It had to happen: a book in which German philosophers direct their attention to nanotech. (Ethicists and social scientists too.) Excerpts from the English abstracts (pdf), with my commentary inserted: An account is provided of how the purpose of gaining knowledge is reoriented towards purposes of application. This helps clear up the relation of discovery… Continue reading German philosophers take on nanotechnology
Cees Dekker’s team at the Kavli Institute of NanoScience at Delft University of Technology have produced some intriguing work published in Science (400 KB pdf): Integration of biomolecular motors in nanoengineered structures raises the intriguing possibility of manipulating materials on nanometer scales. We have managed to integrate kinesin motor proteins in closed submicron channels and… Continue reading Dutch team uses molecular motors for sorting
It’s hard for small investors to participate in nanotechnology. Harris & Harris has been one of the few options available. Now there’s another: Nanoventure N.V. ( machine translation of home page) has made an initial public offering on the Frankfurt exchange: Eindhoven, June 13, 2006 – Nanoventure N.V. was successfully listed on the Open Market… Continue reading Small investors get another nanotech option…sort of
Purdue University is extremely serious about being a leader in nanotech and they are putting serious money into that goal. They’ve just opened a new nanofabrication cleanroom that sounds unique: combining the usual semiconductor capabilities with nanobio work, in cleanrooms that connect to each other. This sounds very handy for cool cross-disciplinary R&D. From the… Continue reading Purdue builds one-of-a-kind nanotech lab
Accelrys is having a July 13 webinar, which I assume is free, on how to use their software for nanobio purposes. They say it enables “multiscale modeling that enables seamless design from the molecular level through full device”, which is pretty impressive. UPDATE: Yes, it’s free. —Christine Read more for the full press release
The Innovation Society in Switzerland has a new report: Nano-Food Science-Fiction or Business Opportunity? Kellog’s decision to replace advertising, puzzles and product information on the back side of the cereal box with information on Nanotechnology demonstrates their desire to familiarize their customers with nano products. Perhaps in the future, customers will ask for healthy Nano… Continue reading Nanofood: Science fiction or business opportunity?
I’m blogging from Moscow, but the news this week is back in the States. We at Foresight like to make win-win connections between worthy projects, and here’s an example: Nanorex Inc., the world’s first developer of tools for the design, simulation and analysis of atomically precise molecular machine systems, will launch its educational outreach program… Continue reading Top high schoolers get early release of Nanorex modeling software
Kevin Bullis writes in Technology Review about a nanotech-based medical tool that looks very promising. The most deadly disease in the U.S. isn’t cancer or AIDS, it’s heart disease: Each year 100,000 patients complaining of heart attack-like symptoms are sent home without treatment because current methods cannot diagnose some heart attacks, Moffitt says. Of these… Continue reading Nanoscale medical detection close to practical use
The question of how to power devices at the nanoscale is getting increasing attention. Georgia Tech’s Z.L. Wang has one answer: Researchers have developed a new technique for powering nanometer-scale devices without the need for bulky energy sources such as batteries. By converting mechanical energy from body movement, muscle stretching or water flow into electricity,… Continue reading Georgia Tech makes nanogenerators
Alan B. Shalleck of NanoClarity LLC writes of the potential of nanotechnology to address energy issues, Foresight Nanotech Challenge #1: Nanotechnology is fundamental over the next 50 years to providing sufficient energy for a growing world and to protecting the environment in which we live. There is an energy/environmental storm gathering and we must pay… Continue reading MIT takes on nanotech & energy
