The Peshkest (nanotechnology by George Peszke)
Opowie o naukowej pasji, inspiracji oraz dziaalnoci naszego przyjaciela i partnera dynamic, jakim jest Jurek Peszke (dr nanotechnologii). Jest to zarazem...

By: dynamic TV

Read more from the original source:

The Peshkest (nanotechnology by George Peszke) - Video

CHICAGO, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- Cross-pollination of ideas among scientific disciplines is key to creative solutions, a U.S. nanotechnology pioneer says.

Building networks of outstanding scientists, engineers and clinicians will promote development of creative solutions to complex societal needs in an age of specialization, Northwestern University Professor Chad Mirkin says.

Mirkin is the founding director of the International Institute for Nanotechnology, an institute that brings together more than 190 faculty researchers from 25 different disciplines.

Mirkin discussed the IIN from inception to realization in a presentation titled "University Convergence Institutes" at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Chicago.

"The IIN provides the essential framework to overcome traditional divisions between university departments and schools," Mirkin said in a Northwestern release Saturday.

The IIN is an umbrella organization for interdisciplinary research into transformative nanotechnologies including nanomedicine, nanomaterials and devices, nanotechnology for energy, the environment, security and defense, and nanotechnology solutions for food and water.

"It has enabled us to attract researchers with deep expertise in their fields, support and enable creative synergy, enhance translational capabilities and build one of the largest and most productive nanotechnology institutes in the world," Mirkin said.

See original here:

Cooperation among diverse scientific disciplines urged for results

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

15-Feb-2014

Contact: Megan Fellman fellman@northwestern.edu 847-491-3115 Northwestern University

In an age of specialization, building networks of outstanding scientists, engineers and clinicians is helping the development of creative solutions to complex societal needs. But how do you successfully surmount the barriers between disparate disciplines?

Northwestern University professor Chad Mirkin is no stranger to the challenges of building diverse teams. He is the founding director of the International Institute for Nanotechnology (IIN), a flourishing institute that brings together more than 190 faculty researchers from 25 different disciplines.

Mirkin will discuss the IIN from inception to realization in a presentation titled "University Convergence Institutes" at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting in Chicago. His presentation is part of the symposium "Convergence Science: A Revolution for Health Solutions" to be held from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. CST Saturday, Feb. 15, in the Comiskey Room of the Hyatt Regency Chicago.

"The IIN provides the essential framework to overcome traditional divisions between university departments and schools," Mirkin said. "It has enabled us to attract researchers with deep expertise in their fields, support and enable creative synergy, enhance translational capabilities and build one of the largest and most productive nanotechnology institutes in the world."

Mirkin is the George B. Rathmann Professor of Chemistry in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Professor of Medicine.

Established in 2000, the IIN is home to the first federally funded nanotechnology facility in the nation. It currently represents and unites more than $600 million in nanotechnology research, education and infrastructure and has positioned Northwestern as a world leader in the field.

One nanometer is one billionth of a meter. To put that extremely small size in another context: A nanometer is to a meter what a marble is to the Earth. Materials with nano-sized particles have always existed, but it wasn't until relatively recently -- thanks to advances in scientific instrumentation -- that scientists could observe nanoparticles and manipulate them.

Read more:

University institutes are shaping future of research

At this years Consumer Electronics Show (CES), it became clear that the much-ballyhooed age of 3-D TV was coming to a quiet and uncelebrated end.One of the suggested causes of its demise was the cost of the 3D glasses. If you wanted to invite a group over to watch the big sporting event, you had better have a lot of extra pairs on hand, which might cost you a small fortune.

Eliminating the glasses from the experience has been proposed from the first moment 3-D TVs were introduced to the marketplace. In 2010, Toshiba and Nintendo shared their plans to bring glasses-free 3-D to portable devices.

There have been a number of approaches proposed for accomplishing the feat. Now researchers at the University of Central Florida (UCF) are leveraging nanomanufacturing techniques to do the job.

Jayan Thomas, an assistant professor at UCFs NanoScience Technology Center, has received a US $400 000 grant from the National Science Foundation to pursue the use of nanoprinting techniques for turning polymers into displays whose images appear in 3-D to the naked eye. The kind of 3-D displays Thomas envisions conjure images of the holograms used to display messages in the Star Wars movies.

The TV screen should be like a table top, Thomas said. People would sit around and watch the TV from all angles, like sitting around a table. Therefore, the images should be like real-world objects. If you watch a football game on this 3-D TV, you would feel like it is happening right in front of you. A holographic 3-D TV is a feasible direction to accomplish this without the need of glasses.

The nanomanufacturing techniques Thomas uses are similar to the printing process he developed for creating nanomaterials to be used in supercapacitorsa process that we covered last year. That technique involved printing polymer nanostructures on a substrate that served as a scaffold upon which electrode material made of manganese dioxide is deposited. That technique is a variation on the simple spin-on nanoprinting (SNAP) technique.

With these nanomanufacturing techniques, Thomas has developed a polymer composite that improves the process of making the 3-D images in the first place. When you are watching 3-D television, what you are really seeing is two perspectives of an image, so it is actually not very close to a real world object. The 3-D glasses help to provide a 3-D appearance of the image.

"Our technology uses multiple cameras positioned above and around an object to photograph it from multiple perspectives," explains Thomas. "We are then doing a couple of new things; we need to make the recording process so fast that the human eye will not see the images refreshing from the multiple perspectives. This requires new materials optionsa new plastic type display on which to play what are ultimately holographic images."

Whether this technique proves to be any more successful than those offered by MIT and other research groups, remains to be seen. In any case, we may not yet have seen the end of 3D TV, as long as it doesn't require glasses.

Illustration: Randi Klett; Photos: iStockphotos

Read more:

Nanotechnology Helps 3-D TV Make a Comeback Without Glasses