This neat widget just published in Nano Letters, in a paper published by Ambarish Ghosh and Peer Fischer from Harvard, “Controlled Propulsion of Artificial Magnetic Nanostructured Propellers.”

From "Controlled Propulsion of Artificial Magnetic Nanostructured Propellers," by Ambarish Ghosh and Peer Fischer

It’s a new kind of nano-swimmer, functionally similar to the rotating flagella found on bacteria.  [...]

Researchers at MIT, led by Prof. Gerbrand Ceder, have improved the charge (and discharge) rate of lithium ion battery material by a factor of ~30.  The work is reported in Nature and at the MIT website. 

Lithium ion transport is apparently limited by diffusion of lithium ions on the surface of lithium ion phosphate particles [...]

Just a reminder – the Rice Alliance is holding the 8th annual Nanotechnology and Sustainability Venture Forum this Thursday, February 12, 2009.  Check out the agenda and list of speakers – looks like a great meeting – and always a good place to network.  Here’s a link to register; that page has a map with [...]

Yesterday, Josh Tabin gathered the Startup Houston contributors to lunch at El Meson; the company and the food were both spicy and excellent (thanks, Josh!). Collectively, and individually, our goal is to help transform Houston into a dynamo of entrepreneurship.

Of course, the main discussion was about start-ups and the environment where they originate and grow [...]