A team of Greek scientists from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and Carlos III University of Madrid synthesized silver nanoparticles using strawberry tree leaf extract. In layman’s terms, this does not sound as important as …higgs boson, yet silver nanoparticles can be used in an array of advanced technologies, such as compounds for administering medicine, electronic devices and contaminant solvents.

The technique developed by the Greek "dream team" is fairly simple: an extract of the strawberry tree leaf is added to a silver nitrate aqueus solution, the mixture is stirred and silver nanoparticles are formed within minutes! As Sophia Tsipas, a scientist who co- authored the study, stresses, "there are other methods for producing them but this process is the most simple, low-cost and easy to implement. […] The innovation of this method lies in the fact that it allows us to control the parameters for obtaining nanoparticles of a known size and geometry." Keep up the good work, guys!