Tyler is a rather handsome German Shepherd who enjoys the company of the other dogs in his foster home. He has great recall and his favourite pastime is playing ball! He can be strong willed, so needs someone with GSD experience.

Aug 31, 2009

If 006 007 continues to kart around in Aston Martins by 2025, he could be behind the wheel of the slick design you see above. It's one of the entries in a design contest for the students attending the Istituto Europeo Di Design (IED) in Turin, Italy. The only major criterion for the designers was that the cars couldn't use technology that either isn't available or couldn't be realized within five years.

So which set of wheels should Bond be driving? My vote is for the car above, but there are two others in the gallery below: a similar, more colorful variant and a insectoid-looking trike.

Aug 31, 2009

Charles Sykes and his team use scanning tunneling microscopes to study novel molecular motors and rotors

Charles Sykes and two graduate students use a scanning tunneling microscope in the lab. Credit and Larger Version

July 22, 2009

When Charles Sykes, Tufts University assistant chemistry professor, says he loves playing with blocks, he’s not referring to the typical kids’ toys. Instead, he’s talking about his fascination with seeing atoms and molecules move on a computer screen in front of him and using technology to move the molecules himself to see how they react to various surfaces.

“I never get bored looking at pictures of atoms,” said Sykes, who holds the Usen Family Career Development Assistant Professorship at Tufts University. “Atoms and molecules are the building blocks of life, but it has only been in the last 25 years that we have been able to see them, and in the last 15 years that we have been able to play with them.”

In the lab, Sykes and his students explore questions related to nanoscience, or the study of things that are one billionth of a meter in size–80,000 times thinner than a human hair. To see molecules, the group uses scanning tunneling microscopes (STMs), which use electrons instead of light to make it possible to see things as small as individual atoms.

The goal is to understand how atoms and molecules interact with surfaces, and to build novel nanoscale structures by controlling these interactions. Theoretically, each molecule could be assigned a single task, creating ultra-tiny devices more than 10 million times smaller than some of the gadgets we use today, Sykes explained.

“Such machines are seen everywhere in nature. They perform tasks as varied as powering the motion of cells and even driving whole body locomotion through muscle contraction. However, mankind has not been able to create this molecular motion in nanoscale devices,” said Sykes.

That means the first step for the Sykes’ team is to turn molecules into motors.

While using the STM to look at sulfur-containing molecules, Sykes noticed they resembled an axle with a blade, much like a helicopter rotor. He began to wonder if they not only looked like rotors, but moved like rotors as well.

To test their motion, the researchers took small, simple molecules called thioethers, which are just one nanometer wide and composed of two, four-atom carbon chains on either side of a sulfur atom. Using liquid helium and a low-temperature STM, the researchers cooled the thioethers to seven degrees Kelvin (K), or about minus 447 degrees Fahrenheit (F), and could see that each molecule looked like a line or a thin oval. As the temperature increased to 25 degrees K (or minus 415 degrees F), the molecule began to look more like a hexagon because it was spinning so rapidly, similar to a helicopter blade.

“We discovered that, at very low temperatures, the molecules transition between a locked or ‘frozen’ state to one in which they spin at more than 1 million times per second,” Sykes explained.

Next, the researchers tried to start and stop the spinning molecules. With the STM, they took an individual, spinning molecule and dragged it to a group of three molecules joined together that were not spinning. The individual molecule locked onto the group of three and stopped spinning. Similarly, the researchers took locked molecules and separated them, which caused each to start spinning.

The potential for one spinning molecule to cause a chain reaction and get other molecules to spin could find real-world applications in delay lines, commonly used in cellular phones to transmit signals, or in other electronics and optoelectronics.

In January, Sykes received a five-year Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) that will allow him to continue his research into molecular rotation. The researchers must answer additional questions related to molecular direction and speed before being able to predict how these nanoscale structures might behave.

He also hopes to get a wider audience interested in what he considers a fascinating field. To accomplish this, Sykes and his graduate students have made a YouTube video on using nanotechnology for alternative energy sources and they have visited high school chemistry classes with a portable STM.

“I think if you get people at the right stage in their career to become interested in something like science, you can possibly change their path,” said Sykes.

– Suzanne C. Miller, Tufts University suzanne_c.miller@tufts.edu

This Behind the Scenes article was provided to LiveScience in partnership with the National Science Foundation.

Investigators
E. Charles Sykes

Related Institutions/Organizations
Tufts University

Locations
Massachusetts

Related Programs
Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program

Related Awards
#0844343 CAREER: Investigating and Controlling Molecular Rotation on Surfaces

Total Grants
$280,952

Related Websites
LiveScience.com: Behind the Scenes: Chemist Aims to Turn Molecules Into Motors: http://www.livescience.com/technology/090710-bts-nanomotors.html

Aug 31, 2009

Dell is slipping sideways into the cellphone business with its Mini 3I, and here are the best pictures of the incoming handset yet. Running the Android operating system, the intriguing DellPhone will show up in China first, as you can see by the weird Chinese "OPhone" flavor of Android on board in these pics.

Given Dell's proven design chops, this could be a first-rate cell phone, with a 3.5" 360 x 240 capacitive touch screen, 3-megapixel camera and a microSD slot. Now if Dell can just get the gumption to bring this little sucker Stateside, it might prove itself to be a nicely designed addition to the Android stable.

Aug 31, 2009

Who needs batteries? With this Doraemon flashlight, you simply squeeze the handle to charge it up. That way, even if the power goes out, you'll still be able to find your way around by using the glowing eyes of an insane cartoon cat. How very convenient!

Perpetual Kid via Nerd Approved

AJ is a handsome 10 year old German Shepherd who is being rehomed by his current owner. He's hoping to find a comfortable retirement home all of his own where he can still enjoy some regular walks and playtime with his squeaky toys.

Aug 31, 2009

Nothing says family fun like a terrifying, four-legged robotic spider being controlled by modified Wii controllers. Or does it? Because that's just what this thing is.

With a price of about $1,000, this is one fancy piece of useless machinery. I mean, it's certainly cool looking, but until it learns how to go fetch me a sandwich on its own, I think I'll pass on it. Even if it is controlled by Wiimotes.

Botropolis via SlipperyBrick

Okay conspiracy theorists ( otherwise known as "truthers"), swallow this: Scientists at Purdue University and the American Society of Civil Engineers spent two years creating the most comprehensive computer model yet of the impact of an American Airlines Boeing 767 into the North Tower of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Just as we thought:

"Purdue's findings confirm the report by the National Institute of Standards and Technology: that widespread fires initiated by the jet fuel weakened the steel columns and brought down the towers."

Sure, it's exciting to think government spooks planted high explosives in the World Trade Center towers, bringing both down just after a couple of planes crashed into them. But really, how could they have kept such a widespread conspiracy a secret? Truthers, take off your tinfoil hats and please let us know, how much evidence do you need?

National Geographic, via Dvorak Uncensored