The world’s first high resolution, 3D pictures of the flexibility of living tissues could lead to significant advances in disease detection, according to Brendan Kennedy and colleagues from the University of Western Australia. Diseased tissues such as tumours give themselves away because they tend to be stiffer than surrounding healthy cells. Doctors can try to…

Implanted medical devices may no longer need batteries, says Ajay Tikka from Victoria University in Melbourne. Instead, he and his colleagues have developed technology that can wirelessly beam power to a device implanted under the skin. Using that power to open tiny valves remotely in implanted drug delivery technology is one potential application, according to…

The next generation of flexible displays and electronic paper could build themselves, thanks to the discovery of a way of getting the materials comprising them to self-assemble. A compound known to switch from transparent to opaque when triggered by an electric current can be programmed to assemble itself, says Scott Jones from the University of…

A sprinkle of diamond dust could help doctors to diagnose disease better. Ewa Rej and David Reilly from the University of Sydney are testing nanoparticles of the precious gem for their potential to improve MRI scans. They are examining the possibility that giving patients tiny amounts of nano-diamond will boost the contrast of images, making…

US researchers reported on their ability to create diamond nanowires  which could one day be used to power quantum computers with many times the processing power of today’s supercomputers. These diamond nanowires can provide the steady stream of photons needed for light-based quantum computers, says Tom Babinec from the Marko Lončar’s Laboratory for Nanoscale Optics…

Dr Andrea Morello reported on the progress of a team led by University of New South Wales engineers and physicists which has developed a “single electron reader”, one of the key building blocks needed to make a quantum computer using silicon. Quantum computers promise exponential increases in processing speed over today’s computers through their use…

CSIRO researchers reported that metallic nanoparticles can be used as components of computers powered by light rather than electric currents. The nanoparticles can control and manipulate the flow of light in photonic circuits in computers that should be much more powerful than their electronic counterparts.

The major protein in silkworm silk is being used by Peter Domachuk and his colleagues at the University of Sydney as a platform for sophisticated new health tests. The protein, fibroin, is extremely strong and so bio-friendly that it allows long-term studies of the interactions of molecules which, until now, have been too sensitive to…

Adding to chaos underground could help manage polluted water, according to CSIRO physicist Guy Metcalfe. His team has been working on “chaotic advection”, which describes the motion of particles carried in a flow—from smoke drifting in the air, to the mixing of the milk into your morning coffee. The same principle can be used to…