Tag: the-surrounding

How gold nanoparticles may make killing tumors easier

Enlarge / Nanoparticles (black dots) sit in the remains of a cell they’ve helped kill. (credit: University of Michigan ) One of the ways to kill a cancer is to cook it, since heat can kill cells. The trick, of course, is to only cook the cancer and not the surrounding tissue. To do this, you need to have an accurate idea of the extent of a tumor, a precise mechanism for delivering heat, and a damn good thermometer. It may surprise you to learn that gold nanoparticles do a pretty good job of achieving the first two. The third—a good thermometer—has eluded researchers for quite some time. But, now it seems that gold nanoparticles may provide the full trifecta . Drowning a tumor in molten gold Some cancers—the ones most people imagine when they think of cancer—form lumps of tissue. At some point, these lumps require a blood supply. Once supplied with blood vessels, the tumor can not only grow, but it has a readily available transport system to deliver the cells that can spread the cancer throughout the body. For the patient, this is not good news. The development of a blood supply opens up new imaging and treatment options, though. Cancer tumors are not well-organized tissues compared to healthy tissue like muscle or kidney tissue. So there are lots of nooks and crannies in a tumor that can trap small particles. And this disorganization is exactly what researchers hope to take advantage of. Gold nanoparticles are injected into the blood stream; these exit the blood supply, but, in most of the body, they get rapidly cleaned out. Except that, inside tumors, the nanoparticles lodge all over the place. Read 22 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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How gold nanoparticles may make killing tumors easier

Tesla’s Gigafactory ramps up to full battery production

Following earlier production tests , Tesla’s Gigafactory is now pumping out Powerwall 2 and Powerpack 2 energy storage products at full speed, with Model 3 cell production set to follow next quarter. By 2018, it’ll produce 35 GWh of lithium-ion cells per year, “nearly as much as the rest of the entire world’s battery production combined, ” the company wrote. The Gigafactory, a joint venture between Tesla and Panasonic, is still less than 30 percent of its eventual 4.9 million square foot size. However, the company needs lots of batteries and needs them fast, considering that it received 400, 000 pre-orders for the $35, 000 Model 3. So, it’s using a phased approach by starting now and expanding later, which “also allows us to learn and continuously improve our construction and operational techniques, ” Tesla wrote. The company said battery cell costs will decline as much as 30 percent by 2020 as economies of scale and increased automation kicks in. At full tilt, it will produce enough for 1.5 million cars a year, about half of Ford’s annual production. Despite using robots throughout the factory, Tesla and Panasonic say they’ll hire several thousand local employees in 2017 alone. “At peak production, the Gigafactory will directly employ 6, 500 people and indirectly create between 20, 000 and 30, 000 additional jobs in the surrounding area.” Source: Tesla

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Tesla’s Gigafactory ramps up to full battery production