Nanodiamond particles forming photonic structures.

Colloid suspensions of irregularly shaped, highly charged detonation nanodiamond particles are found to have unexpected optical properties, similar to those of photonic crystals. This finding is all the more surprising since the particles used in this work are far more polydisperse than those typically forming photonic crystals. Intensely iridescent structures have been fabricated using the centrifugation of aqueous suspensions of nanodiamonds.

Genetic modulation of ethylene biosynthesis and signaling in plants.

With the isolation and characterization of the key enzymes and proteins, and the corresponding genes, involved in ethylene biosynthesis and sensing it has become possible to manipulate plant ethylene levels and thereby alter a wide range of physiological processes. The phytohormone ethylene is an essential signaling molecule that affects a large number of physiological processes; plants deprived of ethylene do not grow and develop normally. In a search for flexible on-off ethylene control, scientists have used inducible organ- and tissue-specific promoters to drive expression of different transgenes.