/ en-us Â鶹ÒùÔº internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Â鶹ÒùÔºics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Chemistry often conjures images of mixing fluids together in beakers, flasks, or test tubes. But often, chemistry happens on a much smaller scale. In many medical and industrial contexts, mixing fluids involves fractions of a milliliter, and for these applications, sometimes the best tool is a microscopic robot. /news/2025-06-magnetic-microrobot-mechanically-microscopic-materials.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Tue, 10 Jun 2025 11:00:01 EDT news668679065 Our lungs are fairly susceptible to diseases. Unlike most other organs, the lungs are in direct contact with the outside world. When we breathe in, our lungs can also take in things besides the oxygen we need, including irritants, pollutants, viruses and bacteria which may cause diseases like pneumonia, bronchitis and cancer. /news/2025-05-hard-meds-lungs-breathable-algae.html Bio & Medicine Tue, 06 May 2025 12:52:05 EDT news665754721 Managing complex medication schedules could soon become as simple as taking a single capsule each day. Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a capsule that can be packed with multiple medications and release them at designated times throughout the day. /news/2025-05-capsule-multiple-pills.html Biochemistry Polymers Thu, 01 May 2025 13:42:53 EDT news665325768 A novel study has unveiled a technique that enhances stem cell therapy for neurodegenerative diseases by combining magnetic guidance with localized ultrasound stimulation. This approach successfully navigates magnetically loaded stem cells to specific brain regions and promotes their differentiation into neurons using a miniaturized ultrasound device. /news/2025-04-ultrasound-microrobots-team-boost-stem.html Bio & Medicine Wed, 30 Apr 2025 16:34:04 EDT news665249642 A team of bioengineers at Harvard University's Rowland Institute has found two new ways to control a tiny creature, essentially turning it into a micro-robot. In their study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group used a fruit fly's natural response to moving stimuli and odorants to effectively direct its movements. /news/2025-04-fruit-flies-micro-robots-pinwheels.html Plants & Animals Biotechnology Thu, 10 Apr 2025 13:39:19 EDT news663511150 An international research team led by the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) has achieved a breakthrough in the field of medical microrobots by developing the world's first antibiofilm liquid-bodied magnetic-controlled robot. /news/2025-04-liquid-bodied-robot-enables-precise.html Bio & Medicine Tue, 01 Apr 2025 14:54:38 EDT news662738067 Scientists have revealed how tiny swimming cells—such as sperm and bacteria—are able to move faster when traveling as a group, and the research could accelerate the development of microscopic robots that deliver drugs to specific regions of the body. /news/2025-03-scientists-uncover-microswimmers-faster-groups.html Bio & Medicine Nanophysics Fri, 28 Mar 2025 11:43:04 EDT news662380981 Imagine if a doctor could remotely do a non-invasive, highly precise medical procedure on her patients using a tiny robot, or microrobot. With a device researchers from SMU and George Washington University created, that is one step closer to reality. /news/2025-03-magnetic-tweezers-robotic-surgery-safer.html Bio & Medicine Nanomaterials Wed, 26 Mar 2025 12:37:04 EDT news662211422 A team of researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS) in Stuttgart developed a biohybrid micro swimmer covered with magnetic material, whose swimming ability is largely unaffected by the coating. The team from the Â鶹ÒùÔºical Intelligence Department at MPI-IS published their work in the journal Matter. /news/2025-03-magnetic-microalgae-tiny-swimmers-mission.html Bio & Medicine Nanomaterials Mon, 17 Mar 2025 14:18:34 EDT news661439908 When robots are made out of modular units, their size, shape, and functionality can be modified to perform any number of tasks. At the microscale, modular robots could enable applications like targeted drug delivery and autonomous micromanufacturing; but building hundreds of identical robots the size of a red blood cell has its challenges. /news/2025-01-micro-modular-mobile-dna-linked.html Bio & Medicine Nanomaterials Wed, 08 Jan 2025 15:55:04 EST news655574101 How can medicines be directed to precise locations within the body where they need to act? Scientists have been researching this question for a long time. An example would be delivering cancer drugs directly to a tumor so that they only take effect at a specific location, without causing side effects in the rest of the body. Research is under way to identify carrier particles to which active ingredients can be bound. /news/2024-12-ultrasound-microscopic-particles-drug-delivery.html Bio & Medicine Nanomaterials Tue, 10 Dec 2024 08:50:04 EST news653043001 In a new study in Â鶹ÒùÔºical Review Letters, scientists have demonstrated a method to control artificial microswimmers using electric fields and fluid flow. These microscopic droplets could pave the way for targeted drug delivery and microrobotics. /news/2024-10-scientists-precise-artificial-microswimmers-electric.html Soft Matter Tue, 29 Oct 2024 08:00:01 EDT news649353436 Miriam Filippi, a researcher in the field of soft robotics working on developing bioinspired artificial muscle tissues, believes we can make human activities more ecologically sound by harnessing the power of living cells for bio-hybrid materials. /news/2024-10-biofabrication-sustainable-rethink-current.html Biotechnology Thu, 17 Oct 2024 10:56:52 EDT news648381409 Particles that are larger than regular molecules or atoms yet remain invisible to the naked eye can form a variety of useful structures, including miniature propellers for microrobots, cellular probes, and steerable microwheels designed for targeted drug delivery. /news/2024-10-harnessing-magnetic-pac-effect-enables.html Condensed Matter Fri, 04 Oct 2024 12:30:30 EDT news647263567 A research team has unveiled an innovative technology for ultraprecision surface polishing and cleaning using simultaneously operating magnetic micro spinbots. These tiny robots, capable of nanometer-scale contaminant removal and polishing, offer a lightweight, scalable, and cost-effective alternative for advanced industries like semiconductors and optics. /news/2024-09-magnetic-micro-spinbots-ultraprecise-surface.html Nanomaterials Fri, 20 Sep 2024 11:19:04 EDT news646049941 Researchers at Finland's Aalto University have found a way to use magnets to line up bacteria as they swim. The approach offers more than just a way to nudge bacteria into order—it also provides a useful tool for a wide range of research, such as work on complex materials, phase transitions and condensed matter physics. /news/2024-07-bacteria-line-physicists-magnetic-fields.html Condensed Matter Fri, 05 Jul 2024 09:57:17 EDT news639392233 Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a pill that releases microscopic robots, or microrobots, into the colon to treat inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The experimental treatment, given orally, has shown success in mice. It significantly reduced IBD symptoms and promoted the healing of damaged colon tissue without causing toxic side effects. /news/2024-06-microrobot-pill-inflammatory-bowel-disease.html Bio & Medicine Wed, 26 Jun 2024 14:00:01 EDT news638601998 Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed microscopic robots, known as microrobots, capable of swimming through the lungs to deliver cancer-fighting medication directly to metastatic tumors. This approach has shown promise in mice, where it inhibited the growth and spread of tumors that had metastasized to the lungs, thereby boosting survival rates compared to control treatments. /news/2024-06-microrobots-cancer-drugs-metastatic-lung.html Bio & Medicine Wed, 12 Jun 2024 14:00:02 EDT news637402022 Scientists at the University of Oregon have discovered that colonies of gelatinous sea animals swim through the ocean in giant corkscrew shapes using coordinated jet propulsion, an unusual kind of locomotion that could inspire new designs for efficient underwater vehicles. /news/2024-05-uncover-jelly-sea-creatures-modern.html Plants & Animals Biotechnology Thu, 16 May 2024 10:25:04 EDT news635073901 An afterglow luminescent nanoprobe opens up new possibilities for imaging living cells. As a research team reports in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition, their new "nanotorch" can continue to luminesce for more than 10 days after a single excitation. /news/2024-04-rechargeable-nanotorch-afterglow-luminescence-imaging.html Bio & Medicine Mon, 15 Apr 2024 09:37:29 EDT news632392645 Micro/nanorobots, due to their small size, high controllability and precise navigation capabilities have emerged as an important tool to execute biomedical tasks in microenvironments. However, it is still a big challenge to maneuver rigid microrobots in complicated and sinuous narrow spaces (such as blood vessels and intestines) due to their inability to deform. /news/2024-04-microalgae-soft-bio-microrobots.html Biotechnology Thu, 04 Apr 2024 11:00:08 EDT news631447206 Daniela Kraft's group has succeeded in creating a network of microparticles that is both strong and completely flexible. This may sound simple, yet they are the first in the world to succeed in doing so. The achievement represents a real breakthrough in soft matter physics. The study is published in Â鶹ÒùÔºical Review Letters. /news/2024-02-lab-tiny-network-microparticles-strong.html Soft Matter Thu, 15 Feb 2024 09:32:04 EST news627211921 Canadian researchers led by Montreal radiologist Gilles Soulez have developed a novel approach to treat liver tumors using magnet-guided microrobots in an MRI device. /news/2024-02-liver-cancer-microrobots-magnetic-field.html Bio & Medicine Wed, 14 Feb 2024 14:00:01 EST news627129118 Biofilms—structured communities of microorganisms that create a protective matrix shielding them from external threats, including antibiotics—are responsible for about 80% of human infections and present a significant challenge in medical treatments, often resisting conventional methods. /news/2024-01-qa-highlight-potential-microrobots-infectious.html Biotechnology Mon, 08 Jan 2024 10:27:04 EST news623932021 The integration of mechanical memory in the form of springs has for hundreds of years proven to be a key enabling technology for mechanical devices (such as clocks), achieving advanced functionality through complex autonomous movements. Currently, the integration of springs in silicon-based microtechnology has opened the world of planar mass-producible mechatronic devices from which we all benefit, via air-bag sensors for example. /news/2024-01-soft-microrobots-super-compliant-picoforce.html Bio & Medicine Nanomaterials Thu, 04 Jan 2024 09:07:03 EST news623581621 Self-propelled nanoparticles could potentially advance drug delivery and lab-on-a-chip systems—but they are prone to go rogue with random, directionless movements. Now, an international team of researchers has developed an approach to rein in the synthetic particles. /news/2023-12-propeller-nanoparticles.html Bio & Medicine Fri, 08 Dec 2023 09:28:10 EST news621250088 ETH Zurich researchers have shown for the first time that microvehicles can be steered through blood vessels in the brains of mice using ultrasound. They hope that this will eventually lead to treatments capable of delivering drugs with pinpoint precision. Their study is published in Nature Communications. /news/2023-12-microvehicles-blood-vessels-mouse-brain.html Bio & Medicine Thu, 07 Dec 2023 10:41:09 EST news621168065 Artificial helical microswimmers with shape-morphing capabilities and adaptive locomotion are promising for precision medicine and noninvasive surgery. However, current fabrication methods are slow and limited. /news/2023-11-shape-changing-helical-microswimmers-revolutionize-biomedical.html Biotechnology Thu, 30 Nov 2023 14:17:05 EST news620576223 This week, we reported on new developments in lithium-ion batteries, and a real industrial pollution hat trick with stories on coal, lead and microplastics. /news/2023-11-saturday-citations-microplastics-coal-filthy.html Other Sat, 25 Nov 2023 07:30:01 EST news620055434 Seas, oceans, rivers, and other bodies of water on Earth have become increasingly polluted over the past decades, and this is threatening the survival of many aquatic species. This pollution takes a wide range of forms, including the proliferation of so-called micro and nano plastics. /news/2023-11-biohybrid-microrobots-micro-nano-plastics-aquatic.html Bio & Medicine Nanomaterials Fri, 24 Nov 2023 09:10:01 EST news620039155