Month: September 2000

from the who-needs-metals? dept.
Senior Associate Brian Wang writes "University of Penn scientists have found that carbon nanotubes are the best heat conductors. Sound can conduct thermal energy at 10,000m per sec down the tubes. They could be very useful as heat sinks in chips. The weak binding between tubes that allows the heat conductance must be overcome in order for strong materials to be created from thicker structures: http://www.eurekalert.org/rele ases/up-iac083000.html"

from the more-fun-than-SETI dept.
Senior Associate Robert Bradbury writes "In the large group meeting, at the very end of the Foresight Spring 2000 Senior Associates gathering , I made a brief statement about the need for a Nano@HOME project. Available now is some background rationale and relevant links in the Nano@Home Project Proposal. This relates to Bryan Brun's recent proposal for open sourcing nanotech, discussed here, as well as possible methods the Foresight Institute and/or IMM could use to generate more public support for nanotechnology and even potential revenue sources."

from the behave-or-be-caged dept.
bbrelin brings to our attention work at Purdue in which 10-40 nm structures are "caged" to protect them from unwanted reactions. Now used for metal clusters, such a process may be useful in protecting more complex nanodevices:
"Scientists are trying to use these to build new, stronger materials one molecule at a time for applications ranging from medicine to aerospace. But this bottoms-up approach has had a downside: Nanoparticles can be so fragile and unstable that if their surfaces touch, they will fuse together, losing their special shape and properties…The porous coating permits the particle inside to interact with substances outside, but keeps the nanoparticles from interacting with each other."