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Synthetic Corneas Lend Sight to the Blind

The new corneas eliminate the need for donor corneas and could restore sight to millions of people
worldwide.
THE GIST
 A new synthetic cornea restores partial vision to patients.
 The corneas are made from synthetic, laboratory-produced collagen.
 The research could help restore sight to millions of people worldwide.

A new artificial cornea could save the sight of millions of people around the world.
Developed by scientists in Sweden, Canada and California, the new cornea is made from artificial
collagen in the lab and, when transplanted into a patient's eye, encourages damaged cells to regenerate
and colonize the new tissue. After two years a majority of patients with the artificial corneas had
significantly improved vision.
"An artificially fabricated cornea can integrate with the human eye and stimulate regeneration," said
May Griffith, a doctor at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, the University of Ottawa and Linköping
University.
The results were published this week in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
"This approach could help restore sight to millions of people," said Griffith.
The human cornea is a thin, layered and clear tissue that covers parts of the eye such as the colored iris
and the pupil. When damaged, the cornea can lead to blurry vision or even complete blindness.
Contact lenses can correct minor problems, but more serious problems can require a full cornea
transplant. Clouding of the cornea leads to most cases of blindness worldwide.
The scientists made their artificial cornea from collagen, a common connective tissue found in tendons,
ligaments, the cornea itself and other places around the human body. Instead of using natural collagen
from humans, however, the scientists created synthetic collagen shaped like a human cornea.
By using synthetic collagen, the researchers eliminated the need for donor corneas, which are often in
short supply.
After removing single diseased corneas from 10 patients, the scientists inserted the synthetic corneas in
their place. After two years with a biosynthetic cornea the patients' own healthy cells had completely
covered the synthetic cornea in nine of the 10 patients.
The new synthetic corneas produced tears and responded to touch. Overall vision improved in six of the
10 patients to a level about the same as a human cornea transplant.
All 10 patients had advanced keratoconus, or central corneal scarring, a disease that thins the cornea
while giving the eye a more pointed, conical shape. A person suffering from advanced keratoconus sees
multiple images and streaking, and is sensitive to light.
Most of the time a contact lens allows patients with keratoconus to function normally, but severe cases
require a full transplant. The exact cause of keratoconus is unknown, but studies have associated the
condition with various environmental and genetic factors.
The new results are "very impressive," said Shukti Chakravarti, a professor at Johns Hopkins Medical
Institute who was not involved in the study. "There is always a dearth of donor tissue, and this would
help bypass that."
Even better, by integrating the cornea recipients' own cells into the synthetic cornea, the patients
should fight off infections more easily, and be more comfortable.
"Once those cells grow back they can help contribute to better protection of the cornea," said
Chakravarti.
For now the synthetic corneas only work in people with advanced keratoconus, but the doctors and
scientists are working to expand the use of synthetic corneas to other eye-related diseases.
"New studies are being planned that will extend the use of the biosynthetic cornea to a wider range of
sight-threatening conditions requiring transplantation," said Per Fagerholm, a doctor in Sweden and
another co-author of the new study.

Rachelle Ann V. Soy


October 6 2010
http://news.discovery.com/tech/super-capacitor-power-energy.html
Super Capacitor Could Power Phone, Laptop for Days
If optimized, this new technology could fully charge consumer electronic devices almost
instantaneously.

THE GIST
 A new super capacitor inspired by the onion has been developed by scientists.
 Super capacitors are currently used to power small devices such as toys.
 The new tech could provide enough energy to power a cell phone for weeks or a laptop battery
for days.

Drawing on the layered design of tear-inducing onions, scientists have created a new super capacitor
that is powerful enough -- and cheap enough -- to replace the larger, heavier capacitors used in
consumer electronics such as computers and cells phones.
If commercialized, the new super capacitor could be fully charged in a second and, coupled to a normal
battery, provide enough energy to power a cell phone for weeks or a laptop battery for days.
"If you open any computer, you will see a lot of these small, cylindrical round capacitors," said Vadym
Mochalin, a scientist at Drexel University and a co-author on the new Nature Nanotechnology paper.
Capacitors, like batteries, store energy, but that's where most of the similarities end. Generally speaking,
a battery, like the one inside your cell phone or laptop computer, stores energy chemically. That
chemical energy is then converted into electrical energy.
Converting electrical energy into chemical energy and vice versa is a relatively slow process, which is
why the lithium-ion batteries in laptops and cell phones can last for hours or even days but also require
a long time to charge.
A capacitor is different. Simply put, a capacitor stores an electrical charge between two conductive
plates separated by an electrical insulator.
Without the chemical-electrical conversion, a capacitor can be charged and discharged much more
rapidly than a battery, last longer and weigh less. Capacitors are ideal for camera flashes and other
electrically intensive consumer devices.
However, in contrast to batteries, a capacitor cannot store enough energy to power anything that lasts
longer than a flash -- some fraction of a second.
Super capacitors, however, store much more energy than their traditional counterparts and are used to
power small devices such as toys including model planes and helicopters.
In the future, super capacitors will be more powerful and replace batteries in more and more devices.
Super capacitors or "electric double layer capacitors" store charge in a layer of ions adsorbed on the
surface of carbon.
The new super capacitor began its electrically charged life with a literal bang. A powerful blast, usually
hexagen or TNT, converts carbon contained in the molecules of explosives into a thin sheet of
nanodiamonds.
The researchers then transformed those nanodiamonds into dozens or even hundreds of graphene
layers, all nestled inside one another like little Russian dolls.
When the graphene "onions" are bathed and charged in an organic electrolyte, they can discharge up to
200 volts every second. If the technology is optimized that number could be further increased several
times, said Mochalin. That would be enough to fully charge a cell phone, laptop or other electrical
device almost instantaneously, and then dole out that power to a waiting battery for long-term storage.
The performance is excellent, and if commercialized -- something the Drexel scientists are working on --
the price should be right as well. The diamonds found in jewelry are expensive, but nanodiamonds are
cheap. A few hundred dollars will get you a pound of nanodiamonds, said Mochalin.
"You need an electrically conductive material for a capacitor, and diamonds are insulators," said Olga
Shenderova, a nanodiamond expert at the International Technology Center in North Carolina.
Additionally, by using a material that is relatively inexpensive, said Shenderova, the research could
eventually lead to a whole new generation of super capacitors.

Rachelle Ann V. Soy


October 6 2010
http://news.discovery.com/tech/diamonds-computing-supercomputer.html
Diamonds Are a Supercomputer's Best Friend
Diamond-based computers would store millions of times more information than your silicon-
based system. That's a whole lot of YouTube clips.

THE GIST
 Diamond sheets patterned with thousands of nitrogen atoms could be the basis for a
supercomputer.
 Quantum computers could solve currently intractable problems in cryptography and drug
development.

Nitrogen has been in diamonds for as long as their have been diamonds; it's why some diamonds have a
yellow hue.
iStockphoto

Diamond sheets filled with holes could be the key to the next generation of supercomputers.
Scientists in California have used commercially available technology to pattern large sheets of diamonds
with tiny, nitrogen-filled holes. The nitrogen-vacancy diamonds, as the sheets are called by scientists,
could store millions of times more information than current silicon-based systems and process that
information dozens of times faster.
Exactly how diamond-based computing would be used has yet to be determined, but applications could
range from designing more efficient silicon-based computers to drug development and cryptography.
Nitrogen has been in diamonds for as long as there have been diamonds; it's why some diamonds have a
yellow hue. For years scientists have used these natural, nitrogen-infused diamonds to study various
aspects of quantum mechanics.
"We've used well-known techniques to create atomic-size defects in otherwise perfect diamonds," said
David Awschalom, a scientist at the University of California, Santa Barbara and co-author of a new article
in the journal ACS Nano Letters.
A supercomputer based on quantum mechanics requires more precision than nature can provide, so
scientists have searched for a way to artificially implant arrays of precisely patterned nitrogen holes
inside sheets of diamond.
Scientists from the University of California, Santa Barbara, along with colleagues from the Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory, created such an array by using an ion beam to first knock out two carbon
atoms, and then replace them with one nitrogen atom. In one second, the scientists could inject about
4,000 glowing nitrogen atoms. In about one minute, the scientists had patterned several inches of flat
diamond.
The scientists didn't use any overly complicated techniques to accomplish this. "You can buy it online,
send it to another company for the patterning, and then explore it yourself," said Awschalom, whose
students did exactly that to demonstrate the ease of the technology.
The key to a diamond-based quantum mechanical computer is an extra electron in the hole. In a
traditional computer, information is encoded as either a "0" or a "1."
In a diamond-based quantum computer, information could be stored in the spin of that electron. This
means information could be stored as not only a "0" or "1," but also the direction the electron is
spinning.
An exact number is hard to come by, but scientists say this would dramatically increase the computing
power compared with existing silicon computers.
Diamonds likely wouldn't replace the silicon used in today's consumer computers, said Ray Beausoleil, a
fellow in Information and Quantum Systems at HP. "A quantum computer won't help you add two
numbers faster," said Beausoleil.
However, that doesn't mean consumers won't benefit from a diamond-based quantum computer. What
it will do is help model certain extremely complex problems, said Beausoleil and David DiVincenzo, a
scientist at IBM who is also familiar with the Nano Letters article.
"This points to the fruitful end of a very long search of all the things that you could put in diamond to
make it electronically active," said DiVincenzo.
Diamonds aren't a sure bet for a quantum computer, said DiVincenzo, but they're certainly in the
running because of this research.

Rachelle Ann V. Soy


October 6 2010
http://news.discovery.com/tech/touch-screen-device-coffee-rings.html
Next-Gen Touch Screen Inspired by Coffee Rings
The tendency of ink to form coffee ring-like stains seeds an idea for a new kind of touch-
screen device.

Transparent silver nanoparticle "coffee rings" are seen in this plastic sheet electrode. Scientists are
tapping ink's tendency to form coffee ring stains to create a new kind of touch-screen device.
Magdassi
It's a touch screen, a solar panel, a computer circuit, and soon, it could be used at home.
Taking advantage of ink's natural tendency to create "coffee rings," a group of Israeli scientists has
developed a type of ink jet dye that could one day create a range of power-hungry, and power-
producing, devices at home.
"Usually these 'coffee stains' are a major problem in ink jet printing," said Shlomo Magdassi, a professor
at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel and co-author of a new paper in the journal ACS Nano. "I
got the idea that we could turn this big problem into a big advantage."
"Coffee ring" stains appear as a drop of water or solvent dries. The edge of the drop evaporates more
quickly than the center, creating tiny currents inside the drop. These currents continuously move dye
particles from the drop's interior to its outer edge, where it's then permanently deposited.
The end result is a thin ring around a large, relatively colorless area, reminiscent of the stain a coffee cup
can leave on a surface. 
To eliminate the stains, scientists have used fast-drying solvents and additional dye particles. But
Magdassi and his colleagues realized that coffee stains could solve a problem with electrically-
conductive touch screens.
Magdassi wanted to create such a touch screen using silver nanoparticles. But there was a hitch.
Spreading the silver nanoparticles evenly over the plastic ensures transparency, but spread the particles
too far apart and they can't conduct electricity.
Adding enough particles to make the screen electrically conductive makes the screen
opaque.Encouraging coffee rings solves both problems.
The rings squish the metallic nanoparticles close enough for an electrical current to pass through them.
The empty holes allow 95 percent of light to pass through the screen, making it almost completely see-
through. The scientists did this slightly above room temperature using water, ensuring that the
technique could be easily done with commonly-available printing materials.
Absorbing some light is not necessarily a bad thing, however. Left in a beam of sunlight, the silver
nanoparticles can convert a small amount of energy to charge a device. Solar charging with the touch
screen wouldn't be nearly as efficient as plugging a device into a wall socket, but it could give a user a
few extra minutes of talking time when a plug isn't available.
Silver isn't the only metal Magdassi used. Since submitting the ACS Nano paper, Magdassi has used
copper nanorings with similar results. The next step, said Madgassi, is creating concentric rings of
copper and silver nanoparticles to get the best of both properties.
Magdassi's results come weeks after Xerox announced a similar breakthrough using silver nanoparticles
and ink jet printers to create printable electronic circuits on paper or other substrates.
Ana Arias of the Palo Alto Research Center in California has also been experimenting with silver
nanoparticles for touch-screen devices.
"They were able to turn a big problem into a good feature," said Arias.
Instead of allowing the silver rings to form naturally, Arias formed the silver nanoparticles into long
lines, packing the particles against each other while remaining transparent. A patent on her method is
pending.
Whether any of the research translates into commercial products remains to be seen, say Arias and
Madgassi. The current industry go-to material for touch screens is indium tin oxide, although scientists
are searching for alternatives.
"Everyone complains about the indium tin oxide's problems, but at least we know what those problems
are and can work around them," said Arias.
Years of research is needed to find any potential problems, and their solutions, for newer materials like
silver nanoparticles before they appear in consumer devices.

Rachelle Ann V. Soy


October 6 2010
http://news.discovery.com/tech/molecular-transistor-benzene.html

First Molecular Transistor Created

The tiny transistor, made from six atoms of carbon, could lead the way to cooler computers that waste
less energy.

A schematic of a new molecular transistor, which is made up of a benzene molecule linked across gold
electrodes.
Hyunwook Song and Takhee Lee
The world's smallest transistor, made from a mere six atoms of carbon suspended between two gold
electrodes, has been created by scientists from Yale University and South Korea.
Although transistors, which amplify or switch electric signals, are the fundamental building blocks of
modern electronic devices, this molecular model is more of a scientific discovery than a technological
breakthrough for now. But once such transistors are proven viable, they could help create smaller
computer chips for consumer devices that stay cooler by not wasting energy.
In other words, if you're reading this with your computer on your lap -- the smaller, efficient transistor
could mean your lap stays cool.
The key is not so much the transistor's size, but in how efficiently it transfers energy.
"People always thought the end game was making transistors small," said Mark Reed, a professor at Yale
University who helped design the new transistor. "That's really not the problem; it's how much power
they dissipate, and one way to modify that is by using different transport devices."
Reed and his colleagues created two molecular transistors; one that worked, and one that didn't work,
or at least didn't work very well.
The first transistor, the one that didn't work very well, was made of eight carbon atoms strung together
in a line with hydrogen atoms hanging off the sides, like a clothes line with eight wooden pins stuck at
even intervals along its length.
This first transistor didn't work well, which the scientists expected; they simply wanted to show they
could build a device that small. Electricity traveled along the string, but it took a lot of power to push
even a small amount through the alkane string -- too much power to make an efficient transistor

For the second model, the researchers took six carbon and hydrogen atoms and twisted them into a
circle -- creating a molecule of benzene. In this form, the electrical current flowed with ease, up one gold
electrode, through the carbon atoms, and down the other gold electrode.
Twisting the carbon atoms into a ring brings the carbons electrons closer together, so that the carbon
atoms can actually share electrons with each other. Those shared electrons let an electrical current run
through with relative ease.
A transistor smaller than one nanometer is a scientific breakthrough, but not a technological one,
cautions Reed. "If I take this result and go to IBM and ask what they think, they will answer that its
interesting, but it won't help us," said Johnson.
Modern silicon commercial transistors can reach down to about 45 nanometers in size, even smaller in
specialized research laboratories. But pack these tiny transistors together and the computer chips can
still get hot since energy is being lost during transfer.
Studying new kinds of transistors dissipate heat could produce cooler computers and longer lasting cell
phones. These devices are still years away from commercial reality -- of all the benzene transistors Reed
and his colleagues created, only about 15 percent of them actually worked. That's a far cry from the
reliability of the transistors found in cell phones and computers today.
"Making one is great, showing how it works is fabulous," said James Kushmerick, a scientist at the
National Institutes for Standards and Technology. "But you need thousands of them interconnected with
a high success rate to create a computer."
The technology to create that many interconnected benzene transistors doesn't exist right now, and
likely won't for at least another 10 years, but Kushmerick is still excited about what he calls a "huge
scientific breakthrough."

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