One of the most difficult aspects of working at the nanoscale is actually seeing the object being worked on. Biological structures like viruses, which are smaller than the wavelength of light, are invisible to standard optical microscopes and difficult to capture in their native form with other imaging techniques.

By dipping plain cotton cloth in a high-tech broth full of silver nanowires and carbon nanotubes, Stanford researchers have developed a new high-speed, low-cost filter that could easily be implemented to purify water in the developing world.

A pioneering study by researchers of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has shown that sandwiching a simple layer of silver nanoparticles can significantly improve the performance of organic transistors which are commonly used in consumer electronics.

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed extremely small microneedles that can be used to deliver medically-relevant nanoscale dyes called quantum dots into skin -- an advance that opens the door to new techniques for diagnosing and treating a variety of medical conditions, including skin cancer.

Chemotherapy, while an effective cancer treatment, also brings debilitating side effects such as nausea, liver toxicity and a battered immune system.

Looking at individual molecules through a microscope is part of nanotechnologists' everyday lives. However, it has so far been difficult to observe atomic structures inside organic molecules. In a new study published in Physical Review Letters, Juelich researchers explain their novel method, which enables them to take an "X-ray view" inside molecules. The method may facilitate the analysis of organic semiconductors and proteins.

Scientists of the Max-Born-Institute in Berlin (Germany) have directly measured the spatial positions of electrons and protons during a chemical reaction using ultrashort X-ray flashes.