Nanobubbles help fight Malaria

Malaria is one of the abhorred diseases in the world. Half of the word's population inhabits lands where they are susceptible to the disease, and over 200 million people are diagnosed with it each year. 600 000 Africans die of it each year. In the last decade, malaria has become less lethal due to artemisnins.

Nanotechnology is pitching in to fighting the disease by trailblazing the way for a highly accurate and precise device that can detect minute traces of malaria. More importantly, it does it notably simply.

Sketch of the device and how it works. (Transdermal - through the skin)

Current methods for detection require a blood smear and several qualified doctors and microscopes. This is expensive, and is often unavailable in third-world countries. This system works by sending a lower power laser pulse onto the skin. The pulse goes through the skin, and does not affect healthy cells. However, if the pulse encounters an infected cell, the pulse makes the hemozoin (which is released by malaria into the infected cell) create nanobubbles. When the bubbles pop, the unique acoustic signal is picked up, thus indicating malaria.

It is a simple technique, that requires no professionals, and is becoming available in a hand-held, battery-powered device that will allow the diagnosis to cost less than 50cents.
This research is being done at Rice university.

To Read more: (source)

Nanotubes

Imagine the wooden pole of an umbrella, which weighs about 4 kg and is about 2 meters tall. Now imagine a single pole like an umbrella, but hundreds of times thinner and stronger than steel. The result is nanotubes.

One square kilometer of nanotubes weighs only about 30 kilograms, it is flexible , and stronger than steel.

Due to its properties, nanotubes have become a viable candidate for a multitude of uses like strong cords to stop fighter jets when landing on a boat. One of the most famous and most anticipated uses of nanotubes is to create a space elevator that would stretch from the Earth to the moon. (Source)

Artist idea of a space elevator

Recently, researches at Rice University has discovered how to create nanotubes quickly and effectively. First they put carbon inside a furnace at 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit to heat up the carbon, and then they put the carbon through a process called laser vaporization. In essence, laser vaporizes the atoms of an object by heating it up so quickly. Then, the atoms fall back down onto the open end of the tube thus growing the nanotube. While the atoms fall onto the nanotubes ends, a catalyst of cobalt nickel prevents the tube from capping until the cobalt nickel is removed, allowing scientist to cap the nanotube at specific time, and letting them create nanotubes at specific lengths. (Source)


 Nanotubes are built up from hexagons, and because hexagons are one of the 5 platonic solids (where the enclosure of the platonic solid would create a dodecahedron). It forms a surface that has no open areas. In fact a nanotube is essentially a dodecahedron, but because of the cobalt nickel, the middle is extended until it closes. In other words, if you cut of both ends of a nanotube and put them together, you would get a dodecahedron.  (I am receiving feedback that this is not very clear, so feel free to post comment to ask questions).


It is also possible to change the nanotubes. Nanotubes are described by vectors (looks like <n,m>) that describe how far the two points that are superimposed to be rolled up are from each other. 
There are three different types of nanotubes; here are the properties of their vectors:

• Zig-zags-the abscissa can be any number, but the ordinate is always 0
• Armchairs-the  abscissa and ordinates are always equal
• Chirals- is when the abscissa and ordinate have no relevance to each other, and so either can be any number 

The zig-zags and armchairs often are very symmetric while Chirals are not.
(source 1) (source 2)

Different types of nanotubes that change because of changes in vectors