That would change the way the magnetic field of the iron oxide interacts with the semiconducting behaviour of the lead selenide.

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Thermite is a substance that can literally melt steel and is made up of iron oxide and aluminium.

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"Typically the concentrations are small in red mud and what is present is tightly bound to the particles of iron oxide, " he says.

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To get the material to assemble properly, all of the molecules had to be a specific size--11 nanometers for the iron oxide particles, each of which is 60, 000 atoms across, and five nanometers across for the lead selenium quantum dots, each of which contains 3, 000 atoms.

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MagForce Nanotechnologies, based in Berlin, has conducted three clinical trials of anti-cancer nanoparticles made from iron oxide and is now running another five.

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The researchers first created separate nanoparticles of two materials, lead selenide and magnetic iron oxide, with precise dimensions.

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As the bacteria produced oxygen, the two compounds reacted to form iron oxide, which precipitated onto the seafloor in great layers of rust.

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Even so, he pointed out that some nanoparticles potentially serving as the basis for savvy devices of the future are already in use, including magnetic iron oxide particles used for advanced body imaging.

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While this may have been good news for Nepal, Indian industry claims the market was flooded with exports of hydrogenated vegetable oil, acrylic yarns, iron pipes, copper wire and zinc oxide, which India claims has hurt its market.

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