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Gaming the Future: The Book!

Month: November 2000

Novastar to incubate nanotechnology

from the the-other-name-Acme-Widgets-is-better dept.
They aren't the first, but they are early — here's a story from Yahoo News : Acme Widgets Research & Development, LLC, a Florida-based high-tech incubator, today announced the formation of Novastar Technologies, Inc., a technology commercialization firm, as its wholly owned subsidiary… “Novastar provides a turnkey approach for all services needed to develop, patent, and commercially exploit new technologies with large markets.''… To date Novastar has received private financing and has hired a New York City investment banking firm to pursue additional financing of between $15 to $25 million through a private equity offering. Proceeds from previous funding have been used to acquire emerging technology and its attendant intellectual property protection. A portion of future funds will also be used to construct a state-of-the-art R&D center and a pilot plant for the early stage development of commercially viable new technologies. Novastar focuses on exciting emerging technology markets that include…Nanotechnology

NCSU physicists find new way to "look" at nanostructures

from the why-didn't-we-think-of-this-before dept.
Senior Associate Braun Brelin brings our attention to an item from Science Daily: " A team of North Carolina State University physicists has discovered a new method for measuring the molecular properties of materials, which could assist in the development of a wide variety of cutting-edge nanostructure technologies. The technique…measures the behavior of molecules, at a scale of one-billionth of a meter, by reflecting light off the material being studied…'we can look at nanostructures of all sorts: semiconductors, biological materials and nanofabricated structures…If you have something small, nanometers in size, and want to know how it fits together, this is the way to do it.'…Science policy experts say nanotechnology advances could result in a science and technology revolution. But first, they say, we have to understand the principles of structures at such tiny scales. The work of Hallen and his colleagues is an important step in that direction."

New spectroscopic tool to be useful in nanotech

from the machines-the-size-of-molecules dept.
Mark Baltzegar writes "Chemists at the University of Illinois have added an important new dimension to vibrational spectroscopy: a spectroscopic technique that allows researchers to investigate vibrational energy redistribution in molecules with unprecedented detail. 'Our spectroscopic method allows us to monitor vibrational energy flow through a molecule on femtosecond time scales. We can therefore characterise the dynamic mechanical properties of molecules in real time — which is important in virtually every chemical process and of special interest in the field of nanotechnology, where machines will be the size of molecules.'" Emphasis added. –CP

Fungimol 0.4 released: atomic-scale design tool

from the cool-tools-for-molecules dept.
Senior Associate BryanBruns writes "On the NanoCAD mailing list, Tim Freeman has announced the release of Fungimol 0.4. 'Fungimol is a extensible system that allows one to design atomic-scale objects. It's written in C++, and presently runs only under Linux.' "Senior Associate Peter McCluskey is also contributing to this project. Read More for the full announcement.

New Nanotechnology Center in Beijing

from the nanotech-has-no-nationality dept.
JosephSterlynne writes "A short article at ChinaOnline reports that "The Chinese Science Academy (CSA) announced that China's largest research-and-development center for nanotechnology is to be built in Beijing" with [the equivalent of] US$3 million in funding."

Confocal microprobe planned to view living cells

from the now-open-wide dept.
Mark Baltzegar brings our attention to plans for a confocal imaging "scanning microprobe" using MEMS technology which would enable imaging of living cells deep within the human body. "Currently we have no way to effectively study the real living behavior of cells in detail because we lack the advanced visualization tools to see them in their natural environment," commented Dr. John Liddicoat, Cardiac Surgeon at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, PA. "The opportunities for real-time visualization down at the cell level would be incredibly valuable. We could realize a broad range of uses in medicine. For example, by applying this technology, we may be able to accurately direct pharmacological and mechanical interventions in such diverse fields as cardiology, pulmonolgy, oncology, and transplantation, just to name a few. This type of visualization tool would be enormously valuable."

Kurzweil's predictions at nanotech conference

from the blunt-talk dept.
Senior Associate John Gilmore forwarded a message from Politech about a Wired News story on Ray Kurzweil's talk at the Foresight Conference on Molecular Nanotechnology: "If he's right, exponential progress in science and engineering will allow us to merge with machines. We will become resistant to diseases, think faster, live better, and become transhuman in ways that would make even Superman green with envy…Identifying himself only as a graduate student in quantum computing, a bearded fellow questioned Kurzweil's commitment to humanity, saying 'this is the most hideous message that has been proposed in human history.' But most of the audience — if the widespread giggles during the question were any indication — seemed unalarmed."

E&Y biotech report: Drexler & Kauffman on nanotech

from the biotech-today-nanotech-tomorrow dept.
A story in the San Francisco Chronicle reports on a new Ernst & Young "State of the Industry" report on biotech and some nanotech ($50). From the news story: "Biotech is also shaping up as a template for futuristic fields like nanotechnology, the effort to build machines of sub-microscopic size. Much of the E&Y report is organized as a series of conversations between visionaries including Eric Drexler, a leading proponent of nanotechnology, and Stuart Kauffman, a co-founder of the Santa Fe Institute and a guru of complexity theory. At one point in the report, Drexler and Kauffman suggest that nanomachines will have to be 'self-organizing systems,' governed by some inner logic…Of course, such pie-in-the-sky stuff always sounds more persuasive coming from an industry that's flush."

UC Berkeley & LBNL attempt to reverse aging

from the hurry-up-some-of-us-are-wrinkling dept.
Not until recently has it been acceptable in the medical research community to attempt to defeat the aging process, per se. (Instead one was supposed to view it as natural, and learn to live with it as healthily as possible.) Now, UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab have teamed up on the Center for Research and Education in Aging, with an endowment from BioTime: "Among the challenges that greet the dawn of this millennium is how can we maintain good health and postpone or reverse old age [emphasis added] along with its debilitating diseases…Research into the process responsible for aging remains seriously neglected…At CREA, innovative research, which too often goes unsupported, will be of prime interest." Donations are being accepted; tell 'em Foresight sent you.

RAND to US Army: embrace nanotechnology

from the look-who's-paying-attention dept.
Senior Associate Calvin Shipbaugh, RAND physicist, writes in Army Logistician, the official professional bulletin of U.S. Army logistics: "If a full assembler actually can be developed within the next 10 to 20 years, and a useful replicator follows shortly thereafter, then an impressive capability for logistics sustainment will arrive during the third decade of the new century. It is critical that the Army become aware of breakthroughs in assembler developments as they occur. Lack of vigilance by the Army in monitoring developments could create big problems in a short time…In the Army's Science and Technology Master Plan, nanotechnology is identified as one of the Strategic Research Objectives (SRO's) of the AAN [Army After Next initiative]…In order for the coming revolution in technology to be applied smoothly to the Army, the RML must embrace these developments.

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