Posted by Ben Harper: ScienceDaily is pointing out here that scientists at UIUC’s Micro and Nanotechnology lab have fabricated an indium phosphide and indium gallium arsenide transistor which can switch at 604 GHz. Thats 200x the clock speed of relatively state of the art silicon microprocessors running at 3 GHz. However its likely that given… Continue reading Really fast transistors
Posted by Robert Bradbury: Various sources are reporting that Motorola has developed a flat-screen prototype display which uses carbon nanotubes (presumably as electron emitters). The Slashdot discussion is here. Though the prototype is only 5″ currently they appear to be aiming for 40″ HDTV screens that will only cost $400. If this type of commercial… Continue reading Nanotube based flat screens
A National Research Council report titled “Nanotechnology for the Intelligence Community” takes a short-term view that may not serve that community well. Defining “long term” to be 10 years (page eight), the report concludes (page 12): “the committee remains skeptical of claims that nanotechnology will have the kind of broad, revolutionary impact that has characterized… Continue reading NRC nanotech report to intelligence community is too near-term
Once again the Europeans are looking good in nanotech education. Check out Nano-World, the Computer Supported Cooperative Environment on Nanophysics. Learn about different kinds of scanning probes, and try “Remote AFM: performing real experiments on a remote controllable microscope.” Check out the tutorial on nanoscale friction.
Posted by Robert Bradbury: Brian Wang writes Aubrey de Grey who founded “The Methuselah Mouse Prize” spoke about life extension at a Senior Associates gathering. There has been recent development in the area of life extension. A mouse with the ability to mop up free radicals at the cellular level – and live longer as… Continue reading Mouse life extended 20%
Albany’s CNSE has some impressive statements on their website: “The first college in the world devoted exclusively to nanoscale science…With over 100 industrial partners on site…the faculty and staff are universally accessible to all students – every day, seven days per week” This last seems a bit overstated. Also some inadvertent humor: “While Albany has… Continue reading Strong statements by UAlbany NanoTech College
The Patent Baristas have brought together a collection of links relevant to the patent thicket problem, plus some advice paraphrased from a Business Week blog: "with such a fragmented market, few investors are going to be able to understand the competitive landscape. Therefore, many investors might be tempted to believe a patent means more than it does, setting some investors up for a big loss. They point out that very often small cap, nano-companies can skyrocket or plummet on the mere mention of a new patent. Let's be careful out there." Indeed.
Prizes are now all the rage. Fred Kavli is founding three new prizes including one in nanotech, to be selected by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. "I think we'll be more daring," than the Nobel awards, he said, because they would seek to reward scientific breakthroughs more quickly than the conservative Nobel system. [We at Foresight say: the more nano prizes, the better. Welcome to the nano prize community, Mr. Kavli! –CP]
A massive amount of new writing on societal and ethical issues is available in a special double issue on nanotechnology jointly published by HYLE: International Journal for Philosophy of Chemistry and TECHNE: Journal of the Society for Philosophy and Technology, edited by Davis Baird & Joachim Schummer. Read more for the tables of contents and links. Includes everything from "Noumenal Technology: Reflections on the Incredible Tininess of Nano" to a very long discussion of the Drexler/Smalley debate. ["Noumenal"? Now we must study Kant to understand nanotech? Argh. –CP] Source: ICON list.
Howard Lovy has been experimenting with video editing software and threw together this short nanotech video. (Note the warning that it might not be good to play it at the office, due to the audio and the scantily-clad protestors. I did, but I work at Foresight, where it's our job to monitor these things.) It's not really for newbies — you need a lot of background to catch all the references. See it before someone makes him take it down. Howard is clearly having way too much fun. –CP
