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Dreadlocks with Kung Fu Grip

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CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Jan. 9, 2009 -- Researchers have found that dunking synthetic, nanosize hairs into a liquid and allowing the liquid to evaporate can coax the nanobristles to twist together like dreadlocks, sticking to each other or to an object in their center with a tenacious grip. Besides potential uses such as energy and information storage, photonics and adhesion, the ability could be harnessed to develop catch-and-release systems, such as a device that can clutch a drug-filled capsule and carry it through the bloodstream.Nanobristles hugging a polystyrene sphere. Images courtesy of the Aizenberg lab at Harvard School...Read full article

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    Published: January 2009
    Glossary
    adhesive
    An intermolecular substance that serves to hold materials together. Two types are used in the optical industry: one, which must be transparent and colorless, to cement lenses together; and a general-purpose adhesive for bonding prisms and other glass parts to their metallic supports.
    chiral
    Description of a particle that cannot be superimposed on its mirror image.
    nano
    An SI prefix meaning one billionth (10-9). Nano can also be used to indicate the study of atoms, molecules and other structures and particles on the nanometer scale. Nano-optics (also referred to as nanophotonics), for example, is the study of how light and light-matter interactions behave on the nanometer scale. See nanophotonics.
    nanotechnology
    The use of atoms, molecules and molecular-scale structures to enhance existing technology and develop new materials and devices. The goal of this technology is to manipulate atomic and molecular particles to create devices that are thousands of times smaller and faster than those of the current microtechnologies.
    photonics
    The technology of generating and harnessing light and other forms of radiant energy whose quantum unit is the photon. The science includes light emission, transmission, deflection, amplification and detection by optical components and instruments, lasers and other light sources, fiber optics, electro-optical instrumentation, related hardware and electronics, and sophisticated systems. The range of applications of photonics extends from energy generation to detection to communications and...
    spiral
    A defect in the cleaved end face of an optical fiber in which the surface changes abruptly.
    adhesiveBiophotonicsbloodstreamcapillary forcechemicalschiraldreadlocksdrugfilamentgripHarvardhelicalindustrialJoanna Aizenberglab on a chipMahadevanmaterials scienceMedusaMicroscopynanonanobraidnanobristlenanonestnanotechnologyNews & FeaturesphotonicsResearch & TechnologySEASself-assemblyspiralsurface tension

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