Carbon nanotubes transport gene therapy drug into T-cells known to block HIV from entering cells in vitro

Pound for pound, carbon nanotubes are stronger and lighter than steel, but unlike other materials, the miniscule cylinders of carbon - which are no wider than a strand of DNA - remain remarkably robust even when chunks of their bodies are blasted away with heat or radiation. A new study by Rice University scientists offers the first explanation: tiny blemishes crawl over the skin of the damaged tubes, sewing up larger holes as they go.

Since their discovery in the early 1990s, carbon nanotubes and carbon nanofibers-tiny structures made of pure carbon-have been used in a wide variety of applications. They have become indispensable in the nanosciences and nanotechnology.

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a sensitive new method for rapidly assessing the quality of carbon nanotubes. Initial feasibility tests show that the method not only is faster than the standard analytic technique but also effectively screens much smaller samples for purity and consistency and better detects sample variability.

New wires could create better nanotube interconnects and devices

Laboratory experiments with a type of nanomaterial that has great promise for industrial use show significant potential for dispersal in aquatic environments -- especially when natural organic materials are present.

Carbon nanotubes in natural organic matter are vulnerable