Kevin Bullis of Technology Review reminds us of something we should all remember from thermo class: Inside fossil-fuel and nuclear-power plants, as well as in cars and trucks, the lion’s share of energy in fuel is wasted as heat rather than converted into electricity or mechanical power. But the search for a practical material that… Continue reading Nanotechnology turns heat into electricity
Fortunately for us, Elsevier and the Institute of Nanotechnology — both based in Europe — are competing for eyeballs in the nanotechnology magazine race. This means they are letting us see their publications for free online, at least for now. From the IoN we have the excitedly-named new monthly “NanoNOW!”, the first issue of which… Continue reading Nanotechnology magazine competition: you decide
The company mPHASE points out that battery technology advance has been dismal compared to computer chips. Now they’ve used nanotechnology to build a more environmentally-friendly, longer shelf-life battery, and made a two-minute movie, posted on YouTube, to tell us about it. If the link doesn’t work for you, go to YouTube and search for nanobattery… Continue reading Finally, nanotechnology makes a greener battery
Those of us who’ve visited the museums and churches of Italy know that folks there have a special knack for making art. So it’s no surprise to see beautiful artistic images of nanotechnology coming from that country. Nanowerk tells the story and shows some of the images: This exhibition brings to the public images that… Continue reading Beauty of nanotechnology world revealed in Italy
We mentioned earlier the Harvard Business Review list of Breakthrough Ideas for 2007. Nanotechnology shows up again in another idea on the list — this one rather more controversial. Phillip Longman observes that falling birthrates lead, over time, to an increase in families with more conservative values, because they reproduce more. Seems plausible. He then… Continue reading Nanotechnology alleged to aid patriarchy
One advanced tool for nanotechnology that has been proposed is the disassembler, a molecular machine system that could take apart objects atom-by-atom and record their structure to that level of precision. Sarah Fister Gale at Small Times brings us news of a macroscale tool that claims to be able to do something quite similar: The… Continue reading Nanotechnology tool takes things apart atom by atom
The busy Project for Emerging Nanotechnologies over at the Wilson Center is having another meeting-plus-webcast, this time on February 27, noon Eastern time, on the topic of “Using Nanotechnology to Improve Health Care in Developing Countries”: What if doctors in Kenya could equip cells of the retina with photoswitches that can be flipped on, essentially… Continue reading Webcast: Nanotechnology for health care in developing countries
John Walker brings to our attention an apparently distressing set of concerns regarding the new version of Windows, known as Vista, written up by Peter Gutman as A Cost Analysis of Windows Vista Content Protection. Excerpts: The only way to protect the HFS [Hardware Functionality Scan] process therefore is to not release any technical details… Continue reading Windows Vista: potential negative impact on nanotechnology
Celebrating its 20th anniversary, the nanotechnology classic book Engines of Creation is out in a new, free e-book version (5.4 MB pdf) from WOWIO. Material added since the original edition includes a Letter from the Author, Feynman’s 1959 talk, Advice to Aspiring Nanotechnologists (very similar to the author’s Foresight Briefing 1: Studying Nanotechnology, a longtime… Continue reading Nanotechnology classic Engines of Creation new edition
The Harvard Business Review has named its top 20 Breakthrough Ideas for 2007, and home-based, atomically-precise manufacturing makes the list. Business in the Nanocosm, by UC Berkeley business prof Rashi Glazer, does a good job of conveying the future of home-based nanomanufacturing. Excerpts: Conventional manufacturing carves or distills a purpose-suited device from a mass of… Continue reading Nanotechnology: Just-in-time nanomanufacturing at home
