Scientists have cracked a 35-year-old mystery about the workings of the natural motors that are serving as models for development of a futuristic genre of synthetic nanomotors that pump therapeutic DNA, RNA or drugs into individual diseased cells. Their report reveals the innermost mechanisms of these nanomotors in a bacteria-killing virus — and a new way to move DNA through cells.

Scientists have combined two materials with advantageous electronic properties — graphene and molybdenite — into a flash memory prototype that is very promising in terms of performance, size, flexibility and energy consumption.

Researchers have created an artificial material, a metamaterial, with optical properties that can be controlled by electric signals.

Researchers have developed biodegradable nanoparticles that are capable of delivering inflammation-resolving drugs to sites of tissue injury. The nanoparticles, which were successfully tested in mice, have potential for the treatment of a wide array of diseases characterized by excessive inflammation, such as atherosclerosis.

For years, scientists around the world have dreamed of building a complete, functional, artificial cell. Though this vision is still a distant blur on the horizon, many are making progress on various fronts. Researchers in Israel recently took a significant step in this direction when they created a two-dimensional, cell-like system on a glass chip.

Using a new type of camera that makes extremely fast snapshots with an extremely high resolution, it is now possible to observe the behavior of magnetic materials at the nanoscale. This behavior is more chaotic than previously thought. The observed behavior changes our understanding of data storage, researchers say.

Nonvolatile memory that can store data even when not powered is currently used for portable electronics such as smart phones, tablets, and laptop computers. Flash memory is a dominant technology in this field, but its slow writing and erasing speed has led to extensive research into a next-generation nonvolatile memory called Phase-Change Random Access Memory (PRAM), as PRAM’s operating speed is 1,000 times faster than that of flash memory. Scientists have now developed a phase-change memory with low power consumption (below 1/20th of its present level) by employing self-assembled block copolymer silica nanostructures.

Carbon nanotubes and magnetic molecules are considered building blocks of future nanoelectronic systems. Their electric and mechanical properties play an important role. Researchers have now found a way to combine both components on the atomic level and to build a quantum mechanical system with novel properties.

New optical technologies using “metasurfaces” capable of the ultra-efficient control of light are nearing commercialization, with potential applications including advanced solar cells, computers, telecommunications, sensors and microscopes.

Researchers have successfully created a magnetic soliton — a nano-sized, spinning droplet that was first theorized 35 years ago.