QDs Improve Medical Imaging
Changes in a living cell that take place over a long period of time are difficult to scrutinize and require high-spatial-resolution imaging. But new research now makes it possible to analyze activitie...
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Light Moves Nanostructures
With a bit of leverage, Cornell researchers have used a very tiny beam of light with as little as 1 mW of power to move a silicon structure up to 12 nm. That’s enough to completely switch the optical ...
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Light Squeezed Even Tighter
Scientists have proved that light can be squeezed into much tighter spaces than previously thought possible, a breakthrough that could change the world’s thinking on light’s capabilities. Dr. Shahraam...
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Laser Charts Green Protein
Green fluorescent proteins (GFP) have replaced many dyes in biological studies because they are non-toxic and, when attached to a gene and inserted into an organism, serve as a bright, glowing confirm...
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Finding Life in Martian Ice
With barren ice sheets and freezing winds, Antarctica might seem an unusually sterile and harsh environment in which to look for life. But within the frozen ice caps of its lakes, many fascinating sec...
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Capsules Mock Photosynthesis
German chemists report progress toward achieving artificial photosynthesis by packing thousands of similar molecules together to create a tiny capsule, then using a different kind of molecule as a lig...
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Show Plans Laser Tribute
Special events celebrating the 50th anniversary of the invention of the laser, including a “Cirque du Lasaire” reception, will mark SPIE Photonics West’s first year in San Francisco. The primary photo...
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T-ray Tool Up and Running
A new $500,000 instrument recently went about its work emitting and reading high-speed pulses of silent and invisible terahertz rays. As it did, Thomas Chiou explained how the technology would allow I...
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Scope-Headed Rats Roam Free
By building a tiny laser microscope small enough to mount on a rat’s head, researchers found a way to solve the puzzle of recording meaningful signals from brain cells that calculate perception and at...
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T Cell Trigger: Sheer Force
An array of techniques including optical tweezers have been used to find the “switch” that can swiftly change a T cell – a white blood cell that patrols the bloodstream and organs for signs of disease...
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Shrimp Eyes That Polarize
Mantis shrimp, found on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, have the most remarkable and complex vision systems known to science. They can see in 12 colors – humans see in only three – and can distin...
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Linear Nanowires Kinked
Taking nanomaterials to a new level of structural complexity, scientists have determined how to introduce kinks into arrow-straight nanowires, transforming them into zigzagging 2- and 3-D structures w...
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Optical Trap Holds Viruses
A Spain-Canada research collaboration has developed a new method to gently trap, manipulate and study tiny, active objects as minuscule as viruses without inflicting any damage. The partnership betwee...
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Fraunhofer USA Turns 15
Germany’s Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Europe’s largest institution for applied research, is celebrating the 15th anniversary of its subsidiary, Fraunhofer USA, on Oct. 22.Today six Fraunhofer centers are...
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Molecules Made Mini Lasers
A new optical microscopy technique squeezes photons out of nonfluorescent molecules to provide 3-D images of living cells and tissues for applications in medical imaging and biological research. The m...
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Lasers Twist Fly Memories
Light has been used to manipulate the memories of fruit flies, allowing them to learn from mistakes they never made and scientists to pinpoint the nerve cells that regulate such actions. The work coul...
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Small (and Big) Talk at FiO
The superbig and the supersmall were the subjects of two plenary sessions Monday at Frontiers in Optics 2009. In the first session, Andrea M. Ghez, professor of physics and astronomy at UCLA, a leadin...
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FiO Hot Topics: Hot Optics
New types of research that explore new avenues in medical imaging, solar power, communications and vision were presented during "What's Hot in Optics Today?" during Frontiers in Optics 2009 (FiO) Sund...
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Quantum Signatures of Chaos
Until now, no one has produced experimental evidence that chaos (defined as extreme sensitivity to infinitesimally small tweaks in the initial conditions) occurs in the quantum world – the world of ph...
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Seeing Inside a Living Cell
Electron microscopes are the most powerful type of microscope, capable of distinguishing even individual atoms. However, these microscopes cannot be used to image living cells because the electrons de...
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Graphite Proves Ferromagnetic
In what could be promising results for new applications in nanotechnology, such as biosensors and detectors, researchers at Eindhoven University of Technology show for the first time why ordinary grap...
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3-D TV, Bio-optics Hot at FiO
The future of 3-D TV, laser fusion and exawatt lasers, bio-optics breakthroughs and illumination-aware imaging for producing better robotic vision are just a few of the hot topics to be discussed duri...
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The little motor that might
Researchers have built a molecule-size motor powered by light that could be used for such tasks as moving a minuscule object a few nanometers. The scientists, however, have bigger plans: They hope to ...
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The Swiss army knife of nanoparticles
In recent years, researchers have developed nanoparticles for a host of medical applications, from drug delivery to imaging of tumors. Now, in a Nature Nanotechnology paper published online July 26, 2...
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Lab on a chip promises advanced diagnostics
Diagnostics often involves testing blood or other biological samples to see if they contain molecules indicating the presence of a particular disease or disorder. Typically, doctors send the samples t...
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The secret of the toucan revealed with an infrared camera
The 18th-century French naturalist Buffon called the colorful, long, hard and curved appendage “grossly monstrous” a century before Charles Darwin wrote that it could be a sexual ornament. Now, thanks...
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A small and speedy x-ray source
Smaller x-ray machines that offer better resolution and faster imaging than current technology can produce are on the horizon if research at the University of North Carolina pans out. According to phy...
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Network helps with device development
Developing a marketable medical device is often a confounding process, but help is available. A new online software program, e-Zassi, enables medical device professionals to search for and be searched...
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Wyatt Technology Corp.
The conversion (theft) claims by Wyatt Technology Corp. of Santa Barbara, Calif., against Viscotek of Houston, a Malvern Company, have been reinstated by the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit....
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Affymetrix Inc.
Affymetrix Inc. of Santa Clara and Beckman Coulter Inc. of Fullerton, both in California, have entered into an agreement to develop products for genomic research. The partnership will create a range o...
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PerkinElmer Inc.
In Waltham, Mass., PerkinElmer Inc. has signed an exclusive licensing agreement with Max Planck Innovation of Garching, Germany, the technology transfer organization of the Max Planck Society. The Ame...
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National Institutes of Health
A $390,000 Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Institutes of Health has been awarded to Carbon Design Innovations Inc. of Burlingame, Calif. The funding will further the company...
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BioTek Instruments Inc.
Synergy Mx, a monochromator-based microplate reader from BioTek Instruments Inc. of Winooski, Vt., has received DLReady certification from Promega Corp. of Madison, Wis. The award indicates that the d...
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Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology
The Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology and Centre Suisse d’Electronique et de Microtechnique SA of Neuchâtel, Switzerland, have signed a memorandum of understanding. They will collaborate...
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PinPointe USA Inc.
In Chico, Calif., PinPointe USA Inc., a medical technology company that introduced the FootLaser, has received an infusion of venture capital funding from Western Technology Investments of San Jose, C...
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