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Gaming the Future: The Book!

Month: May 2004

Diamondoid for sale

RobertBradbury writes "ChevronTexaco has announced that it is able to refine diamondoid molecules, sp. adamantane, from crude oil and gas condensates and is prepared to scale up production as demand (presumably driven by nanotechnology research) increases. A Space Daily article provides more details." See also "ChevronTexaco MolecularDiamond Technologies Produces Research Quantities of Diamond Molecules From Petroleum"

Storing Three Bits Into One Memory Cell

Roland Piquepaille writes "Increasing storage density by packing more than 0 or 1 in a single memory cell is an appealing idea. Now, "researchers from the University of Southern California and NASA have built a prototype molecular memory device that stores three bits in the same spot." Each memory cell is a field-effect transistor (FET) made from a 10-nanometer-diameter indium oxide wire. By applying current to a gate electrode, the nanowire can have eight discrete levels of electrical conductance, therefore representing the eight combinations of 3 bits. The prototype can retain data for 600 hours and provides a data density of 40 gigabits per square centimeter. The researchers think they can reach a density of 400 gigabits per square centimeter within 5 to 10 years. More details and references are available in this overview. [Note: Nanodot described another approach to molecular memory last March.]"

NIH Nanomedicine Roadmap

RobertBradbury writes "Well on Monday I flew across the country to attend the NIH Nanomedicine Roadmap Initiative Project Launch Meeting. It drew quite a crowd — 400+ scientists from all over the country. The goal — to develop 4+ multi-disciplinary nano-bio-tech research centers funded at the level of ~$1.5M each for perhaps 5+ years."

A DNA Walking Robot

Roland Piquepaille writes "Two chemists from New York University, William B. Sherman and Nadrian C. Seeman, have created a DNA nanowalker with two legs, each one being 10-nanometers long. This nanoscale bipedal robot moves from one pair of anchors — strands of DNA — to another one. This is a major breakthrough for nanoscale manufacturing. And New Scientist says this opens the way for future nanoscopic robots that will assemble other nanomachines or manipulate individual molecules. Obviously, this is still at the experimental stage. Even the researchers don't say when such nanowalkers will be able to do some real work. More details are available in this overview."

Lessons from Japan's Atom Technology Project

Christine Peterson writes to point to an interview of Kazunobu Tanaka, Board trustee, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), with suggestions for developing nanotechnology as a key industry in Japan: "'Dr. Tanaka says nanotechnology in Japan will not make any progress unless project leaders and researchers with a wide outlook are brought up. He adds that the master plan for developing nanotechnology in Japan should be discussed from the mid- and long-term viewpoint by young researchers with strong physical and intellectual ability.' Sounds right to us, for other countries too."

DNA nanocomputer, possible cancer treatment

With the latest in DNA nanotechnology, WillWare writes "Several news sources recently described work by Ehud Shapiro at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. He and his team "have built a tiny biological computer that might be able to diagnose and treat certain types of cancer. The device, which only works in a test-tube, is years from clinical application… it can detect the abnormal messenger RNAs produced by genes involved in certain types of lung and prostate cancer… When the computer senses one of these RNAs it releases an anticancer drug, also made of DNA, which damps expression of the tumour-related gene." Shapiro has posted the PDF of his article in Nature which illustrates that detection of the abnormal RNA is a multi-step process, and that there is some real computation involved. It makes very interesting reading."

Nanomedicine, Vol. IIA: Biocompatibility available online

The second volume in the Nanomedicine book series by Robert A. Freitas Jr., Nanomedicine, Vol. IIA: Biocompatibility, is now freely available online in its entirety at http://www.nanomedicine.com/NMIIA.htm First published in hardcover by Landes Bioscience in 2003, this comprehensive technical book describes the many possible mechanical, physiological, immunological, cytological, and biochemical responses of the human body to the in vivo introduction of medical nanodevices, especially medical nanorobots.

More Nano Weapons to Fight Cancer

Roland Piquepaille writes "In this article, the MIT Technology Review says that different new nanotools will help us to diagnose or kill cancerous tumors. 'Nanoshells' invented at Rice University could become an alternative to chemotherapy by killing only cancerous cells after injection into patients' bloodstream. And nanoparticles created at the University of Washington in Seattle could be used to noninvasively diagnose and treat brain tumors. Meanwhile, a biochemist from Brigham Young University has developed "a method for examining mutations in DNA to determine a person?s genetic predisposition for developing cancer." This overview contains more details and a diagram showing how nanoshells are conjugated with antibodies to kill cancerous cells. [Note: Previous results about nanoshells were reported here by Nanodot in February.]"

Call For Abstracts — Due May 1

1st Conference on Advanced Nanotechnology: Research, Applications, and Policy, October 21-24, 2004, Crystal City Marriott Hotel, Washington, DC area. Includes, as Day One: 1st Symposium on Molecular Machine Systems

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