosis can be a side effect of chemotherapy, the group decided to examine whether nanodiamonds might help treat the bone loss as well. Results from the new study could open the door for this versatile material to be used to address multiple challenges in drug delivery, regenerative medicine and other fields.

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

Multi-protein Delivery by Nanodiamonds Promotes Bone Formation by L. Moore, M. Gatica, H. Kim, E. Osawa, & D. Ho. Published online before print September 17, 2013, doi: 10.1177/0022034513504952 JDR September 17, 2013 0022034513504952

This paper is behind a paywall.

Two September 2013 Café Scientifique meetings in metro Vancouver (Canada)

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There’s a Café Scientifique meeting tonight, Sept. 18, 2013  in Surrey, BC (a municipality in metro Vancouver). Here’s more from a Sept. 12, 2013 Simon Fraser University news release,

Café Scientifique – brainpower, bacteria & super seniors

 Simon Fraser University’s popular Café Scientifique series returns to Surrey this fall and the general public is invited to participate and learn more from what the experts have to say about key topics in health.

Three sessions will be held this fall at Surrey’s City Centre Library (main floor) from 7-8:30 p.m. The events are free.

SFU biological sciences professor Gordon Rintoul kicks off the first session on Wednesday, Sept. 18 with a discussion on the changes that occur in healthy brain cells versus those found in people with age-related brain diseases.

Rintoul, a neuroscientist, focuses on mitochondria, microscopic structures within brain cells, which provide energy for cellular process.

“Mitochondria have been called the powerhouses of the cell,” says Rintoul. “Our lab investigates the role of mitochondria in healthy neurons and in disease mechanisms.”

Rintoul will speak about his research and other recent findings linking changes in mitochondria to Parkinson’s disease, stroke and the process of aging.

…

The study involves over 500 “super seniors” between the ages of 85 and 105, who have never been diagnosed with cancer, cardiovascular disease, major pulmonary disease, Alzheimer disease or diabetes. The study looks at genetic features that correlate with long-term good health in these exceptional individuals.

The news release offers a bit more about the Fall 2013 season of Simon Fraser University Café Scientifique meetings,

Sessions to follow include:

Oct. 16: Julian Guttman, an assistant biological sciences professor, will explain how pathogenic bacteria such as E.coli create serious global health concerns, causing disease through their interaction and subsequent control of host cells’ normal cellular functions. Guttman will discuss the conditions that transform bacterial infection into disease.

Nov. 20: Angela Brooks-Wilson, an associate professor of biomedical physiology/kinesiology and a Distinguished Scientist at the BC Cancer Agency, will shares insights from her study on health aging.

These presentations are designed to stimulate conversation (from the news release),

Speakers will discuss their health or popular-science related topics for approximately 20 minutes, followed by a discussion with the audience. Reserve your free seat at: café_scientifique@sfu.ca.

The second Café Scientifique is being held in the back room of the The Railway Club (2nd floor of 579 Dunsmuir St. [at Seymour St.], Vancouver, Canada), and could be a more relaxed affair as it will be accompanied the sounds of slurping beer  on Tuesday, September 24,  2013 at 7:30 pm. Here’s the talk description (from the Sept. 17, 2013 announcement),

 Our next café will happen on Tuesday September 24th, 7:30pm at The Railway Club.  Our speaker for the evening will be Ian Cromwell, MSc. The details of his talk are as follows:
The HPV Vaccine and You: What You Need to Know to Make an Informed Choice
With British Columbia recently approving the HPV vaccine in young women across the province, members of the public have been engaged in a conversation about the value and safety of the vaccine. Ian Cromwell, a health economics researcher at the BC Cancer Agency, will discuss the vaccine and introduce the available evidence supporting the policy. He will also address some of the specific concerns people in British Columbia have about the vaccine, with a grounding in the scientific literature.

Ordinarily the talks at the Railway Club are pretty relaxed but those references to “evidence supporting the policy”, as well as, “a grounding in scientific literature” in the speaker’s description are a little concerning to me given that the “conversation [is] about the value and safety of the vaccine.” I suspect  the only “informed choice” will be yes and any objections will be shot down while reams of scientific literature and evidence are being quoted at whomever has the temerity to question the BC Cancer Agency’s policy.

Volunteer on the Plankton Portal and help scientists figure out ways to keep the ocean healthy

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University of Miami (Florida, US) researchers with support from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),  the US National Science Foundation (NSF), and developers at Zooniverse.org  (last mentioned here in a Jan. 17, 2012 posting) have created the Plankton Portal as a means for volunteers/citizen scientists to assist them in their research (from the Sept. 17, 2013 news release on EurekAlert),

Today [Sept. 17, 2013], an online citizen-science project launches called “Plankton Portal” was created by researchers at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (RSMAS) in collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) and developers at Zooniverse.org Plankton Portal allows you to explore the open ocean from the comfort of your own home. You can dive hundreds of feet deep, and observe the unperturbed ocean and the myriad animals that inhabit the earth’s last frontier.

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Millions of plankton images are taken by the In Situ Ichthyoplankton Imaging System (ISIIS), a unique underwater robot engineered at the University of Miami in collaboration with Charles Cousin at Bellamare LLC and funded by NOAA and NSF. ISIIS operates as an ocean scanner that casts the shadow of tiny and transparent oceanic creatures onto a very high resolution digital sensor at very high frequency. So far, ISIIS has been used in several oceans around the world to detect the presence of larval fish, small crustaceans and jellyfish in ways never before possible. This new technology can help answer important questions ranging from how do plankton disperse, interact and survive in the marine environment, to predicting the physical and biological factors could influence the plankton community.

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The dataset used for Plankton Portal comes from a project from the Southern California Bight, where Cowen’s [Dr. Robert K. Cowen, UM [University of Miami] RSMAS Emeritus Professor in Marine Biology and Fisheries (MBF) and now the Director of Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center] team imaged plankton across a front, which is a meeting of two water masses, over three days in Fall 2010.

According to Jessica Luo, graduate student involved in this project, “in three days, we collected data that would take us more than three years to analyze.” Cowen agrees: “with the volume of data that ISIIS generates, it is impossible for us to individually classify every image by hand, which is why we are exploring different options for image analysis, from automatic image recognition software to crowd-sourcing to citizen scientists.”

“A computer will probably be able to tell the difference between major classes of organisms, such as a shrimp versus a jellyfish,” explains Luo, “but to distinguish different species within an order or family, that is still best done by the human eye.” Volunteer citizen scientists can assist by going to http://www.planktonportal.org. A field guide is provided, and the simple tutorial is easy to understand. Cowen and the science team will monitor the discussion boards; answer any questions about the classifications, the organisms, and the research they are conducting.

I went to the Plankton Portal and started one of the tutorials (click on the Classify tab)  and almost immediately made an error. They do have a means of recovery but you have to keep following their process. Personally, I would have preferred to abort and start over again. That said, this looks like an interesting project and I wish the best for the organizers.

Looking at nanoparticles with your smartphone

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Researcher Aydogan Ozcan and his team at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) have developed a device which when attached to a smartphone allows the user to view viruses, bacteria, and/or nanoparticles. (Yikes, I understood nanoparticles were perceptible with haptic devices and that any work on developing optical capabilities was pretty rudimentary). From the UCLA Sept. 16, 2013 news release on EurekAlert,

Aydogan Ozcan, a professor of electrical engineering and bioengineering at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, and his team have created a portable smartphone attachment that can be used to perform sophisticated field testing to detect viruses and bacteria without the need for bulky and expensive microscopes and lab equipment. The device weighs less than half a pound.

“This cellphone-based imaging platform could be used for specific and sensitive detection of sub-wavelength objects, including bacteria and viruses and therefore could enable the practice of nanotechnology and biomedical testing in field settings and even in remote and resource-limited environments,” Ozcan said. “These results also constitute the first time that single nanoparticles and viruses have been detected using a cellphone-based, field-portable imaging system.”

…

In the ACS [American Chemical Society]  Nano paper, Ozcan details a fluorescent microscope device fabricated by a 3-D printer that contains a color filter, an external lens and a laser diode. The diode illuminates fluid or solid samples at a steep angle of roughly 75 degrees. This oblique illumination avoids detection of scattered light that would otherwise interfere with the intended fluorescent image.

Using this device, which attaches directly to the camera module on a smartphone, Ozcan’s team was able to detect single human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) particles. HCMV is a common virus that can cause birth defects such as deafness and brain damage and can hasten the death of adults who have received organ implants, who are infected with the HIV virus or whose immune systems otherwise have been weakened. A single HCMV particle measures about 150–300 nanometers; a human hair is roughly 100,000 nanometers thick.

In a separate experiment, Ozcan’s team also detected nanoparticles — specially marked fluorescent beads made of polystyrene — as small as 90-100 nanometers.

To verify these results, researchers in Ozcan’s lab used other imaging devices, including a scanning electron microscope and a photon-counting confocal microscope. These experiments confirmed the findings made using the new cellphone-based imaging device.

For some reason I’m completely gobsmacked by the notion that I could look at nanoparticles on a smartphone at sometime in the foreseeable future.

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

Fluorescent Imaging of Single Nanoparticles and Viruses on a Smart Phone by Qingshan Wei, Hangfei Qi, Wei Luo, Derek Tseng , So Jung Ki, Zhe Wan, Zoltán Göröcs, Laurent A. Bentolila, Ting-Ting Wu, Ren Sun, and Aydogan Ozcan. ACS Nano, Article ASAP DOI: 10.1021/nn4037706 Publication Date (Web): September 9, 2013
Copyright © 2013 American Chemical Society

This paper is behind a paywall. Ozcan’s work was last mentioned here in a Jan. 21, 2013 posting about self-assembling liquid lenses.

 

Get the 23rd annual Ig Nobel* out

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Some might call the Ig Nobels prizes for silly science but the journal Nature and others see a method the the scientific ‘silliness’. From the About the Ig Nobel* Prizes page on the Improbable Research website,

The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think. The prizes are intended to celebrate the unusual, honor the imaginative — and spur people’s interest in science, medicine, and technology. Every year, in a gala ceremony in Harvard’s Sanders Theatre, 1200 splendidly eccentric spectators watch the winners step forward to accept their Prizes. These are physically handed out by genuinely bemused genuine Nobel laureates.

…

“Last, but not least, there are the Ig Nobel awards. These come with little cash, but much cachet, and reward those research projects that ‘first make people laugh, and then make them think'” — Nature

“It’s like the weirdest f-ing thing that you’ll ever go to… it’s a collection of, like, actual Nobel Prize winners giving away prizes to real scientists for doing f’d-up things… it’s awesome.”— Amanda Palmer

This year’s event (23rd annual) took place on Sept. 12, 2013 and Jessica Leber profiled the  event in her Sept. 12, 2013 article for Fast Company,

Medicine:

For assessing the effect of listening to opera on heart transplant patients–who are mice (Journal of Cardiothoracic Surgery)

Japanese researchers gave mice a heart transplant, and then made them listen to three kinds of music for three days: opera (La Traviata), classical (Mozart), and New Age (Enya), as well as random single sound frequencies. Verdi fans rejoice: Opera listening mice survived 26 days, whereas Enya fans, only 11 days.

…

Joint Prize in Biology and Astronomy:

For finding that when dung beetles get lost, they can navigate their way home by looking at the Milky Way (Current Biology)

African “ball-rolling” dung beetles use the starry sky to orient themselves and to transport their dung balls on straight paths. The study was the first demonstration of this navigation ability in insects. Even crazier? The beatles specifically use the Milky Way for directions–the first known case of this kind of navigation in the animal kingdom.

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Physics:

For discovering that some people would be physically capable of running across the surface of a pond–if those people and that pond were on the moon (PLoS ONE)

Jesus was said to walk on water, and maybe we could too–if we all took a trip to the moon. Normally, we can’t walk on water because of “body size and proportions, lack of appropriate appendages, and limited muscle power,” the researchers wrote in their study. But on the reduced gravity of the moon, less muscle might be needed. The researchers used a reduced gravity simulator to do a test.

Chemistry:

For discovering that the biochemical process by which onions make people cry is even more complicated than scientists had previously realized.(Nature)

The researchers discovered the most important enzyme that triggers the tears–potentially opening the door to the development of a “tearless onion.”

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You can get more information including links to the winning papers about this year’s winners here.

*’IgNobel’ changed to Ig Nobel in three instances on March 14, 2016.

Feel the pain—a ‘science evangelist’ and materials scientist kinda gets nanotechnology wrong

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Thanks to Dexter Johnson at his Nanoclast blog (on the IEEE [Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers] website) for bringing a singularly odd Huffington Post article about nanotechnology to my attention in his Sept. 12, 2013 posting,

It’s a perfect storm of wrongheadedness. It was penned by Ainissa G. Ramirez, Ph.D., a noted author and “science evangelist,” giving it an air of veracity. But that doesn’t keep the piece from going wrong right from the outset. You can find the first misstep in the second sentence: “By miniaturizing matter, science fact will look like science fiction.” Okay, once and for all: Nanotechnology has nothing to do with miniaturizing matter.

I encourage you to read both Ramirez’s article “What Henry Ford Can Teach Us About Nanotechnology (Sept. 3, 2013)” so you can better appreciate Dexter’s penetrating analysis.

I am taking a different tack.  What I find most peculiar about the article is the author, Ainissa Ramirez who lists her educational qualifications in a curriculum vitae on her eponymous website,

Education
Stanford University,  Ph.D.; Materials Science and Engineering1998
Stanford University, M.S.; Materials Science and Engineering 1992
Brown University, Sc.B.; Materials Science and Engineering 1990

There’s this on her LinkedIn profile,

Author of “Newton’s Football” (Due 2013 [November 2013])
Random House
August 2012 – Present (1 year 2 months)

In Newton’s Football, journalist and New York Times bestselling author Allen St. John and TED Speaker and former Yale professor Ainissa Ramirez explore the unexpected science behind America’s Game. Newton’s Football illuminates football—and science—through funny, insightful stories told by some of the world’s sharpest minds.

….

Lecturer/Science Popularizer
Yale University
January 2012 – December 2012 (1 year)

Acting as Bill Nye for Yale, my work entailed getting students excited about science. My passion lies in explaining complex ideas using down-to-earth examples.

…

Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Yale University
New Haven, CTMaterials science research in the field of smart materials and nanomaterials. I was the principal investigator in the study of shape memory alloys; inventor of magnetic solder; and fun lecturer in materials science and engineering.

Ramirez is also a member of NISENet (Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network). Within that context (NISENet’s March 2012 newsletter),  I featured her video on nano (which seemed unexceptionable)  in a March 8, 2012 posting.

So, here’s the odd part: How does someone with her credentials write something so “wrongheaded?” I suppose it’s possible  none of her teachers at Brown or Stanford noticed her misunderstanding of nanotechnology and that none of her colleagues or students at Yale recognized the problem. However, that seems laughable and it is more likely that Ramirez in an attempt to communicate with her audience has ‘dumbed it down’ for those of us whose science education doesn’t extend past high school, if that.

Sadly, in ‘dumbing it down’, she does both herself and us a disservice.  As someone who’s not especially well versed in the sciences, I find it disconcerting to spot such obvious errors as those in Ramirez’s Sept. 3, 2013 article for Huffington Post. If I know she has gotten some of the basis wrong,  it means that I can’t trust her in scientific areas where I am entirely ignorant.

By patronizing and oversimplifying the material, she fails to respect her reader and to build trust.