Chemical-Feasting Bacteria Provide New Key for Water Decontamination. NJIT researchers find “catalyst” behind a rare bacteria’s ability to feed on and remove the contaminant 1,4-dioxane from impacted groundwater and drinking water. Scientists at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) have uncovered a rare enzyme in bacteria with the ability to degrade the “likely human carcinogen” and water contaminant, 1,4-dioxane.
Plastic nanoparticles – these are tiny pieces of plastic or nanoplastics less than 1 micrometre in size – could potentially contaminate food chains, and ultimately affect human health, according to a recent study by scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS). They discovered that nanoplastics are easily ingested by marine organisms, and they accumulate in the organisms over time, with a risk of being transferred up the food chain, threatening food safety and posing health risks.
Tacky Mats help to capture impurities and particulate in areas that require dust and particulate control. Tacky mats have a sticky surface which removes dirt and dust from shoe surfaces before they enter a contamination-free area. This adds a layer of protection for the controlled environment or cleanroom environment.
The winners of the Cleanroom Technology Awards 2018 have been announced. The awards have been introduced to recognize and reward achievements, celebrating the best product innovations from those exhibiting at the Cleanroom Technology Conference 2018.
Infineon Technologies AG is to build a new factory for power semiconductors. The market and technology leader in this segment will thereby create the foundation for long-term, profitable growth. A fully automated chip factory for manufacturing 300-millimeter thin wafers will be constructed at the Villach location in Austria alongside the existing production facility. Austria’s Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, Dr. Reinhard Ploss, Chief Executive Officer of Infineon, and Dr. Sabine Herlitschka, Chief Executive Officer of Infineon Austria, presented the project in Vienna.
II-VI EpiWorks opened an expansion of its center of manufacturing excellence in Champaign, Illinois. The company’s state-of-the-art facility is a manufacturing center for compound semiconductors that makes epitaxial wafer products. The expansion will quadruple production of products that enable some of the most exciting new consumer electronics in the world.
Avara Pharmaceutical Services, a world-class contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), today announced that it has agreed to acquire the largest sterile manufacturing facility for injectable medicines in Canada from a leading global pharmaceutical company, as part of a continuing expansion of its global footprint.
Atomic-scale manufacturing revolutionizes the future of electronics production. The University of Alberta Scientists have innovated an atomic-scale manufacturing process, setting a standard for mass production of electronics that are faster, smaller and consume less energy than the electronics of today. The implications of this new atomic-scale manufacturing capability are enormous. In the future, we will see mobile phones that can go months without a charge and computers that are faster (100X) but use 1/1000th of the power currently used for device operation.
While the field of materials science has been making big strides in recent years, scientists are still behind nature when it comes to making super-strong materials. Lately, researchers have been focusing on the strength of nanoscale structures of natural materials with the expectations that it will lead to the creation of strong macro-scale structures. The nanoscale structures’ composition of cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) has provided a significant amount of inspiration for these research efforts. However, inadequate adhesion and un-aligned pieces have kept scientists from realizing the potential of cellulose-inspired materials.
Nanoparticles carrying two drugs can cross the blood-brain barrier and shrink glioblastoma tumors. Glioblastoma multiforme, a type of brain tumor, is one of the most difficult-to-treat cancers. Only a handful of drugs are approved to treat glioblastoma, and the median life expectancy for patients diagnosed with the disease is less than 15 months.
Over the last two decades, scientists have discovered that the optical microscope can be used to detect, track and image objects much smaller than their traditional limit—about half the wavelength of visible light, or a few hundred nanometers. That pioneering research, which won the 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, has enabled researchers to track proteins in fertilized eggs, visualize how molecules form electrical connections between nerve cells in the brain, and study the nanoscale motion of miniature motors.
Team led by Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley researchers exploits tiny defects in diamonds to pave the way for enhanced biological imaging and drug studies. An international team led by scientists at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and UC Berkeley discovered how to exploit defects in nanoscale and microscale diamonds to strongly enhance the sensitivity of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) systems while eliminating the need for their costly and bulky superconducting magnets.
