RTNN’s Take-out Science was highlighted today by Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering. The article describes the roots of the popular program and its plans for the future. RTNN staff members Holly Leddy, Phillip Strader, and Maude Cuchiara provide their thoughts on how the program helps to build the scientific community during the coronavirus pandemic. Read the entire article online here.
Researchers at Duke are hard at work in the development of a novel vaccine to fight the coronavirus. The cryo-transmission electron microscope housed at Duke’s Shared Materials Instrumentation Facility (SMIF) is playing a major role in this work. This microscope helps scientists determine the structure of proteins in the virus to help guide vaccine design. To learn more, see the press release here.
RTNN is pleased to announce a weekly microscopy program (Tuesdays at noon, ET) for your quarantined viewing pleasure. Each week, Dr. Holly Leddy (SMIF at Duke), will explore a different theme using both a light microscope, a portable scanning electron microscope, and the support of RTNN technical staff. We’ll broadcast all sessions live and answer your questions. All shows will be posted here.
All shows are designed with K-12 audiences in mind and are open to everyone. Join us for some take-out science as we explore the world at a much smaller scale. (And don’t forget your take-out lunch!)
To learn more, please visit the Take-Out Science site.
“Science Outside the Lab” brings a small cohort of graduate student scientists and engineers to Washington, D.C. to explore the relationships among science, innovation, policy, and societal outcomes. This customized free one-week version (May 31 – June 6, 2020), sponsored by the Nanotechnology Collaborative Infrastructure Southwest (NCI-SW), will investigate the context of nanotechnology decision-making in government and business at the local, state, federal, and international levels. During the week-long workshop participants meet and interact with groups of people who fund, regulate, shape, critique, publicize, and study nanotechnology and other emerging technologies. This includes people like congressional staffers, lobbyists, funding agency officers, regulators, journalists, academics, museum curators, and others.
To apply to the program, complete this application. Application deadline: February 28, 2020.
For more information, please see the program website.
A big thank you to everyone who submitted an image in the 2019 Image Competition. We are excited to announce the winners. Please vote for these amazing images in the NNCI Image Contest, There’s Plenty of Beauty at the Bottom. Voting will open on October 7th!
Gill raker of the Japanese medaka
Melissa Chernick, Duke University
This image shows a portion of a gill raker from a Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes), a small fish often used as a research model. Gill rakers are tooth-like structures inside a fish that help capture prey and prevent damage to its gills. The image shows some of the tissue that makes up the gill raker: a taste bud surrounded by pavement cells.
Nanocoined Structures in Diamond
Nichole Miller, Smart Material Solutions, Inc.
This image shows hierarchical features that were milled into diamond using a focused ion beam. This patented process, “Nanocoining,” can seamlessly nanopattern drum molds for roll-to-roll manufacturing hundreds of times faster than competing technologies. This enables nanopatterning that was previously feasible for only small, academic experiments to be applied on the industrial scale. Nanocoining opens the door for nanostructured surfaces with unique optical and wetting properties to be applied to a variety of commercial products including OLEDs, biosensors, wire-grid polarizers, solar panels, and windows.
Dust Flower
Michael Valerino, Duke University
Particulate matter (PM) refers to liquid or solid particles suspended in the atmosphere and comes from dust, combustion by-products, exhaust, fires, and even vegetation. When PM deposits on the surface of solar panels, it can reduce energy production by up to 40% resulting in ~10 to 50 billion dollars of annual losses globally. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of particles on the panel surfaces help us to better understand the sources impacting soiling. This piece of dust reminded our group of a flower, seemingly blooming out of an unearthly field. Even at this tiny scale, we can find familiarity.