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Technology Science

U.S. Scientists Create Nano Brushes 15

Posted by timothy from the nano-nano dept.
Colin Smith writes "It looks like U.S. scientists are getting good at manipulating buckytubes. 'The world's smallest brushes, with bristles more than a thousand times finer than a human hair, have been created by researchers in the U.S.' This tells me that nanomaterials are moving from science to engineering."
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U.S. Scientists Create Nano Brushes More

U.S. Scientists Create Nano Brushes

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  • Awesome (Score:2, Funny)

    by kyle90 ( 827345 )
    Now I can finally get in between my teeth with my toothbrush.

  • Artist's rendering (Score:3, Funny)

    by AtariAmarok ( 451306 ) on Sunday June 12, 2005 @05:39PM (#12797841)
    Here is an artist rendering [sellinc.com] of a nanobrush in action. See them working so hard, so you don't have tooooo...!

  • Terrific! (Score:3, Funny)

    by poopdeville ( 841677 ) on Sunday June 12, 2005 @06:04PM (#12797968)
    Imagine the possibilities. Now hard drive manufacturers can paint nano-racing-stripes on their heads for dramatic speed improvement. Now memory manufacturers can paint nano-racing-stripes on their transistors for a dramatic speed improvement. Now toothbrush manufacturers can create a toothbrush so fine we not only brush our own teeth, but the teeth of all bacteria living on them. Everyone should take note: We are living in 1984 -- or was it a Brave New World?
    • No one ever seems to notice that in Brave New World it was the independent thinkers who caused/experienced all the problems. The Deltas and Gammas had a great life - at least from their perspective.

  • Filters and Bushings and Brushes, Oh My! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Frumious Wombat ( 845680 ) on Sunday June 12, 2005 @06:07PM (#12797986)
    My immediate response is, "nifty".

    My more mature, informed, response, is that I'd like to see where the electric motor bushing idea ends up. It's also interesting to see their high surface area to volume being put to use as filter, though it remains to be seen whether they can be made more cost effective than Zeolitic materials

    The painting idea is interesting, but from the size of the picture, it doesn't seem that we're looking at single-molecule type resolution in which case conventional lithography is probably superior. On the other hand, I saw a talk by Tom Mallouk of PSU where he demonstrated nanopropulsion with peroxide as fuel, driven by difference in peroxidation rates of different metals on the device. This could be a way of making finely detailed structures of that nature.

    Just once, though, I'd like to see a bit less cheekiness in science journalists; nanodustpans, indeed.

  • Fascinating! (Score:4, Interesting)

    by rbarreira ( 836272 ) on Sunday June 12, 2005 @07:06PM (#12798291) Homepage
    From the article:

    With appropriate chemical coatings, they might be able to pick out biomolecules such as DNA, specific proteins, or even whole viruses.

    Imagine the kind of cures that we'll have in the future! /me imagines videos of small machines destroying viruses :)
  • Does this mean we'll finally be able to make our Tamiya models look like the picture on the box?
  • Mattel announces its new line of mono-molecular Barbie and Ken dolls for the 05 Holiday season!
  • I heard the NPR report [npr.org] (audio only) on Morning Edition yesterday (6/13/05). Unlike the BBC article, the NPR piece focused on one extremely likely use for the nanobrushes: increasing yields in high-density chip fabrication.

    As the size of the features etched in silicon decrease, the importance of cleanliness increases. A single mote of dust landing on the chip will cause it to fail, leading to decreased yields as the devices become smaller and more powerful. These nanobrushes may be useful in cleaning out

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