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Gaming the Future: The Book!

Month: May 2001

AIChE to offer NT sessions at annual meeting

The annual meeting of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. (AIChE) will include a number of special sessions on Nanoscale Science and Engineering. The conference will be held in Reno, Nevada from 4-9 November 2001.

Minnesota wants to catch nanotech wave

from the me,-too dept.
An indication of the increasingly common "me, too" scramble to get into nanotechnology can be found in this editorial from CityBusiness, a commerce journal in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area ("State needs to get involved in nanotechnology", 25 May 2001) by Jack Uldrich, Deputy Director Of The Minnesota Office Of Strategic And Long Range Planning.
After providing a lengthy list of nanotechnology research programs around the country and around the world, Uldrich says, "Can Minnesota afford not to get more involved in this exciting area of science — an area that is going to revolutionize everything from health care and the semiconductor industry to the energy, telecommunications and automotive sectors?
"I don't believe so, and that is why I would like to call for the establishment of a private-public commission to develop a strategy for how Minnesota can grow and profit from the inevitable changes that nanotechnology promises."

Student work a step toward an assembler?

from the budding-nanotechnologists dept.
Stuart Scott spotted this article from InfoWorld reprinted on the Small Times website: "There is an article in Small Times about the work of a summer intern that could be useful."

The article describes the work of Alex Wissner-Gross, a student intern at the MITRE Corporation in 1998 (he is now at MIT) in developing a system using "pattern structures to manipulate nanoscale objects. Alex's improvement generates millions of "nanofingers." These fingers might be used one day to handle multiple molecular-scale objects and possibly lead to mass-produced nanoscale computers."

The article actually devotes greater length to the excellent student intern program at MITRE, which has generated some excellent work in the field of nanotechnology under the guidance of James Ellenbogen, the Principal Scientist in the Nanosystems Group and also head of MITRE's summer employee program. An alumnus of the program, Christopher Love, won the 2000 Foresight Distinguished Student Award for his work in architectures for molecular electronic computers and nanomanipulation of structures on surfaces. He has contributed to nanotechnology research for seven years at three major U.S. research laboratories, starting in MITRE's Nanosystems Group at age 16.

Von Ehr, Texas contribute funds for NT center

from the even-smaller-is-bigger-in-Texas dept.
vik writes "According to this article in the Dallas Business Journal, Zyvex's James Von Ehr is donating $2.5M for a new nanotechnology research center in the University of Texas. The state is also contributing $0.5M to the project."

Additional details about Von Ehr's contribution for the nanotechnology center at the University of Texas can be found in this article from Dallas-Fort.Worth TechBiz (5 March 2001)

Smart Sensor "Dust"

TanMauWu writes "Wired has a story about "smart dust" that researchers at UC Berkeley have developed, which are essentially tiny light and temperature sensors that can network together. The suggested use for these sensors is to put lots of them in every room in a building and tie them all to a main computer that can regulate energy usage in the building to save energy. Of course, we can all think of *other* possible uses for this, can't we? Not quite true utility fog, but we're getting there."

Biological circuitry at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

from the computing-with-microbes dept.
Patrick Underwood writes "A short New Scientist article describes the work of Michael Simpson, Gary Sayler and James Fleming of Oak Ridge, who have modified _Pseudomonas putida_ bacteria cells to produce AND and OR gates. Online at http://www.newscientist.com/dailynews/news.jsp?id=ns9999778"

Michio Kaku on Assemblers

from the let's-talk-about-this-a-little-sooner dept.
Charles Vollum writes "Michio Kaku was interviewed on Art Bell's May 24th, 2001 "Coast to Coast AM" show. Dr. Kaku was asked about the Gray Goo problem, which had been described in an April 24th interview with Mark Pesce. Basically, his response was not to worry: assemblers are not possible in the near future because we don't know enough to build a self-repicating machine on a table top, let alone at the atomic level. He suggested that "mid-century, we should talk about this again."

Listen to a short clip in MP3, or click here to stream the entire show. (The comments on nanotechnology occur in the show's final minutes.)"

South Korea announces ambitious nanotech program

from the World-Watch dept.
According to an article in the Korea Herald ("MOST draws up 10-year plan for nano technology", by Yang Sung-jin, 25 May 2001), the South Korean Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) has drawn up a ten-year master plan to nurture nanotechnology in that country. The plan, part of a bid to position South Korea as one of the top 10 nations in the field by 2010, includes three stages, "with the government pouring 1.37 trillion won in state and private investments into the project in a bid to pave the way for the introduction of NT infrastructure within five years." The ministry said it would hold a forum on the project plan before finalizing the details in July.

Ralph Merkle interviewed on future of nanotech research

from the looking-ahead dept.
In a brief interview ("Expert Ralph Merkle on nanotechnology", by K. Hearn, 23 May 2001) conducted by United Press International, Zyvex research fellow and Foresight advisor Ralph Merkle , talked about molecular assemblers, applying open source development methods to nanoscience, and the future of nanoscience research.

U.S. News examines robotics, AI

from the mind-children dept.
A cover story in a recent issue of U.S. News and World Report ("The Age of Robots", by Thomas Hayden, 23 April 2001) takes a look at research and development work on humanoid robots, artificial intelligence, and what they might mean for the future.

As the article concludes, "it seems clear that big changes are coming, and while humans — the flesh and blood type — usually manage to adapt to technological change, the period of adjustment can sometimes get pretty uncomfortable. As with any new technology, there will certainly be some unintended, and quite possibly unpleasant, consequences as robots begin to play a regular role in our day-to-day lives, USC's Mataric [Maja Mataric, a computer scientist and roboticist at the University of Southern California] notes. But she's confident that the potential benefits outweigh the risks. "I hope society is strong and wise enough to stop abuses without stopping science," she says, "but I think all of that is still a long way off." Before anyone has to start really worrying about our place in the future, the techies have a heck of a lot more work to do."

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