Month: September 2002

from the moving-toward-molecular-memory dept.
WillWare writes "William R. Cousert posted a pointer to a story on MSNBC [alternate URL] indicating that HP will make an announcment tomorrow in Europe about further advances in the work they were doing with UCLA in January":

Molecular grids are the central concept in HP's nanotechnology plans. In HP's vision, layers of molecular strands, laid down in a crisscross fashion like city streets, will form a mesh of tiny, intelligent circuits… In 2001, the two institutions were awarded a patent that addressed one of the key hurdles in using grids: how to connect the molecular wires, which can measure six atoms wide, to the tiny wires found in computer chips, which can be 70 times thicker.

There is a follow-up story on Yahoo: HP Labs Creates Densest Memory Chip

There is also an extensive article on the New York Times website: "Hewlett Finds a Process to Make Chips Even Smaller", by John Markoff, 10 September 2002.

from the foils-of-war dept.
Gina Miller writes "A company founded by two professors at Johns Hopkins University has developed a way to make A better bond by using a foil composed of nanoscale layers (from several atoms to hundreds of atoms thick) of two metals to join metals and ceramics for various purposes, such as armor to tanks or semiconductor chips to heat sinks."

from the there's-still-time dept.
Extended Deadline: Nominations for the 2002 Foresight Institute Distinguished Student Award are due by September 10, 2002.

from the green-gold dept.
Gina Miller writes "Nanoparticles of gold, silver, Europium, palladium, and iron can be produced by plants: No fairy tale: Researchers spin straw into gold. Alfalfa can concentrate gold from the soil into nanoparticles useful as tags for studying biological processes and as contacts for nanoelectronic circuits. The method is cheaper and less polluting than alternative methods, and the nanoparticles can be made more uniform by controlling the acidity of the growth medium. Oats work even better than alfalfa. Some technical details are available at Plants with the Midas touch: formation of gold nanoparicles by alfalfa plants."

from the rumors-and-speculations dept.
c/net reports Intel to unveil nanotechnology plans at a forum in San Jose next Thursday. A senior vice president of Intel is to reveal previously announced strategies for moving from the current 130-nm chip elements to less than 100-nm elements. The article speculates that unannounced research efforts to be revealed might include carbon nanotube use in chips. A Nanodot post of August 14 2002 reported Intel's first foray into nanotechnology with 'strained silicon' technology.

from the gecko-not-GEICO dept.
JohnPierce writes with an example where scientists studying a biological phenomenon gained an insight that might be useful with microscale and perhaps nanoscale design and fabrication. Scientists Prove How Geckos Stick, Unlock Secrets To Making Artificial Gecko Glue

from the hype-or-foresight? dept.
Mr_Farlops points out a Red Herring article that debunks predictions by Foresight Advisor Ray Kurzweil and others that within a couple decades computers will exceed human intelligence: Artificial Intelligence? Out of their minds "Here we go again . . . pundits can't stop hyping the business opportunities of artificial intelligence."

from the unexpected-outcomes dept.
Mr_Farlops writes "Many nanodot readers are familiar with silicon compilers, programs that design circuitry for computers. In this article from New Scientist, a circuit design program using genetic algorithms unexpectedly generated a radio circuit rather than designing an oscillator as it was told to do."

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