Episode 037 You can light fires with wood, but how about wood that emits light without burning? Scientists from New Zealand recently took thin sheets of balsa wood and extracted them with a solvent to dissolve away some of the more soluble components. They then filled the holes in the resulting porous, spongy solid with nano-sized luminescent quantum dots.

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Wood Lights

Episode 036 To satisfy our future need for energy, it will be increasingly important to use renewable energy sources, such as sunlight. Plants have been using sunlight as an energy source for millions of years. In a process called photosynthesis, plants use the sun’s energy to make cellulose and other chemicals they need.

An Artificial Leaf?

Episode 035 Nanotechnology is considered an example of the latest in modern science. But you might be surprised to know that one particular kind of nanotechnology has been around for a very long time. The Lycurgus cup is a small glass goblet decorated with an image of the mythical king Lycurgus. It was made around 300 AD, possibly in Rome, and today is owned by the British Museum in London.

Nanoparticles in Ancient Art

Episode 034 Got your cell phone with you? I thought so. Like many other everyday electronic devices we cannot live without, your phone contains tiny amounts of scarce but critical rare earth elements, such as praseodynium and europium. Our seemingly insatiable appetite for the latest electronics means that the current global demand for these elements is far greater than theavailable supply

Nanotube Recycling of Electronic Waste

Episode 033 Looking for a new way to kill germs? Nanotechnology might hold the answer. Bacteria are becoming more resistant to current drugs, making it harder to treat diseases caused by them. There is constant research into making new molecules to fight these more resistant pathogens, however there is always the chance that the bacteria will eventually adjust to new drugs in turn. Nanotechnology offers a different approach and recent advances are starting to bring their use closer to reality

Antibacterial Nanostructures

Episode 032 Chemical bonds are small, so small in fact that we can’t see them with the most powerful optical microscopes. That’s because the wavelength of visible light is about 400 times larger than the usual bond length. That’s where electrons come in. Electrons are wave-like particles that are tiny, just like bonds, and can be used instead of light. When the sample is thin enough, electrons travel through the material and are collected on the other side by a detector that produces an image.

Chemical Bonding on Video

Episode 031 These days, you can use a 3D printer to make almost anything – from a missing part for a broken toy to a prosthetic leg! Zooming down to the nanoscale, scientists are also developing ways of using 3D printing to make very tiny objects.

3D Nanoprinting with an Electron Beam Pen

Episode 030 The 1930s radio version of the great fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes, often exclaimed “Elementary, my dear Watson!” when he reached an obvious conclusion. What you might not know, is that Sherlock Holmes was an expert chemist, often carrying out chemical experiments as part of his detective work.

Molecules and the Modern-Day Sherlock Holmes

Episode 029 Got the blues? Well, someone who’s really blue -- but likes it -- is the cobalt blue tarantula. This large spider gets its color not from a pigment, but from tiny structures in its hair, which cause the reflected light to display an effect called interference. The same interference effect causes soap bubbles, opals, and butterfly wings to display many different colors depending on what angle you view them from. What is remarkable about the cobalt blue tarantula is that the color doesn’t change in this way, but stays the same.

The Blue of a Spider

Episode 028 Teeth make eating possible, sharks scary, and smiles pretty. But when you have a cavity, you need to see a dentist. For over 200 years, dentists have been filling cavities with amalgams, which are mixtures of silver, mercury, and other metals. Since the 1970s, however, dentists have increasingly been using a new material called a composite, which is made by adding powdered quartz to a plastic resin.

Nanodentistry

Episode 027 Batteries are an amazing technology. Each battery is a little chemical reactor: when power is needed, the chemical reaction proceeds, and electricity is generated. When the chemical reaction ends, the battery is dead. Of all the kinds of batteries, lithium-ion batteries have the greatest energy per unit weight, which is why they are used in such things as laptop computers.

The Nanotechnology of Batteries

Episode 026 Remember that annoying cotton shirt that shrank two sizes after you did your laundry? Well, scientists have recently developed a really clever way to use a similar effect to make tiny three dimensional devices.

The Incredible Shrinking Gel

Episode 025 If the cells in your body get hot, they get a little uncomfortable and don’t work as well. Unlike us, they can’t just drink some ice-cold lemonade to cool off. Your cells can only live near body temperature, and if things get too hot, they die. This is true for normal cells, and also for cancer cells.

Photothermal Therapy – Can You Take the Heat?

Episode 024 Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend” sang Marilyn Monroe in “Gentleman Prefer Blondes.” However nanodiamonds may become everyone’s best friend!...

Nanodiamonds are Forever

Episode 023 In the movie Back to the Future, George McFly was a little confused when he told his future wife “I am your density.”...

Aerogels – Lighter than a Feather

Step into the world of nanotechnology with Tiny Tech.  Tiny Tech is a series of radio modules focusing on the science and engineering of the very small.

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