I’m highlighting a few nuggets from the May 2012 issue of The Nano Bite from NISENet (Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network). First, there’s a DIY Nano mobile app available from iTunes, courtesy of The Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of California at Berkeley. The best I can do for additional information comes from the iTunes page for the app,

The DIY Nano app allows families to experience and learn about nanoscale science, engineering, and technology at home! The app provides free, easy to use, hands-on activities at your fingertips. Each activity includes material lists, step-by-step instructions, and detailed explanations. The activity materials are easy and inexpensive to purchase, and you probably have many of them in your own home! Our app includes an extensive list of family friendly video links and helps you browse the whatisnano.org public website for more information, activities, and videos. The DIY Nano app was created by the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (NISE Net). Funded by the National Science Foundation, NISE Net is dedicated to engaging all audiences with fun, educational activities about nano!

For the nanotechnology historians out there, Chris Toumey is making his review of a recent book about the scanning tunneling microscope (STM) and the atomic force microscopes (AFM) available if you email him, from the newsletter

A History of the Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) and Atomic Force Microscope (AFM)
NISE Net partner Chris Toumey of the University of South Carolina NanoCenter has published his review of Cyrus Mody’s Instrumental Community, noting, “the book emphasizes that no matter how good the technology was in [STM’s and AFM’s], they required acceptance in certain scientific communities before they could contribute much to nanotechnology or other scientific fields. The history of nanotech would have been very different if social processes of acceptance and adaptation had gone in different directions.” If readers of the Nano Bite would like a copy of his review, please email Chris for more information.

There is a nano haiku this month but you need to know about the news item from which it draws its inspiration,

Can Eating Buckyball-Infused Olive Oil Prolong your Lifespan?: A group of researchers set out to study the toxicity and other effects of buckyballs and came up with a surprising find – the diet of buckyball-infused olive oil doubled the lifespan of the lab rats. There were a number of limits to the study, but researchers noted that the buckyballs worked as a potent antioxidant.

Here’s the nano haiku,

Extend your life! Eat
Olive oil and buckyballs.
It worked for the rats.

Vrylena Olney of the Museum of Science was inspired by the Popular Science article, Can Eating Buckyball-Infused Olive Oil Prolong your Lifespan?

You can read the whole May 2012 issue of The Nano Bite here.