nanocenas e nanocoisas

Permitam-me um pouco mais de divulgação ao nível das nanociências e nanomateriais, mais uns pozinhos doutro tópico...

Num artigo já com um par de meses em cima, pode ler-se acerca do desenvolvimento de "cérebros" moleculares orgânicos:

The machine is made from 17 molecules of the chemical duroquinone. Each one is known as a "logic device".
They each resemble a ring with four protruding spokes that can be independently rotated to represent four different states.
One duroquinone molecule sits at the centre of a ring formed by the remaining 16. All are connected by chemical bonds, known as hydrogen bonds.
The state of the control molecule at the centre is switched by a scanning tunnelling microscope (STM).
Using the STM, the researchers showed they could change the central molecule's state and simultaneously switch the states of the surrounding 16.
The configuration allows four billion different possible combinations of outcome.

Fala-se, num outro artigo, da possibilidade de os nanotubos de carbono apresentarem riscos para a saúde, como no caso do amianto.

Carbon nanotubes are often thought to epitomise the nanotechnology industry.
However, the nanotubes show certain superficial similarities to other fibres, such as asbestos, which are known to cause harm and diseases including cancers.
In a series of experiments, the researchers injected different lengths of multi-walled nanotubes - which comprise two to 50 concentric cylinders - into the abdomen of mice.
"What we found was that the long nanotubes were pathogenic - they caused inflammation and scar formation. The short nanotubes were not," said Dr Donaldson.

E, para finalizar, a boa velha americanada a cru:

More fighting in Iraq. Somalia in chaos. People in this country can’t afford their mortgages and in some places now they can’t even afford rice.

None of this nor the rest of the grimness on the front page today will matter a bit, though, if two men pursuing a lawsuit in federal court in Hawaii turn out to be right. They think a giant particle accelerator that will begin smashing protons together outside Geneva this summer might produce a black hole or something else that will spell the end of the Earth — and maybe the universe.