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Gaming the Future: The Book!

Month: October 2000

Zyvex in Red Herring

from the nanobusiness-in-the-news dept.
Foresight advisor and Zyvex researcher Ralph Merkle points out an Oct 5 column on nanotechnology on the site of business magazine Red Herring: For decades, skeptics have dismissed molecular nanotechnology as the dream of crackpots, fools, and technology visionaries. The skeptics were wrong…in the last two years, there have been new discoveries that may revolutionize the fields of medicine, microprocessors, and synthetic materials. Discoveries such as Northwestern University's new nanolithography techniques used for designing transistors smaller than a molecule, Cornell University's work on how to turn a living cell into a motor, or NASA's progress on the development of carbon nanotubes — super-strong, lightweight materials for use in future spacecraft. Nanotechnology, it seems, is progressing from the science fiction of books like Neal Stephenson's Diamond Age to science fact. Most of the piece is on the company Zyvex, which is working on both bottom-up and top-down approaches.

Chem & Eng News special report on nanotechnology

from the 18-pages-and-growing dept.
The Oct 16 issue of Chemical & Engineering News has a large (about 18 pages) special report on nanotechnology . Unfortunately, the web pages are password-protected. Research ("Building from the bottom up"), instrumentation, business ("Firms find a new field of dreams"), and government are covered. From the first, an excerpt: In any case, [Feynman Prize winner Nadrian] Seeman says, his primary goal is not computation per se but algorithmic assembly–using DNA to make novel and potentially useful nanostructures. Nanostructures, after all, are the key to nanotechnology, whether they are designed to perform lightning-fast calculations, detect molecules in the environment, eliminate pathogens from the body, or improve the properties of a material." Amusingly, one researcher is quoted as blaming the medical nanobot concept for getting the field "off to such a bad start"; this same concept inspires the new NASA/NCI/Caltech project. If someone has time to type in more quotes, we'll post them.

Molecular motor moves DNA in cell nucleus

from the why-did-this-take-so-long dept.
Bryan Hall brings to our attention an article at National Geographic News on the molecular motor found inside the cell's nucleus: Scientists have long pondered how, inside the nucleus of a cell, long stretches of DNA are moved through the huge enzyme factories that transcribe DNA's genetic information into messages made of RNA. Now, for the first time, a team of scientists from the University of Illinois at Chicago has demonstrated the presence of a "molecular motor" inside the nucleus, where it appears to be powering the assembly line that forges RNA messages off of the long DNA templates. The finding is reported in the Oct. 13 issue of the journal Science…Despite the fact that transcribing DNA is itself prodigious work, many scientists did not believe that myosin existed in the nucleus — indeed, no motor molecule had ever been found there. "We had an uphill battle to convince our colleagues," de Lanerolle said.

Single-molecule-thick films show promise

from the OK-so-it's-only-nano-in-one-dimension dept.
A press release announces: "Lightyear Technologies Inc. announced today that it has made a major breakthrough in nanotechnology, the science of building products at a molecular level…the company is the first in the world capable of producing nanotechnology products in commercial quantities…The material, first developed at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, is just a single molecule thick, and is capable of building itself into many useful products…Lightyear so far is concentrating its efforts on energy and environmental uses…Lightyear is now concentrating on working with companies developing applications that could revolutionize water purification and energy storage, possibly making electric vehicles much more practical."

Kurzweil, Gelerntner, Joy face off

from the lack-of-agreement dept.
Ten thinkers argued on future technology last week at Carnegie-Mellon. Excerpts from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: The result, says artificial intelligence expert Ray Kurzweil, will be "total immersion virtual reality," a system in which an individual can be mentally transported to another world, or another body, where he can experience imaginary adventures with every sense…The things that are most important to people — families, communities, schools, religion — are only modestly affected, if at all by computers, emphasized Gelertner…Some limits need to be placed on the information that individuals can access, [Joy] said…To prevent the potential apocalypse Joy fears, "you'd basically have to stop all technological development," [Kurzweil] said, and that would likely require militaristic state control.

MIT's Dertouzos replies to Bill Joy

from the relinquishment-regarded-as-harmful dept.
MIT computer scientist Michael Dertouzos responds to Bill Joy in Technology Review , on the call for relinquishment. Excerpts: I donít buy it…So limited is our ability to assess consequences that itís not even helped by hindsight: On balance, are cars a good or bad thing for society?…We are unable to judge whether something we invented more than 50 years ago is good or bad for us today. Yet Joy wants us to make these judgments prospectively, to determine which technologies we should forgo!…Just because chips and machines are getting faster doesnít mean theyíll get smarter, let alone lead to self-replication…Should we stop computer science and AI research in the belief that intelligent machines someday will reproduce themselves and surpass us? I say no. We should wait to find out whether the potential dangers are supported by more than our imagination…We shouldnít forget that what we do as human beings is part of nature.

Georgia Tech, NSF big on nanotech

from the there's-nothing-small-about-nanotechnology dept.
From a Cox News Service item, some excerpts: “There seems to be no limit to the possibilities of creating new things through nanotechnology,'' said Zhong Lin Wang, head of Georgia Tech's new Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. Georgia Tech is among major institutions around the world that are banking much of their future on the new technology…Some leading researchers see the nano fields as ultimate solutions to mankind's age-old problems — disease, food shortages, lack of clean water and inadequate shelter. “Nanotechnology may offer the final answer for the sustainability of the world,'' said Mihail C. Roco, senior adviser on nanotechnology at the National Science Foundation. “We may be limited only by our ability to imagine.'' Read More for further excerpts.

Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species

from the but-can-they-do-laundry? dept.
Comments from Foresight chairman Eric Drexler on this MIT Press book by Peter Menzel & Faith D'Aluisio: "Robo sapiens is a fascinating, in-depth look at one of the most challenging engineering tasks ever attempted. The photos amaze, while the text gives the inside story of researchers bashing their heads up against boggling complexity. You pick up Robo sapiens for the great photos, and then get caught up reading the inside politics of the race to build humanlike machines. Don't be surprised by the coming era of robotics — read Robo sapiens and be ready." Read More for comments by Arthur C. Clarke and Ray Kurzweil. CP: For a hardcover book this beautiful, the price of $29.95 is a bargain.

Nanotech journal competition heats up

from the UK-physicists-vs-US-chemists-duke-it-out dept.
In this corner, the journal Nanotechnology from the UK's venerable Institute of Physics. Longtime publisher of the papers from the Foresight conference series, this journal is now offering free online access until Dec. 22, to get you interested.
And in this corner, upstart monthly journal Nano Letters from the respected American Chemical Society "invites original reports of fundamental research in all branches of the theory and practice of nanoscience and nanotechnology." The online version "will publish articles on the Web constantly–weeks ahead of the print edition…" Their editor is chairing Biological Applications of Nanotechnology (or maybe of Nanochemistry, the webpage is unclear), modestly described as "the one nanoscience event you must attend in 2001".

BioMEMs moves toward nanometer scale

from the top-down-bottom-up-whatever-works dept.
Senior Associate Brian Wang brings to our attention a press release from the University of Illinois at Chicago on work presented at the BioMEMs & Biomedical Nanotechnology World 2000 conference: "Another example of therapeutic BioMEMs that Desai will discuss are cell encapsulation devices with nanometer-sized pores that can protect implanted cells or components from large molecules like antibodies while allowing small molecules like hormones and nutrients to freely pass through. Such devices, which have long been dreamed of for implanting pancreatic islet cells in diabetic patients or neurosecretory cells in Parkinson's or Alzheimer's patients, are now being fabricated in Desai's laboratory by micro-machining silicon to create precisely controlled micro- and nano-architectures."

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