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Gaming the Future: The Book!

Month: March 2002

New Algorithms for Quantum Computers

Mr_Farlops writes "A Melbourne university student has developed a program that generates algorithms for quantum computers. As Nanodotter, Mark Gubrud made plain [in a Nanodot post from 30 August 2001], setting up algorithms for quantum computers is very hard. Because of this, most research with quantum computers has focused on Shor factoring. But with this new tool perhaps new methods will become availible.

If you agree with Penrose (I am still very skeptical), the brain uses obscure quantum physics to process the data that it does. For this reason and others this research in quantum computing may apply to artificial intelligence."

Bridgestone develops nanotech display

Gina Miller writes "Bridgestone Corp., the Japanese automobile tire manufacturer, has developed LCDs 100 times faster than the current displays, using nanotechnology. The company plans to direct the brighter and cheaper panels to the mobile device market. The spokesman says; "the company hopes to unveil a prototype in the third quarter this year, start sample shipping in the second half of next year and begin mass production by the end of 2003." IDGnet article."

NSF

Comments and presentations made at a recent nanotechnology symposium sponsored by the U.S. National Science Foundation (ìSmall Wonders: Exploring the Vast Potential of Nanoscienceî), held 19 March 2002 in Washington, D.C., generated considerable media attention:

There are also some photographic images of the event, taken by Peter West of the National Science Foundation, available online at the NSF website.

Newt Gingrich talks nanotech to Red Herring

Gina Miller flagged a lengthy interview in the March 2002 issue of Red Herring Magazine ("Nano-Newt!", by Stephan Herrera, 18 March 2002) presents the views of New Gingrich, former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, on nanotechnology, science education, ìhomeland securityî, and a number of other issues. Gingrich became honorary chairman of the NanoBusiness Alliance, a trade organization dedicated to nanotechnology, in December 2001 (see Nanodot post from 14 December 2001), and his influence on the direction of U.S. nanotechnology policy, already significant, is likely to grow.

Researchers demonstrate brain-machine control interface

According to a press release (13 March 2002), researchers at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island have demonstrated direct, real-time brain control of the movement of the cursor in a computer display. Their report appears in the March 14 issue of Nature.

Read more for details and links to additional coverage of the intriguing research.

Brookhaven Lab launches nanomaterials research effort

The Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, N.Y. on Long Island, formally launched its $55 million new Center for Functional Nanomaterials on 8 March 2002. Research at the Center will focus on collaborative projects with industry and academic researchers to better understand the physical, chemical and magnetic properties of materials at the nanoscale, as well as determine what applications these nanomaterials can provide. Coverage of the new Brookhaven initiative is available on the web:

Although the Brookhaven nanomaterials research center is new, the lab has been involved in studies aimed at understanding the nanoscale properties of catalysts and how electric charges move at the nanoscale (see Nanodot post from 12 July 2001).

Technology Review notes new ISN at MIT

from the hometown-rag dept.
A brief article on the Technology Review website ("The Soldier of Tomorrow", by Alan Leo, 20 March 2002) covers the recent announcement by the U.S. Army that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has been chosen as the host for the new Institute for Solider Nanotechnologies (see Nanodot post on 15 March 2002).

Turning Diatoms Into Nanodevices

Gina Miller writes "Kenneth Sandhage, a materials chemist at Ohio State University in Columbus, realized based upon a meeting with marine biologist Monica Schoenwaelder, from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven, that her description of microshells created by diatoms could be practical microdevices. Sandhage has now teamed with a pharmacologist to develop drug delivery capsules and says: " Eventually, scientists may even seek to tinker with the DNA of diatoms to make tailored shapes." Turning Diatoms Into Nanodevices , on the inScight website (3/18/02)."

Confocal microscope allows imaging 3D imaging of cellular structures

Gina Miller writes "Luke P. Lee, assistant professor of bioengineering at UC Berkeley, and his doctoral student Sunghoon Kwon have developed a miniature microlens and scanner that can see inside of a cell. "You could put this device on the tip of an endoscope that could be guided inside a cancer patient," said Lee. "Doctors could then see how tumor cells behave in vivo. It would also be feasible to deliver drugs directly to the tumor cell, and then view how the cell responds to the drugs." See the Berkeley Campus news site (3/13/02): http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2002/0 3/13_micro.html"

eru writes "[The] press release from UC Berkeley details a proof-of-concept experiment wherein UC Berkeley professor Luke Lee successfully imaged (in 2-D) a lily's cell wall using a combination microlens and scanner, two devices which Lee has stated that he plans to incorporate into a fully miniaturized 3-D microscope in the future."

And Mr_Farlops points to additonal coverage in which "Science Daily reports that researchers at UC Berkeley have built a working array of confocal optical scanners, each one millimeter in size, built with photolithography methods. They plan to build even smaller devices and imagine uses in materials science, microscopic medical robots, cytology and microbiological research. Obviously such devices acting as the eyes of microscopic medical robots will revolutionize medicine even before nanoscopic cell repair robots arrive. I also personally find it significant that the article notes that this development is funded by, in part, by DARPA."

Read more for a longer post in this item from Brian Wang.

Flexible Ceramics at the Nanoscale

RobertBradbury writes "Spacedaily is reporting on the development of complex self-assembling materials that are being described as "block copolymer directed nanostructured organic/inorganic hybrids". The news report is here here. Where is my nano-chainmail?"

eru submitted additional information on this item: "An announcement at Cornell University's website offers a brief outline describing a class of nanostructured organic/synthetic hybrids dubbed 'flexible ceramics' by CU associate professor of engineering Ulrich Wiesner.

The material is described as flexible, transparent, strong and easy to manufacture, with Wiesner stating that "[it] has properties that are not just the simple sum of polymers plus ceramic, but maybe something quite new". "You could almost say we have perfected nature," he adds."

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