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Less than four years ago we asked here whether online gamers playing Foldit could help perfect the de novo design of proteins that do not exist in nature. Four months ago we reported that Foldit players had succeeded where scientists had failed in solving the structure of an important viral enzyme. Now Scientific American reports that Foldit players have topped scientists in redesigning a protein—the challenge we suggested less than four years ago. From “Online gamers achieve first crowd-sourced redesign of protein“:

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Foresight Institute Co-Founder and Past President Christine Peterson was among four panelists addressing the role of technology in human existence for a Stanford University Continuing Studies series. From a report in The Stanford Daily by Marshall Watkins “Bay Area thinkers ponder ‘life’“:

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Physicists have identified a property of «bilayer graphene» that the researchers say is analogous to finding the Higgs boson in particle physics. The physicists found that when the number of electrons on the BLG sheet is close to 0, the material becomes insulating — a finding that has implications for the use of graphene as an electronic material in the semiconductor and electronics industries.

Graphene is the thinnest material known to science. The nanomaterial is so thin, in fact, water often doesn’t even know it’s there. Engineering researchers coated pieces of gold, copper, and silicon with a single layer of graphene, and then placed a drop of water on the coated surfaces. Surprisingly, the layer of graphene proved to have virtually no impact on the manner in which water spreads on the surfaces.

Engineers have designed a biological device that can measure glucose concentrations in human saliva. The technique could eliminate the need for diabetics to draw blood to check their glucose levels. The biochip uses plasmonic interferometers and could be used to measure a range of biological and environmental substances.

Physicists have observed a new kind of interaction that can arise between electrons in a single-atom silicon transistor, offering a more complete understanding of the mechanisms that govern electron conduction in nano-structures at the atomic scale.

elcome to Nanoscience helps biology, chemistry, and Earth science teachers introduce the revolutionary fields of nanoscience and nanotechnology to high school students through the unique framework of…

Iranian chemists from the University of Tabriz produced a simple and cost-effective nanosensor by using gold/silver nano alloy in order to measure the melamine in the powder milk for infants.

A research team led by physicists at the University of California, Riverside has identified a property of «bilayer graphene» (BLG) that the researchers say is analogous to finding the Higgs boson in p…

The Bren School-based authors of a study published Jan. 20 in the journal PLoS ONE have observed toxicity to marine organisms resulting from exposure to a nanoparticle that had not previously been sho…