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Gaming the Future: The Book!

Month: August 2001

Nanotech is planet

from the mean,-green-technology dept.
A strongly-worded editorial by science and science-fiction writer Spider Robinson ("We can rewrite Genesis", 7 August 2001) on the potential for advanced nanotechnology to provide a high standard of living while reducing and even reversing human damage to the global ecosystem appeared in the Toronto, Canada Globe and Mail. Not surprisingly (if you are familiar with Robinson), the piece reads as if it might have been written by Robert A. Heinlein:
"The human race must pursue that glorious vision — if necessary, die trying. We dare not throttle back the machine at this point. It's a cranky old machine, jerry-built, run by committee, and very low on fuel. If we permit it to so much as stall, we'll never get it running again: there just aren't enough metals and fossil fuels left in the ground to start over.
"All we can do is pray it will run on fumes long enough to get us to nanotech, the Ultimate Gas Station."

Researchers intend to implant human clones

An Italian doctor and a U.S. researcher have announced that they intend implant cloned human embryos in 200 women volunteers within the next few months. This would be the first known attempt at human cloning. One of the researchers, Professor Severino Antinori of Rome, is scheduled to speak on 7 August 2001 at a daylong panel on Scientific and Medical Aspects of Human Cloning at the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC. Critics of the effort are said to be worried it may create a backlash against ongoing efforts to advance stem cell research in the United States, according to a report from United Press International.

A look at nanocomputing

A useful overview of work to develop nanoscale computing systems appears on the Science Notes website, an annual showcase of work by students in the Science Communication Program at the University of California, Santa Cruz. The article, "Atoms that add" by Erica Klarreich, covers work in molecular electronics, quantum dots and other approaches to nanoscale devices that could be used to build computing systems.

LARTA issues directory for S. California "Nano Republic"

from the regional-nanohype dept.
The Southern California Nanotechnology Working Group, part of the Technology Alliance for Southern California (formerly the Los Angeles Regional Technology Alliance, or LARTA) has issued a short report ("Nanotechnology Yellow Pages: Industry Report and Directory for the 'Nano Republic' of Southern California") on the potential opportunities in the nanotech sector, along with a listing of the region's leading corporations, universities, and research laboratories in nanotechnology. Despite the tone of boosterism that tries to place S. California at the center of the nanotech universe and a few copyediting bloopers ("J. Eric Drexler"???), it is an interesting read. Most of the firms listed actually produce bulk nanostructured materials, but the listing of government, university and corporate research labs is useful.
LARTA is a nonprofit organization based at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles. The report is available as an Adobe Acrobat PDF file (about 550 KB) on the LARTA website, if you register for their e-mail newsletter.

An article on the SmallTimes website ("Nano Yellow Pages are blueprint for Southern California's future", by Jayne Fried, 3 August 2001) includes some useful background on LARTA and the report, as well as some amusing PR puffery in the hyperbolic comments made by LARTA officers.

Modifying bacteria to produce novel proteins

from the tinkering-with-molecular-machines dept.
An interesting article in the New York Times ("Scientists Are Starting to Add Letters to Life's Alphabet", by A. Pollack, 24 July 2001) describes attempts by researchers to modify the machinery of living systems to product novel proteins that use amino acids other than the twenty or so standard ones used by terrestrial biology. As the article puts it:
"Scientists are taking the first steps toward creating alternative life forms — organisms that use a genetic code different from the one used by all other creatures on earth . . . Such organisms, bacteria to start with, would have novel chemical units in their DNA and synthetic building blocks in their proteins. Scientists hope that such organisms can be used to study biochemical processes in new ways and to produce new medical or electronic materials that cannot now be made by living things."

Note: Access to the NYT website is free, but may require registration.

Reason correspondent rages against "neo-Luddite movement"

from the meme-wars dept.
A lengthy commentary by Reason Magazine science correspondent Ronald Bailey ("Rage Against the Machines: Witnessing the birth of the neo-Luddite movement", July 2001) recapitulates his passionately-expressed concerns over what he has called a "global anti-technology movement". Previous diatribes more specifically focused on nanotechnology appeared in February and July of 2001. In this latest piece Bailey concludes: "The hopeful future of humanity freed from disease, disability, hunger, ignorance, poverty, and inequity depends on beating back the forces of neo-Luddite reaction . . . The struggle for that future begins now."

Designer drug may help treat Alzheimer

from the molecular-medicine dept.
Demonstrating the wisdom of attacking some medical problems at the molecular level, researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago announced on 2 August 200 that they have designed and synthesized highly potent inhibitor compounds that could lead to an effective treatment for Alzheimerís disease. The researchers designed an inhibitor that blocks the action of a protein-cutting enzyme, or protease, thought to be responsible for Alzheimerís disease. This enzyme, called memapsin 2, severs a longer protein in the brain called amyloid precursor protein, or APP, to produce beta-amyloid, which accumulates in the brain and forms plaques that lead to the development of Alzheimerís disease. The synthetic inhibitor compound blocks memapsin 2 and keeps it from cutting APP, which could halt accumulation of beta-amyloid in the brain. The paper describes the inhibitor, designed and tested in the laboratory, which is comparable in size to HIV protease inhibitor drugs now being prescribed. "Designing a smaller, more potent inhibitor is an important step in the development of an effective treatment for Alzheimerís patients, " said one of the researchers.
The work was reported in the American Chemical Societyís Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.

EU initiative aims at integrated systems with "life-like perceptions"

from the blue-sky-research dept.
The Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) division of the European Union's Information Society Technologies (IST) Program has launched a new research initiative to develop "life-like perception systems". The objective of the initiative is "to create integrated perception-response systems that are inspired by the sophistication of solutions adopted by living systems. 'Perception' is meant to include sensorial, cognitive, control and response aspects, whether it refers to vision or hearing, or to any other type of interaction with the environment by a biological organism. Such systems would extend the capabilities of machines or be used to augment the human senses."
More information about the program can be found on the CORDIS website at http://www.cordis.lu/ist/fetbi.htm .

Venor Vinge profiled in NY Times

from the proficient-prognosticators dept.
A profile of computer scientist and noted science fiction author Vernor Vinge appeared in the New York Times ("A Scientist's Art: Computer Fiction", by K. Hafner, 2 August 2001): "Vernor Vinge, a computer scientist at San Diego State University, was one of the first not only to understand the power of computer networks but also to paint elaborate scenarios about their effects on society. He has long argued that machine intelligence will someday soon outstrip human intelligence." Vinge also developed and popularized the concept of a technological singularity — the lower slopes of which many now believe we are climbing.

Note: Access to the NYT website is free, but may require registration.

Concerns, opportunities for nanotech in S. Korea

from the World-Watch dept.
South Korea needs to encourage investment in new fields of technology to avert a collapse of the country's manufacturing sector, according to comments by Park Sung-rok, a researcher of the Korea Economic Research Institute (KERI) in a discussion of a government development program for the next 10 years. Referring to the government's efforts to foster the four future technologies – information technology, biotechnology, environmental technology and nanotechnology – Park said that of the four, nanotechnology would be the core technology. Pointing out that Korea's investment in these future technologies is less than one tenth that of the United States or Japan, he expressed concerns about Korea's future status in these technological fields. His comments were reported in the Korea Herald ("Expert warns of manufacturing sector collapse", 24 July 2001).
However, another KH report ("Sukgyung AT Co. zooms in on nanotechnology application market", 27 July 2001) shows that private sector firms in South Korean are beginning to move into the field: "Although the government and some companies have just begun to realize the importance of nanotechnology, few Korean firms have jumped into this next-generation technology," said Lim Hyung-sup, CEO of Sukgyung AT Co., a venture startup that produces basic materials used in electronic parts.

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