Nanoscape: Exploring the Frontiers Ahead

What can the powerful punch of a mantis shrimp teach us about engineering stronger, more resilient materials? In this episode of Nanoscape, Northwestern University professor Horacio Espinosa reveals how nature's design secrets drive groundbreaking innovations in nanotechnology. Discover how nanoscale engineering and AI are shaping impact-resistant materials, advanced medical devices, and the future of personalized medicine.

Guest: Horacio D. Espinosa, PhD – Walter P. Murphy Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern University Hosts: Seth Zimmerman (IIN) & Erin Spain, MS

What can an anthropologist teach us about designing better nanotechnology? Northwestern University Anthropology professor Sera Young has dedicated her career to understanding how people experience water insecurity, looking beyond whether water is available to questions of access, safety, reliability and trust. In this episode, Young talks about her research that is helping shape rapid, at-home water diagnostics that can detect contaminants like lead, showing why the human experience is essential to designing technology that works in the real world.

Guest: Sera Young, PhD, Professor of Anthropology & Global Health, Northwestern University, Member of IIN

Hosts: Seth Zimmerman, associate director of marketing and communications, IIN, and Erin Spain, MS, podcaster and science communicator

How do you design a medicine that can find the right cells in the body, navigating the body's natural defenses like the blood-brain barrier? Biomedical engineer Emily Day explains how nanotechnology is making drug delivery more precise by helping therapies navigate the body's natural barriers, target disease with greater accuracy, and reduce side effects. She also explores how bio-inspired nanoparticles, AI, and advances in diagnostics could shape the next generation of medicine.

Guest: Emily Day, PhD, Professor, Biomedical Engineering, University of Delaware

Hosts: Seth Zimmerman, associate director of marketing and communications, IIN, and Erin Spain, MS, podcaster and science communicator

What does the soft side of nanotechnology look like? Todd Emrick, professor of polymer science and engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, explains how polymers are transforming everything from medical devices and electronics to next-generation sustainable materials, and why some of nanotechnology's biggest breakthroughs happen at the interface between soft and hard materials.

Guest: Todd Emrick, Professor, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Hosts: Seth Zimmerman, associate director of marketing and communications, IIN, and Erin Spain, MS, podcaster and science communicator

Electrons move so quickly that, until recently, their motion was impossible to observe. In this episode, James Gaynor, an assistant professor of chemistry at Northwestern University and member of the International Institute for Nanotechnology, takes listeners inside the race to watch electrons move in real time. Using ultrafast laser tools that capture events lasting mere attoseconds, Gaynor's lab is uncovering the earliest moments of how light interacts with matter. He explains how this fundamental research could one day help scientists design faster electronics, more efficient energy technologies, and advanced bioelectronic devices by understanding chemistry at its beginning.

Guest: James D. Gaynor, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry

Hosts: Seth Zimmerman, Associate Director of Marketing and Communications, IIN and Erin Spain, MS, Podcaster and Science Communicator

In honor of Star Wars Day, this episode explores futuristic light technologies seen in science fiction—like invisibility cloaks or powerful directed energy— and how far away we are from such innovations. In this episode, Matt Jones, a chemist at Rice University and Northwestern alum, explains how scientists are learning to control light by engineering materials at the nanoscale and why when materials are reduced to billionths of a meter, they begin to exhibit entirely new optical properties—from color-changing nanoparticles to structures that interact with light in unexpected ways. The conversation explores the emerging field of metamaterials and how curiosity-driven, fundamental science lays the groundwork for innovations that may shape the future.

The future of robotics isn't just smarter software, but smarter materials. In this episode, Northwestern University's Ryan Truby explains how his lab is designing soft, bio-inspired robots powered by artificial muscles and nanoscale engineering. From safer human-robot interaction to real-world applications like disaster response and health care, he shares how rethinking a robot's body could transform what machines can do.

Guest: Ryan Truby, Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, June and Donald Brewer Junior Professor, Northwestern University

Hosts: Seth Zimmerman, Associate Director of Marketing and Communications, IIN and Erin Spain, MS, Podcaster and Science Communicator

Understanding polymers at the nanoscale is helping scientists design stronger, more sustainable materials. In this episode, Cécile Chazot, the Julia Weertman Professor in Materials Science and Engineering at Northwestern University, describes her lab's mission which includes designing next-generation textiles from naturally derived polymers that maintain high performance while improving recyclability and environmental impact. She also explains how lessons from nature and advances in nanoscience could reshape how we design, manufacture, and dispose of the materials that make up everyday products.

Guest: Cécile Chazot, Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Julia Weertman Professor in Materials Science and Engineering

Hosts: Seth Zimmerman, Associate Director of Marketing and Communications, IIN and Erin Spain, MS, Podcaster and Science Communicator

In this episode, Julius Lucks, takes us into the nanoscale multiverse of RNA and explains how tiny, dynamic molecules are being engineered into tools to tackle global challenges in human health, water quality, and the environment. He also explains how he keeps real-world needs at the center of his breakthrough research.

Sometimes nanotechnology sounds like science-fiction before it becomes science-fact. In this episode, Julia Kalow, a Northwestern University chemist, who is also trained in creative writing, helps us explore the overlap between fiction and fact in nanotechnology and the importance of creativity in scientific problem-solving.

Guest: Julia Kalow, Dow Chemical Company Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University

Hosts: Seth Zimmerman, Associate Director of Marketing and Communications, IIN and Erin Spain, MS, Podcaster and Science Communicator