News from the NNI Community - Research Advances Funded by Agencies Participating in the NNI

(Funded by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and the U.S. Department of Energy)

Researchers at the University of Florida, who are part of an international consortium, have found that silver nanowires are safer to use than the thicker wires used in today’s touchscreens. Combined with the ability to create interconnected joints, nanowires have potential use in not only cell phones but clothes, wearable electronics, medical sensors, and solar panels.

(Funded by the Office of Naval Research, the National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Energy)

An international team of researchers led by the University of Michigan has measured heat transfer through a single molecule. This advance could be a step toward molecular computing -- building circuits up from molecules rather than carving them out of silicon as a way to push Moore's Law to its limits and make the most powerful conventional computers possible.

(Funded by the Office of Naval Research, the National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Energy)

An international team of researchers led by the University of Michigan has measured heat transfer through a single molecule. This advance could be a step toward molecular computing -- building circuits up from molecules rather than carving them out of silicon as a way to push Moore's Law to its limits and make the most powerful conventional computers possible.

(Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation)

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have discovered signs of superconductivity in three-layer sheets of graphene, renewing hope that layered graphene will soon help researchers understand how superconductivity occurs in copper oxides. That understanding could lead to higher-temperature superconductors—or even room-temperature ones—which could produce massive energy savings in electrical grids and devices.

(Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation)

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have discovered signs of superconductivity in three-layer sheets of graphene, renewing hope that layered graphene will soon help researchers understand how superconductivity occurs in copper oxides. That understanding could lead to higher-temperature superconductors—or even room-temperature ones—which could produce massive energy savings in electrical grids and devices.

(Funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health)

Researchers at Harvard University have created a nanomachine that acts like a molecular motor as it moves along a DNA helix. With this nanomachine, the researchers have captured the first recorded rotational steps of a molecular motor as it moves from one DNA base pair to another.

(Funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health)

Researchers at Harvard University have created a nanomachine that acts like a molecular motor as it moves along a DNA helix. With this nanomachine, the researchers have captured the first recorded rotational steps of a molecular motor as it moves from one DNA base pair to another.

(Funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health)

Biomedical engineers at Penn State have developed a process to build protective, synthetic plant cell walls around animal cells. Cell walls made of biomimetic materials—synthetic materials that mimic biology—could protect human cells that are used in in vitro cell therapy to treat disease.

(Funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health)

Biomedical engineers at Penn State have developed a process to build protective, synthetic plant cell walls around animal cells. Cell walls made of biomimetic materials—synthetic materials that mimic biology—could protect human cells that are used in in vitro cell therapy to treat disease.

(Funded by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory)

Scientists at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory have devised a new process for using nanoparticles to build powerful lasers that are more efficient and safer for our eyes.