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Gaming the Future: The Book!

Category: Articles

Software for augmenting human intellect still needed

A Manifesto for Collaborative Tools: "This essay is a manifesto about software for collaboration — why the world's future depends on it, why the current crop of tools isn't good enough, and what programmers can and must do about it." The importance of "backlinks" and "fine-grained links" was also emphasized in Eric Drexler's 1987 paper Hypertext Publishing and the Evolution of Knowledge.

Rosette nanotubes make implants more biocompatible

Rosette nanotubes not only promise versatile components for advanced nanotechnology, but look likely to be useful in near-term nanomedicine as well. Jamie Dinkelacker brings to our attention the fact that Self-assembling 'nanotubes' offer promise for future artificial joints. These nanotubes are assembled from DNA base pair-like rosettes and have the virtue of being readily modified to have different chemical properties [see Customizable, Self-assembling Nanotubes]. Not only has it been demonstrated "that bone cells called osteoblasts attach better to nanotube-coated titanium than they do to conventional titanium used to make artificial joints," but the highly customizable nature of these nanotubes offers hope that coatings can be designed that are optimized for implants in different body parts.

Is the NNI only about chemistry and materials?

Rosa Wang writes about Howard Lovy's comments [and also here] on the NNI Conference and nanotechnology funding priorities, and suggests that "some broad publicity might encourage other scientists to air their frustrations with the NNI's current priorities (perhaps to Howard Lovy?) as well as hilight some of the problems with having one centralized source of funding."

Businessweek on self assembly & molecular manufacturing

Getting Molecules To Do The Work surveys half a dozen nanotechnology projects involving self-assembly that are bringing an "era of nano-manufacturing". Although many obstacles remain, the survey concludes optimistically:

Still, "the field is moving very fast," says NYU's Seeman. Only a year ago, he says, he showed his students a top-10 list of major challenges nanotechnology faced. Today, three are already resolved. At this pace, he adds, self-assembly and molecular manufacturing will come into commercial use sooner rather than later.

VigyaanCD: bio/chemical modeling workbench on PC

PKA writes "Pratul K. Agarwal from Oak Ridge National Laboratory has released VigyaanCD (homepage, mirror). Vigyaan, a Knoppix customization, is an electronic workbench for computational biology and computational chemistry. The user can choose from more than 20 science applications. In addition to bioinformatics software, it provides GROMACS, TINKER for biomolecular modeling and Ghemical, MPQC, PSI3 for quantum chemistry calculations. VigyaanCD is a live Linux CD containing all the software required to boot the PC into workbench environment and is suitable both for beginners (12 demos and tutorials) and experts. Learning computational biology/chemistry has never been easier, so grab the free ISO image from several mirrors around the world and put your PC to work."

New website by Foresight founder Eric Drexler

http://www.e-drexler.com/ "This site focuses on the science behind emerging technologies of broad importance, summarizing research results and offering technical perspectives on research directions. It includes tutorial material, new results, annotated bibliographies and links to external web resources. Initial topics include nanotechnology-based production systems (central to the future of physical technology), and secure, distributed computing (central to the future of informational technology). In both these areas, several widespread assumptions are very wrong. A better understanding can benefit both technical leaders seeking productive directions for research and development, and policy makers aiming to make wise decisions." See especially the animations of molecular machines and the analysis of friction in atomically precise bearings vs. fluid-immersed systems.

Tutorial On QCA An Emerging Nanotechnology

Konrad Walus writes "For new readers we provide a basic tutorial on one of the several emerging nanotechnologies (as identified by the ITRS) called quantum-dot cellular automata (QCA). There is growing interest in this concept because of its simplicity and ability to design complex circuits even though the technology is not fully developed. There is even a free open-source design and simulation tool called QCADesigner for people wishing to give QCA design a try."

Tiny Machines Need Even Tinier Lubricants

JamGrrl writes "This isn't exactly big news, but this article details many of the problems in getting MEMS to work — specifically, how do you lubercate a machine when the oil molecule itself is just too big? It turns out that alcohol is one useful candidate. An informative read."

Logic Functions within a Single Molecule

Roland Piquepaille writes "Molecular computing is a fascinating subject that I already covered several times (check here or there for example). Now, researchers from France and England are going further computing. They want to make logic circuits by linking individual molecules. They even think that they can build these logic circuits within a single one, according to this article from Technology Research News. But challenges remain and practical applications will not appear before at least ten years. This overview contains more details and references about these findings. It also includes an amazing diagram showing a benzene molecule configured as an XOR logic gate."

The Arrival of Nanotech Memories

Roland Piquepaille writes "After the ages of DRAM and SRAM memories, is this time for nanotech memories? ExtremeTech says that "molecular memories" as well as memories based on carbon nanotubes are emerging. With these nanotech memories, several startup companies are envisioning future chips mixing logic, memory and reconfigurable computing elements. One of these promising startups is ZettaCore, which was mentioned several times here more for its investors than for its technology. The company has built a prototype of a molecular memory designed to replace both SRAM and DRAM kinds of memories. These molecules, which are about 1 nanometer in size, are also self-assembling, meaning that they can be manufactured with existing equipment used in the semiconductor industry. This overview contains more details about the technology and includes a diagram of these molecules in a memory array."

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