Coming Soon: Piezoelectronics at Nanoscale, McGill University Study

MedGadget -- McGill University scientists have developed a way to place electric charges onto quantum dots (particles sized <10 nm). This in turn created a strong electric field within the dots leading to a very fast piezoelectric effect that contracted and expanded the dots. This is apparently the first case of a piezoelectric effect controlled at the nanoscale, which should help miniaturize many existing sensors and therapeutic devices and lead to new ones that work on smaller scale biological processes.