NanoComputer

Every year, U.S. supermarkets lose roughly 10 percent of their fruits and vegetables to spoilage, according to the Department of Agriculture. To help combat those losses, MIT chemistry professor Timothy Swager and his students have built a new nanotechnology-based sensor that could help grocers and food distributors better monitor their produce. 
The new sensors, described in the journal Angewandte Chemie , can detect tiny amounts of ethylene, a gas that promotes ripening in plants. Swager envisions the inexpensive sensors attached to cardboard boxes of produce and scanned with a handheld device that would reveal the contents’ ripeness. That way, grocers would know when to put certain items on sale to move them before they get too ripe.

“If we can create equipment that will help grocery stores manage things more precisely, and maybe lower their losses by 30 percent, that would be huge,” says Swager, the John D. MacArthur Professor of Chemistry.
Detecting gases to monitor the food supply is a new area of interest for Swager, whose previous research has focused on sensors to detect explosives or chemical and biological warfare agents.

Source: http://web.mit.edu/press/2012/fruit-spoilage-sensor.html

Collecting solar energy to convert to electricity is not a new concept. However, there are significant advantages to space solar power compared to ground solar power. Solar energy in space is seven times greater per unit area than on the ground. The collection of solar space energy is not disrupted by nightfall and inclement weather, thus avoiding the need for expensive energy storage. You can see the findings from The National Space Society (NSS)   pusblished a few months ago, a ground-breaking space solar power study conducted by the  International Academy of Astronautics (IAA).

With space solar power technology, energy can be collected from space and transmitted wirelessly anywhere in the world,” said Mark Hopkins, the leading Executive Officer of the National Space Society. “This technology could be the answer to our energy crisis. We look forward to sharing the results of the IAA’s study, and exploring the potential that space solar power has for creating thousands of green energy jobs,” he added.

Source: http://blog.nss.org/
http://www.nss.org/settlement/ssp/library/SSPprizes2011.pdf 

According to a new technical market research report,  the global market for nanophotonic devices was valued at nearly $2.5 billion in 2011 and is expected to increase to $10.9 billion in 2016, a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 34.8%. The global market for nanophotonic devices can be separated into nine segments: nanophotonic diodes, near-field optics, solar cells, optical switches, nanophotonic ICs, holographic memory, nano-optical sensors, optical amplifiers, and add/drop filters. 

Nanophotonics involve the interaction of light with nanoscale structures and materials.  “Nanoscale” is defined as having at least one dimension measuring less than 100 nanometers, or billionths of a meter. At this scale, the properties that characterize larger systems do not necessarily apply – a fact that gives nanophotonics devices their unique properties.

Source: NANOTECHNOLOGY FOR PHOTONICS: GLOBAL MARKETS (NAN036B) from BCC Research  www.bccresearch.com.

Scientists at the University of Queensland, Australia, have found that mesoporous silica nanoparticles are able to store and deliver biocides in a controlled manner over time. The discovery could help the timber industry control termites. Termites cause  tens of billions dollars  in damage each year around the world, and are considered to be a significant threat to the timber industry throughout the tropics and subtropics. Conventional methods of eradicating the pests use agrochemical biocides that cause environmental damage via bioaccumulation.

The new method uses the pore structure of the mesoporous silica nanoparticles to adsorb biocides, which are then released in a controlled manner. The slow release means the termites will feed on and transfer the substance to other termites, resulting in eventual colony destruction. The team, said Zhang Qiao, who is heading up the research, is investigating how to further control the release of the biocide, saying the nanoparticles need to be coated with other chemicals in order to effectively deliver their cargo. They are investigating a biodegradable polymer coating.

Source: http://nanomac.uq.edu.au/Qiao.html

 

CelluForce announces  the start of operations at the first manufacturing plant for NanoCrystalline Cellulose (NCC) in the world..Recyclable and renewable, NCC is an advanced material derived from wood fibre.It  improves strength, durability and toughness, and can reduce damage caused by wear, abrasion and light. This nanomaterial can also be incorporated into systems to make structures that are light reflective (tunable from ultraviolet to infrared), impermeable to gas and stable over time. The remarkable properties of this advanced material derived from wood fibre will lead to commercial applications largely exceeding those of traditional wood fibre products.

 A high-value nanomaterial, NCC is capable of transforming the performance of existing products and creating new unique and improved products for numerous industrial sectors.

Source: http://celluforce.com/en/medias_press_releases.php

Researchers  from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have reported the first solar cell that produces a photocurrent that has an external quantum efficiency greater than 100 percent when photoexcited with photons from the high energy region of the solar spectrum. The external quantum efficiency reached a peak value of 114 percent.

The newly reported work marks a promising step toward developing Next Generation Solar Cells for both solar  and solar fuels that will be competitive with, or perhaps less costly than, energy from fossil or nuclear fuels

Source: http://www.nrel.gov/news/press/2011/1667.html
A paper on the breakthrough appears in the Dec. 16 issue of Science Magazine. 

In the next 15 years, the nanotechnology  industry will be doing business in trillions". said  Prof CNR Rao, chairman of the scientific advisory council of  the fourth edition of Bangalore Nano in India.  .Customers can buy  already indian products in the chemical and cosmetic industry that use this technology. "But it is going be big in the health industry. It will be used in procedures like tissue engineering," he added.

At a press conference Prof Rao added , "The other forums of nano-technology focus mainly on the science behind it, but this event brings in the industry as well,". The scientist concluded: "India cannot afford to miss the nano-technology bus.".
The 4th edition of Bengalore Nano is an initiative by the state government's department of science and technology under the guidance of Vision Group on nano-technology

Source: http://www.bangalorenano.in/nano_2011/index.php

Honey bees  are an essential pollinator of many agricultural crops, including squash, melon, kiwi, and cocoa. The value of these pollination services are measured in billions of dollars. Recently there has been a steady decline in bee colonies, which has been dubbed "Colony Collapse Disorder" (CCD). This has affected Northern America most severely. There, it has been estimated that one third of all colonies have collapsed annually since 2006. Why are bee colonies worldwide suffering mysterious deaths?

A unique study describes a single bee protein that can promote bee health and solve a major economic challenge. Heli Havukainen, a PhD student associated with Biorecognition, last week successfully defended her PhD thesis entitled "Dissecting Molecular Properties of Honey Bee Vitellogenin" at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (UMB).
"Detailed studies on the molecules that keep bees healthy are extremely important to the food industry as well as the global provision of food," said dr. Heli Havukainen, who was supervised by Professor Gro Amdam (UMB and Arizona State University), Associate Professor Øyvind Halskau (UiB), and Professor Aurora Martinez (UiB).

Source: http://www.uib.no/rg/biorec/nyheter/2011/11/honey-bee-mystery-protein-is-a-freight-train-for-health-and-lifespan