Golden Kumar and Miriam Schroers/Yale University Photo
(NHI Nanoblog) Curious about super-small materials? You have a chance this week to get an earful — and dig your hands in, too.
As part of NanoDays 2012, a broad program to engage the public about the promise, and potential perils, of nanotechnology, the Center for Research on Interface Structures and Phenomena, or CRISP, is hosting a lecture by one of Yale University’s materials scientists.
Jan Schroers, who’s creating durable but flexible materials on the nanoscale using metallic glasses, will speak from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday at Yale’s Davies Auditorium, at 15 Prospect St. (Read about his work here.) The lecture is free and open to the public, but space is limited.
Schroers will offer a hands-on demonstration after the talk.
CRISP is a partnership between Yale and Southern Connecticut State University, and a National Science Foundation Materials Research Science and Engineering Center. Part of the center’s mission is education, bringing in local students and teachers as well as public events like this lecture.
SCSU is hosting a separate event Thursday for high school students in concert with the Center for 21st Century Skills at EDUCATION CONNECTION, which is the regional educational support center for this part of the state. The event, which will include students from New Haven’s Metropolitan Business Academy, is part of an all-year project that culminates in an annual expo featuring students’ innovative projects.
This branch will materials science and feature a talk by Yale applied physics professor Sohrab Ismail-Beigi.
Nanotechnology leverages the often-unique properties of super-small particles to create products with amazing qualities. These materials can make better batteries or lighter and stronger bike frames, as well as new medical instruments and medicines that can save lives. They’re increasingly common in consumer products, from “mineral-based” sunscreens to stain-repellent pants to boat paints that resist algae growth.
Nanomaterials are believed to hold great promise for a wide variety of applications. But their ultra-tiny size also gives them different properties, and scientists are struggling to figure out whether that can make them dangerous in the process, and how and why it happens.