Ex-vivo measure of stress-strain relationships in populations of living adherent cells by means of ligand-coated ferromagnetic microbeads (mean diameter: 4.5 µm) attached to the transmembrane mechanoreceptors which are linked to the cytoskeleton (CSK), reveal non linear cell mechanical behavior. However, this non linear cell mechanical behaviour is subjected to controversy for various reasons. First, it has not been systematically found. Results seem to depend on the micromanipulation method used and/or the cell type.

This is a very rough manuscript but including the original material we used. Any criticism or suggestion is welcome. The only aim of this letter is to reflect the multi-effect of surface energy on material or structure in nanosize scale. Here we report the effect of surface energy on the yield strength of nanoporous materials. The conventional micromechanics method is extended to consider the surface effect and expression of effective yield surface of nanoporous materials in complex stress state is derived.

The Department of Mechanical Engineering at Northwestern University invites applications for a tenure track faculty position in the area of micro- and nano-scale devices, systems and related phenomena, though outstanding candidates in other research areas will be considered. The candidate should have a PhD in engineering or science, demonstrated excellence in research, and will be expected to develop innovative research and teaching programs in an interdisciplinary environment.

By George A. Hazelrigg, National Science Foundation

I have been an NSF program director for 18 years. During this time, I have personally administered the review of some 3,000 proposals and been involved in the review of perhaps another 10,000. Through this experience, I have come to see that often there are real differences between winning proposals and losing proposals. The differences are clear. Largely, they are not subjective differences or differences of quality; to a large extent, losing proposals are just plain missing elements that are found in winning proposals. Although I have known this for some time, a recent experience reinforced it.

I posted this survey in Applied Mechanics Research and Researchers on 16 April 2006, based on a survey of Web of Science. A paper making the list satisfied the following conditions:

• It is in the areas of solid mechanics, mechanics of materials, or computational mechanics, and
• It has at least 1000 citations.

This list may not be complete. If anyone finds a missing entry, please leave a comment below.

The cited number has been updated up to 18 Dec. 2006.

Journal of Materials (JOM) of The Minerals, Metals, and Materials Society (TMS) is running a survey on the greatest moments in materials science and engineering; the voting deadline is January 5, 2007.

I am chairing the search for a new faculty member in the Materials Science and Engineering Department at Lehigh. As you will see in the ad below, the position is in the Biomaterials area. I would like to encourage more applications from candidates with interests in biomechanics (so I will have good opportunities to collaborate), and would like to invite applicants from this forum. If you are not personally in a position to apply, please pass the announcement along to anyone you know who might be suitable.

It is well known that metals are hardened by deformation and soften by annealing. How about nanostructured metals? Can we reply on conventional metal-working lore?