Foresight member John Faith brings our attention to an achievement at IBM Almaden here in Silicon Valley: they have found a way to separate and then “write” very small deposits of specific molecules — as few as 10 molecules — onto a substrate: “IBM researchers have demonstrated a new nanoscale method that both rapidly separates… Continue reading IBM writes with AFM down to 10 molecules
We’ve written twice now about the nanocar (post 1, post 2) built at Rice University by James Tour and team. Now Dr. Tour will be on Internet radio, at Science and Society, a talk radio site focusing on nanotech and similar topics. He’ll be on sometime during the hour of 1 to 2 PM on… Continue reading Nanocar builder on radio tomorrow, then podcast
Another batch of eleven essays on molecular manufacturing brought to you by CRN: “Nanoethics and Technological Revolutions: A Précis” – Nick Bostrom “From The Enlightenment to N-Lightenment” – Michael Buerger “What Price Freedom?” – Robert A. Freitas Jr. “The (Needed) New Economics of Abundance” – Steve Burgess “Economic Impact of the Personal Nanofactory” – Robert… Continue reading Eleven new nanotech essays from CRN
The May 2006 issue of Popular Mechanics has a number of articles on the theme: Redefining the Human: The Upgradable You. Some excerpts: “Evolution has done its best, but there’s a limit to how many plug-and-play neural implants, supercharged blood cells, strong-as-steel bone replacements and mind-controlled PCs you can expect from randomly colliding natural forces.… Continue reading Popular Mechanics: The Upgradable You
From Popular Science, an article by Sarah Webb on a humorous educational nanotech video called When Things Get Small, “an irreverant, madcap, comically corny romp into the world of things ‘nano’ “: “The 30-minute flick—a collaboration between physicist Ivan Schuller of the University of California at San Diego and producer Rich Wargo—is a corny romp… Continue reading $400K federally-funded nano-comedy film available
In the mail from Wiley-VCH: the new book The Nanotech Pioneers: Where Are They Taking Us? by Steven Edwards. The visionaries singled out are the usual crowd plus one name rarely listed: Feynman, Drexler, Merkle, Kurzweil, Von Ehr, Binnig, Roco, and the unusual one, the late Ernst Ruska, co-inventor of the electron microscope. Lots more… Continue reading Mini-review: The Nanotech Pioneers
Using over 100,000 CPU hours, a Zyvex/IMM/Georgia Tech team including the familiar-to-Nanodot names of Robert Freitas, Ralph Merkle, Jim Von Ehr, and John Randall — along with soon-to-be-familiar co-authors Jingping Peng and George Skidmore — have modeled the mechanosynthesis of diamond onto a 200-atom surface. Published in the Journal of Computational and Theoretical Nanoscience (1… Continue reading Diamond mechanosynthesis modeled on 200-atom surface
A UK/France/Italy/Netherlands/Czech team have announced the building of a new nanosensor/switch/actuator. As described by CORDIS (Source: Foresight News Digest): “The motor is attached to the [DNA] strand at the specific sequence of bases. Then the team introduces ATP, the phosphate molecule that provides energy within living cells, into the microfluidics channel. This is the fuel… Continue reading European team make nanoactuator
Washington DC was the place to be today, for the Center on Nanotechnology and Society’s 1st Annual Conference on Nanopolicy and the Human Future held at the National Press Club. Much learned nanopunditry from both sides of the big issues. Sean Murdock of the Nanobusiness Alliance and John Sargent of the U.S. Dept. of Commerce… Continue reading Nanopundits duke it out at National Press Club
In the Journal of Nanoparticle Research is a review by David Guston of the (expensive) book Nanotalk: Conversations with Scientists and Engineers about Ethics, Meaning, and Belief in the Development of Nanotechnology, by Rosalyn Berne. Some excerpts from the review (172 KB pdf): “It provides a modest stage for the researchers Berne interviewed to rehearse… Continue reading 35 nanotechnologists discuss nano ethics
