Nanoscape: Exploring the Frontiers Ahead
Nanoscape: Exploring the Frontiers Ahead is a podcast about nanotechnology and its potential to solve major global challenges. It features leading experts who discuss nanoscale innovations in areas such as climate change and human health. The show is produced by the International Institute for Nanotechnology at Northwestern University. Each episode explores how tiny solutions can address some of the world's most pressing problems.
Episodes
Built to Take the Hit: Nature's Engineering Secrets with Horacio Espinosa
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 futu
Can Tiny Sensors Change Water Security? with Sera Young
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
Sneaking Past the Body's Most Locked Door with Emily Day
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 nanopa
The Soft Side of Nanotechnology with Todd Emrick
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. Gue
James Gaynor and the Race to Watch Electrons Move
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 la
Bending Light at the Nanoscale with Matt Jones
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 materi
Soft Robotics Inspired by Nature | Building Artificial Muscles that Move and Sense with Ryan Truby
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 transf
Can Nanoscience Build Better Clothes? with Cécile Chazot
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 recyclabil
The RNA Multiverse with Julius Lucks
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.
From Molecules to Metaphors: When Science Inspires Fiction with Julia Kalow
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, Departme
Building the Future, Atom-by-Atom, in the Nano Workshop with Robert Macfarlane
What if the next industrial revolution is happening molecule-by-molecule? In this episode we explore this idea with Robert Macfarlane, PhD, a Northwestern alumni and MIT materials scientist who is pioneering programmable materials that self-assemble and respond to their environment. Macfarlane explains how his work moves beyond DNA-based assembly to create scalable nanomaterials with real-world po
Can Bacteria Eat Our Plastic Problem? A Chat with Dr. Ludmilla Aristilde
Dr. Ludmilla Aristilde is an expert in environmental chemistry, environmental biochemistry, and bioengineering, but at the heart of it all is nanoscience. In this episode of Nanoscape Atistilde talks about her research, which includes discoveries in microplastics and nanoplastics and why nanoscience plays a key role in her research group's activities which aims to gain a fundamental understandin
The Scientist Who Thinks Like a Musician: Nicholas Peppas
Professor Nicholas Peppas has spent five decades defining the field of medical nanotechnology and shaping the very foundations of modern drug delivery. He has been awarded the 2025 Kabiller Prize in nanoscience and nanomedicine by The International Institute for Nanotechnology. The $250,000 award — the world's largest monetary award in the field — recognizes his pioneering research, which has tran
Bankable Science: Turning Discovery into Durable Energy Tech with Ted Sargent
Ted Sargent is a global leader in nanoscience and materials engineering, and his research at Northwestern University is advancing the field of solar energy harvesting by lowering its cost and increasing its efficiency by using nanoscale materials. His work also includes decarbonization in the chemical and fuel sectors alongside creating next-generation materials for consumer electronics. Sargent i
The Intersection of Nanoscience and Chemistry with Omar Farha, PhD
At the intersection of nanoscience and chemistry, Omar Farha, PhD, Chair of the Department of Chemistry at Northwestern University, is opening up new frontiers in climate resilience, water harvesting, catalysis and more through metal-organic frameworks (MOFs)—versatile structures he describes as smart programmable sponges. In this episode he talks about taking on the role of chair, the legacy of
Nanoscale Solutions to Gigaton Problem: Exploring Sustainability with Vinayak Dravid
Everyday items like tea bags and sponges are being reimagined in the lab of Northwestern University's Vinayak Dravid, who is using nanotechnology to tackle some of the world's most pressing environmental challenges. In this episode he explains how his team is using nanotechnology to remove toxic metals in water with brewed tea leaves and soaking up oil spills using a special sponge he invented, a
The Future of Organ Preservation: Nanoscience at Work with Jarad Mason
Once a postdoctoral fellow with Chad Mirkin here at Northwestern University, Jarad Mason now leads his own research group within the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University where his research includes investigating the potential of nanoparticle-loaded water to extend organ viability for transplantation. In this episode he discusses the balance between academia and indu
Unraveling the Mysteries of Quantum Mechanics with Roel Tempelaar, PhD
In this episode, Northwestern University chemist Roel Templaar, PhD, gives a glimpse into the intricacies of quantum mechanics and its applications in nanotechnology. He explains how his work challenges classical theories, particularly in the field of chiral light-matter interactions.
Breaking Barriers in Nanomedicine with Priya Kumthekar, MD
In this episode, Northwestern Medicine neuro-oncologist, Priya Kumthekar, MD, discusses her pioneering work in nanomedicine on an early clinical trial in individuals with the deadly brain cancer glioblastoma. The study showed an experimental spherical nucleic acid drug, developed by Northwestern University scientists, was able to penetrate the blood-brain barrier and trigger the death of tumor ce
Innovating Energy Solutions through Nanotechnology with Dayne Swearer
Moving the chemical and energy industries away from fossil fuel consumption is going to require effective and sustainable energy solutions. Northwestern University's Dayne Swearer says nanotechnology is positioned to help make such solutions a reality. An assistant professor of Chemistry and a member of the IIN, Swearer's lab is actively engaged in pioneering efforts in plasmonic nanoparticles an
Revolutionary Healthcare Solutions through Nanomedicine with Nathan Gianneschi
Northwestern University nanoscientist Nathan Gianneschi, PhD, has been fascinated by the interaction of the organic and the synthetic since the start of his career. His lab's discoveries have led to the development of synthetic melanin and polymers that can mimic cells. In this episode, he shares more about the potential biomedical applications of his research, the interdisciplinary partnerships t
Improving the World through Nanomaterials with Omar Farha
Omar Farha is a top chemist whose pioneering work in metal-organic frameworks, known as MOFs, is pushing the boundaries of what's possible in nanotechnology in critical industrial sectors such energy, environmental sustainability and national defense. In this episode, Farha, the new chair of the Northwestern University Department of Chemistry, talks about MOFs vast applications in nanotechnology a
The Power of Nano: Milan Mrksich on the Transformative Properties of Nanomaterials
In a short amount of time, nanotechnology has become one of the most important scientific fields of the 21st century, promising to solve some of our world's most pressing challenges. Northwestern's International Institute for Nanotechnology continues to produce many leading edge discoveries in the field and has become home to some of the most productive nanotechnology researchers in the world. In
Nano-Solutions to Black Box Problems with Shana Kelley
Northwestern University has been a trailblazer of the relatively new field of nanoscience. Northwestern's International Institute for Nanotechnology has brought together some of the greatest minds in chemistry, biology, medicine and engineering for nearly 25 years. Inspired by Northwestern's work, in particular the biomedical application of materials, Shana Kelley, PhD, pursued a career in nanote
Chad Mirkin Welcomes You to Nanoscape
In this bonus episode of "Nanoscape: Exploring the Frontiers Ahead," you'll get a preview of the first season of this new podcast from the International Institute for Nanotechnology (IIN) at Northwestern University with insight from Chad Mirkin, PhD, Director of IIN. Find out more about IIN and what to expect from our first slate of guests, including Milan Mrksich,PhD, Shana Kelley, PhD, Omar F
Welcome to Nanoscape: Exploring the Frontiers Ahead
In the field of nanotechnology, the future is small, and the possibilities are endless. From combating climate change to improving human health, "Nanoscape: Exploring the Frontiers Ahead," introduces you to leading experts in the field who are uncovering nano-sized solutions to some of the most pressing issues impacting our world today. This podcast is produced by the International Institute for N
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