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Gaming the Future: The Book!

Month: January 2002

More on nanotech initiatives in Taiwan, mainland China

from the World-Watch dept.
A brief item from a Small Times correspondent in Taiwan ("Taiwan focuses on nanotechnology, competes and cooperates with China", by Jen Lin-Liu, 9 January 2002) provides additional information on the countryís developing national initiative to concentrate its efforts on nanotechnology. Taiwan has designated nanotechnology as one of three new industries that they will focus on. The other two are information technology and biotechnology. The article also notes that while the governments of Taiwan and mainland China may be rivals politically, nanotechnology could be one area where they can cooperate.

Recent nanotech-related activity in Taiwan and China was noted here on 7 January 2002, and on 20 November and 18 December 2001.

JPL studies autonomous robotic work crews for space

According to a press release (9 January 2002), NASA researchers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California have successfully demonstrated the first use of multiple rovers that work tightly in sync to perform tasks such as coordinated grasping, lifting and moving of an extended payload, while navigating through obstacles on natural terrain. The JPL researchers say the rovers function much like a construction crew without a foreman. They note that once the system has been programmed with basic behaviors and coordination models, it is a truly distributed and autonomous intelligence across the robot team that gets the job done, responding to situations of the minute

For more information, visit the JPL Robot Work Crew website.

Systems analysis of a yeast proteome

The cover story of the 10 January 2002 issue of Nature describes work in the advancing field of proteonmics, the cataloging and functional analysis of the suite of proteins that operate inside an organismís cells. The subject of the report is a pioneering study describing the first draft of a functional map of the yeast proteome. The map visualizes an entire network of protein complexes and their interactions in yeast Saccharomyces cerevisae, forming a basis for the operative organization underlying a cellís activity under different conditions.

The map, developed by a team of scientists from the biotechnology start-up company CellZome and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), is the first of its kind. The map characterizes the function and interactions of 1,440 yeast proteins comprising 232 multi-protein assemblies, or complexes, which directly affect biological activity.

Interestingly, the EMBL press release describes the work as a large-scale study of the ìmolecular machinesî formed by nearly two thousand proteins in a living cell, including the discovery of over a hundred new protein machines, ranging in size from two to eighty-three molecules (The EMBL press release is also available as a nicely-illustrated 5-page Acrobat PDF document). The Cellzome AG press release emphasizes the work as a major step towards transforming information from genome projects into applications such as the discovery of new drugs.

Yet another perspective is available in an article on the Nature Science Update website ("Proteome reveals promiscuity", by Helen Pearson, 10 January 2002).

"Age of Fear" to drive nanotech funding

from the fear-or-no-fear-nanotech-still-gets-funded dept.
According to John Ellis of Fast Company (Dec. 2001): "Before September 11, the debate among business and financial strategists was, roughly stated, nanotechnology versus genomics/proteomics. Which will be the next big thing? Where would you put your money? The best minds at Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, and Citigroup wrestled with these questions, as did those at the country's venture firms." After Sept. 11: "[The Age of Fear] means that a whole host of new technologies — like nanotechnology — will get more funding from the federal government."

Book describes U.S. copyright law as "an oppressive obsession"

The New York Times has published a laudatory review of Lawrence Lessig's passionate new book, The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World in the 6 January 2002 issue. As the review notes, Lessig argues that America's concern with protecting intellectual property has become an oppressive obsession. "The distinctive feature of modern American copyright law," he writes, "is its almost limitless bloating." As Lessig sees it, a system originally designed to provide incentives for innovation has increasingly become a weapon for attacking cutting-edge creativity.

Berkeley Lab magazine highlights nanotechnology

The Fall 2001 issue of Research Review magazine, a publication from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBL), is devoted to the theme "The Coming of the Nano-Age: Shaping the World Atom by Atom". Along with a general introductory piece, the issue features a half-dozen articles that focus primarily on instrumentation, tools, and materials with interesting nanoscale properties.

More on powerful molecular motors in viruses

An interesting item on the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory site ("A New Clue to How Viruses Infect Cells", by Lynn Yarris, 16 November 2001) covers research into powerful viral molecular motors done by Carlos Bustamante and his coworkers in the Berkeley Lab's Physical Biosciences Division.

The research was previously covered here on Nanodot on 22 October 2001. A technical paper by Bustamante and coworkers (" The Physics of Molecular Motors ") is available online as an Adobe Acrobat PDF file.

Hebrew University inaugurates nanotech center

from the World-Watch dept.
An article in the Jerusalem Post ("Hebrew University to invest $40m. in new nanotech center", by Tania Hershman, 6 January 2002) describes the inauguration of activities of a new Center of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology at Hebrew University. The event marks the culmination of a months-long fundraising effort that began last June, and will lead to the construction of a new building to house the center later. According to the article, what is being launched now is the official cross-disciplinary activity that will involve Hebrew University scientists from the physics, chemistry, engineering and life sciences faculties. In October 2002, the university will begin offering undergraduate courses in the field.
"The physical building will take a couple of years. We are in the process of designing it now," Hebrew University president, professor Menachem Magidor told The Jerusalem Post. "Today is the organizational inauguration. In six months we will inaugurate one [physical] component, the Center for Microcharacterization and Electron Microscopy."

Additonal background on the HU Center of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology can be found in this article from June 2001 from the Small Times website.

Taiwan will develop coordinated nanotech program by year

from the World-Watch dept.
An article in the Taipei Times ("Taiwan hoping for giant steps in a minute world", by Chiu Yu-tzu, 5 January 2002) provides useful background on the efforts of the Taiwan government, through its National Science Council (NSC) to coordinate nanotech-related research and development. The efforts include a new Nanotechnology Research Center in the city of Hsinchu, operated by the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), which will be formally opened on 16 January 2002, and the formulation of a coordinated nanotechnology program to be finalized by the end of the year. The proposed budget for the program is about NT$19.1 billion (about US$547 million) over the next five years (until 2007), of which NT$1.5 billion (US$40 million) has been allocated for this year. The article also briefly reviews various nanotech research activities in Taiwan.

Update: Additional coverage can be found in another article from the Taipei Times ("Funding for nanotech to aid industry", by Dan Nystedt, 8 January 2002) which focuses on comments by Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian: "Nanotechnology is the new century's rising star and will bring about a massive shift in the development of new materials, information-technology products and biomedicine," Chen said during an inspection tour of the Nanotechnology Research Center in Hsinchu.

Japan ponders nanotech policy, research directions

from the World-Watch dept.
An extensive article on the Small Times website ("Japan sees nanotech as key to rebuilding its economy", by Jayne Fried, 7 January 2002) provides a useful update on the debate over government policy to guide the direction of nanotechnology research and development in Japan. This debate has been going on for some time (see items from August 2001 and Foresight Update 44 in April 2001) over how to reorganize and reinvigorate Japanese research efforts.

Another useful resource is a report, titled A Future Society Built by Nanotechnology by Watanabe Makoto, that was prepared by the Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren) and published by Japan Economic Foundation in the September/October 2001 issue of the Journal of Japanese Trade and Industry.

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