Author: Allison

The American National Standards Institute announced the formation of the Nanotechnology Standards Panel (ANSI-NSP), a new coordinating body for the development of standards in the area of nanotechnology. Nanotechnology refers to the manufacturing or manipulating of matter at the atomic and molecular level, or nanoscale. The panel will convene September 29-30, 2004, in Gaithersburg, MD, to focus its initial work on nomenclature and terminology. More…

Ed. Note. Though the initial meeting was several weeks ago this might still be an interesting project to become involved in if only because it is open to discussion whether many of the people who might become involved will have read the relevant literature.

DavidForrest writes "The Foresight Conference this last weekend was one of the best ever. Kudos to all involved. I hate to nitpick after such a wonderful event, but as a metallurgist, I feel compelled to comment on the "metals are weak" meme that resurfaced several times. More…

Michael E. Thomas writes "The small size of ferroelectric transparent structures makes it possible to fabricate nano-optical devices like volume holographic storage. Both positive and negative index of refraction that will allow molecular particles of an atomic size to be modified, controlled, and changed to perform a specific function, desired task, used for low cost accurate chemical / biological matter detection, and reprogrammed to accept new non-volatile data and molecular functions. My invention and U.S. Patents, exclusively licensed to Colossal Storage Corporation on a technique for changing matter at the molecular level is one of the World's only new enabling technologies, having many hundreds of electro-optic applications, a few of which are discussed in this article: http://www.nanonewsnet.com/index.php?module=pagese tter&func=viewpub&tid=4&pid=6."

Wendy Emanuel writes "Nanosphere, a nanotechnology-based life sciences company, announced today it has expanded its multi-million dollar development contract with the U.S. Government Technical Support Working Group (TSWG). The company also announced the receipt of a $750,000 Phase II grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

molecool writes "PhysOrg writes that researchers at The University of Manchester and Chernogolovka, Russia have discovered the world's first single-atom-thick fabric, which reveals the existence of a new class of materials and may lead to computers made from a single molecule. The research is to be published in Science on 22 October."

Ed. Note. The molecular fabric is single layer graphite (graphene) and which is hardly a "discovery". It is of course useful that it can be manipulated in the laboratory and possibly at an industrial level. For those with access to Science, the URL for the publication is here

Gina Miller writes "Story Quote: The National Cancer Institute (NCI) announced today at a media briefing a new $144.3 million, five-year initiative to develop and apply nanotechnology to cancer. Nanotechnology, the development and engineering of devices so small that they are measured on a molecular scale, has already demonstrated promising results in cancer research and treatment. "Nanotechnology has the potential to radically increase our options for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer," said Andrew von Eschenbach, M.D., director of the National Cancer Institute. "NCI's commitment to this cancer initiative comes at a critical time. Nanotechnology supports and expands the scientific advances in genomics and proteomics and builds on our understanding of the molecular underpinnings of cancer. These are the pillars which will support progress in cancer." End Quote. Story found at Medical News Today."

Several people, including Roland and Patrick, have pointed out that physicists from Boston University have fabricated nanomechanical switches which promise significant advances in data storage densities (to much greater than 100GB/in²).

stan_h writes "Speakers Discuss Big Hopes for Small Science – October 15, 2003 at the American Chemical Society "The Capitol Connection" report:

Senator John Warner (R-VA) opened a recent ACS Science and the Congress briefing entitled "Nanotechnology: from Theory to Commercialization." Senator Warner was a featured participant in the program because he closely follows developments in the field of nanotechnology for two reasons: as chair of the Senate Armed Services, he is interested in seeing discoveries applied for use by the military; and he is hopeful his home state will be able to harness the economic growth that nanotechnology promises.

… [part of first of six paragraphs, more at the URL]