PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Carbon nanotubes twice as strong as once thought

2010-09-15
(Press-News.org) Carbon nanotubes — those tiny particles poised to revolutionize electronics, medicine, and other areas — are much bigger in the strength department than anyone ever thought, scientists are reporting. New studies on the strength of these submicroscopic cylinders of carbon indicate that on an ounce-for-ounce basis they are at least 117 times stronger than steel and 30 times stronger than Kevlar, the material used in bulletproof vests and other products. The findings, which could expand commercial and industrial applications of nanotube materials, appear in the monthly journal ACS Nano.

Stephen Cronin and colleagues point out that nanotubes — barely 1/50,000th the width of a human hair — have been renowned for exceptional strength, high electrical conductivity, and other properties. Nanotubes can stretch considerably like toffee before breaking. This makes them ideal for a variety of futuristic applications, even, if science fiction ever become reality, as cables in "space elevators" that lift objects from the Earth's surface into orbit.

To resolve uncertainties about the actual strength of nanotubes, the scientists applied immense tension to individual carbon nanotubes of different lengths and widths. They found that nanotubes could be stretched up to 14 percent of their normal length without breaking, or more than twice that of previous reports by others. The finding establishes "a new lower limit for the ultimate strength of carbon nanotubes," the article noted.

INFORMATION: ARTICLE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE "A New Lower Limit for the Ultimate Breaking Strain of Carbon Nanotubes"

DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT ARTICLE http://pubs.acs.org/stoken/presspac/presspac/full/10.1021/nn100946q

CONTACT:
Stephen Cronin, Ph.D.
Department of Electrical Engineering
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, Calif. 90089
Phone: (213) 740-8787
Email: scronin@usc.edu


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Aerobic exercise relieves insomnia

2010-09-15
CHICAGO --- The millions of middle-aged and older adults who suffer from insomnia have a new drug-free prescription for a more restful night's sleep. Regular aerobic exercise improves the quality of sleep, mood and vitality, according to a small but significant new study from Northwestern Medicine. The study is the first to examine the effect of aerobic exercise on middle-aged and older adults with a diagnosis of insomnia. About 50 percent of people in these age groups complain of chronic insomnia symptoms. The aerobic exercise trial resulted in the most dramatic ...

New evidence on how cranberry juice fights bacteria that cause urinary tract infections

2010-09-15
Scientists reported new evidence on the effectiveness of that old folk remedy — cranberry juice — for urinary tract infections at the ACS' 240th National Meeting. "A number of controlled clinical trials — these are carefully designed and conducted scientific studies done in humans — have concluded that cranberry juice really is effective for preventing urinary tract infections," said Terri Anne Camesano, Ph.D., who led the study. "That has important implications, considering the size of the problem and the health care costs involved." Estimates suggest that urinary tract ...

Progress on vaccine for 'Ich,' bane of fish farms and home aquarium hobbyists

2010-09-15
Tests of a potential vaccine against "Ich" — the dreaded "white-spot" disease that plagues fish in commercial fish farms, public aquariums, pet fish retail outlets, and home aquariums — are raising hopes for finally controlling the disease, scientists reported at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society. "Outbreaks of the parasitic disease caused by Ichthyophthirius (Ich) can result in losses of 50-100 percent of fish," Dehai Xu, Ph.D., said. "The disease is very common, and almost every home fish hobbyist has encountered it. Once the parasite infects ...

Secret funding fosters hope for new drugs for autism

2010-09-15
Funding from an anonymous wealthy family has been the secret to progress, at long last, in developing drugs that show promise for helping millions of people worldwide with Fragile X syndrome, the most common genetic cause of autism. That's the topic of a fascinating article in the current issue of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), ACS' weekly newsmagazine. C&EN Senior Editor Lisa Jarvis notes that until recent interest from big pharmaceutical companies, a small drug company in Cambridge, Mass. named Seaside Therapeutics was virtually the only company trying to develop ...

Facial recognition technology aimed at spotting terrorists

2010-09-15
Rapid improvements in facial-recognition software mean airport security workers might one day know with near certainty whether they're looking at a stressed-out tourist or staring a terrorist in the eye. A research team led by Dr. Alice O'Toole, a professor in The University of Texas at Dallas' School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, is evaluating how well these rapidly evolving recognition programs work. The researchers are comparing the rates of success for the software to the rates for non-technological, but presumably "expert" human evaluation. "The government ...

New investigational compound targets pancreatic cancer cells

2010-09-15
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (Sept. 14, 2010) – A new investigational drug designed to penetrate and attack pancreatic cancer cells has been administered to a patient for the first time ever at the Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center at Scottsdale Healthcare. ASG-5ME is a potent, targeted compound designed to selectively kill cancer cells, says Daniel Von Hoff, MD, a principal investigator in the Phase I clinical trial. Pancreatic cancer is a fast-growing and difficult to treat form of cancer, and is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the United States. "ASG-5ME is intended ...

Higher altitudes hide deadly problem: Increased suicide risk

2010-09-15
SALT LAKE CITY—The Intermountain West is renowned for the beauty of its towering mountains and high deserts, but according to new research from an investigator with the University of Utah Brain Institute the region's lofty altitudes significantly influence a deadly problem: the high prevalence of suicides in this part of the country. In the Sept. 15, 2010, online edition of the American Journal of Psychiatry, Perry F. Renshaw, M.D., Ph.D., MBA, professor of psychiatry at the U School of Medicine and an investigator with Utah Science Technology and Research (USTAR) initiative, ...

Present imperfect: Doctors in training work even when ill

2010-09-15
A new study demonstrates that young doctors often fail to heed the Biblical injunction, "physician, heal thyself." In a research letter published in the September 15, 2010, issue of JAMA, researchers report that three out of five residents surveyed came to work in the previous year while sick, possibly exposing their patients and colleagues to suboptimal performance and, in many cases, communicable disease. The survey, which involved multiple hospitals, found that 60 percent of residents—physicians who have completed medical school and are getting on-the-job advanced ...

Researchers find selfishness can sometimes help the common good

2010-09-15
Scientists have overturned the conventional wisdom that cooperation is essential for the well-being of the whole population, finding evidence that slackers can sometimes help the common good. Researchers, from Imperial College London, the Universities of Bath and Oxford, University College London and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology studied populations of yeast and found that a mixture of 'co-operators' and 'cheats' grew faster than a more utopian one of only "co-operators." The study, publishing next week in the online, open access journal PLoS Biology, ...

Combined impact of lifestyle factors on mortality among Chinese women

2010-09-15
In research published this week in PLoS Medicine, results from the Shanghai Women's Health Study reveal the impact of lifestyle-related factors on mortality in a cohort of Chinese women – confirming the results from other Western research studies. The large prospective cohort study by Wei Zheng and colleagues (from Vanderbilt University & Shanghai Cancer Institute) showed that lifestyle factors other than active smoking and alcohol consumption, have a major combined impact on total mortality on a scale comparable to the effect of smoking. For example healthier lifestyle-related ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Community partners key to success of vaccine clinic focused on neurodevelopmental conditions

Low-carbon collaborative dual-layer optimization for energy station considering joint electricity and heat demand response

McMaster University researchers uncover potential treatment for rare genetic disorders

The return of protectionism: The impact of the Sino-US trade war

UTokyo and NARO develop new vertical seed distribution trait for soybean breeding

Research into UK’s use of plastic packaging finds households ‘wishcycle’ rather than recycle – risking vast contamination

Vaccine shows promise against aggressive breast cancer

Adverse events affect over 1 in 3 surgery patients, US study finds

Outsourcing adult social care has contributed to England’s care crisis, argue experts

The Lancet: Over 800 million adults living with diabetes, more than half not receiving treatment, global study suggests

New therapeutic approach for severe COVID-19: faster recovery and reduction in mortality

Plugged wells and reduced injection lower induced earthquake rates in Oklahoma

Yin selected as a 2024 American Society of Agronomy Fellow

Long Covid could cost the economy billions every year

Bluetooth technology unlocks urban animal secrets

This nifty AI tool helps neurosurgeons find sneaky cancer cells

Treatment advances, predictive biomarkers stand to improve bladder cancer care

NYC's ride-hailing fee failed to ease Manhattan traffic, new NYU Tandon study reveals

Meteorite contains evidence of liquid water on Mars 742 million years ago

Self-reported screening helped reduce distressing symptoms for pediatric patients with cancer

Which risk factors are linked to having a severe stroke?

Opening borders for workers: Abe’s profound influence on Japan’s immigration regime

How skills from hospitality and tourism can propel careers beyond the industry

Research shows managers of firms handling recalls should review media scrutiny before deciding whether to lobby

New model system for the development of potential active substances used in condensate modifying drugs

How to reduce social media stress by leaning in instead of logging off

Pioneering research shows sea life will struggle to survive future global warming

In 10 seconds, an AI model detects cancerous brain tumor often missed during surgery 

Burden of RSV–associated hospitalizations in US adults, October 2016 to September 2023

Repurposing semaglutide and liraglutide for alcohol use disorder

[Press-News.org] Carbon nanotubes twice as strong as once thought