Author: Foresight Editor

Yinghao Wu (a.k.a. Matthias) from Shanghai, now a grad student in applied physics at Rice who works with rising star Prof. Jianpeng Ma, has posted his slides on Artificial Molecular-Level Machines with special emphasis on rotaxanes and catenanes. His goal is to design an artificial molecular machine for cargo transportation along a molecular track. If you prefer, you can view them as html at Google.

A transcript is available of the SAGE Crossroads joint interview with Robert Best of University of South Carolina and Mike Treder of CRN. Topics range widely, from medical, military, and economic applications to fairness issues and human enhancement. (I was unable to play the video; if you can, please advise in the comments section.) Some other interviews in this webcast series look worthwhile also.

May 31 is the deadline for international entries in the 2005 annual Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge, sponsored by AAAS and the U.S. National Science Foundation. Awards for outstanding examples of the use of visual media to promote understanding of research results and scientific phenomena will be given in five categories: photography, illustration, informational graphics, interactive media, and noninteractive media.

Over at Nanobot, Adam Keiper gives more details on the NAS meeting on molecular manufacturing. Eric Drexler argued that the goal is feasible, after which: "More noteworthy than Drexlerís remark was the response to it from Clayton Teague, head of the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office: 'I agree with you very much, and I think youíll find everyone on the NNI thinks that it is something of international importance.' " Read more for a comment on time estimates.

Technical debate on the feasibility of mechanosynthesis continues over at Soft Machines. Blog author Richard Jones is a skeptic, but there's some interesting back-and-forth in the comments, in which readers rebut Jones' odd claim that the use of abstraction layers — a standard tool in engineering — may not be possible at this scale.

Check these out at the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference — (1) "ifabricate: Collaborative atom hacking" by Saul Griffith: "Where is the sourceforge for atoms? The operating system for compiling stuff? Squid:Labs is developing an open design platform…to collaborate, share, personalize, mass customize, and ultimately hack the physical objects and products around us" and (2) "Bits and Atoms" by Neil Gershenfeld: "emerging insights into the digitization of fabrication, based on building with logic (error-corrected molecular assembly)".

Spacedaily is reporting that a multinational team with several members from the Georgia Institute of Technology has discovered how carbon nanotubes form.

It turns out that nanotubes are carbon *crystals* that form within supercooled *liquid* carbon drops. The process is similar to experiments that many children do when growing rock candy or crystals from other easily manipulated compounds (copper sulfate, etc.). The only problem is that one has to work at temperatures of 5000 deg. C in order to get the liquid carbon drops…

Keep an eye on this research group headed by Prof. Keiichi Namba: "This ability of self-organization is a great advantage in nanotechnology development, because, without this feature, mass production of nanomachines is impossible and therefore practical applications cannot be expected no matter how useful individually made nanomachines could be. The outcome of our studies on protein nanomachines, which work flexibly and precisely at the same time, is expected to produce much useful knowledge to eventually form a basis for design principles for artificial nanomachines of practical use." Click on movies, then watch the third one on page 1 and the one on page 5. Note Matsushita involvement.

Scott Hubbard is the director of NASA's Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, NASA's lead center on nanotechnology. Not surprisingly, he has a particularly clear view of the nano/bio/info convergence: "The three, on their own, have important implications. To put the three of them together, the way I think about it, is that we are informed by biology of what nature has learned how to do over several billion years at the molecular level. It then gives us the capability to simulate that in computer modeling. And the nanotechnology allows us to actually manipulate physical materials to mimic, in some cases, what nature has done."

Even nanotech supporters may enjoy this video of an amusing protest. An Institute of Nanotechnology meeeting was disrupted by protestors from THRONG (The Heavenly Righteous Opposed to Nanotech Greed). ìThe same greedy corporations who messed with the genetic basis of life are now seeking to alter and privatize nature right down to the atomic levelî, explained THRONG spokesangel Pandora Spocks. ìWe want to warn companies attending this conference that getting into nanotech is really not a clever idea ñ for society or their business.î IoN invited the group to present at their 20 January meeting, but was refused. The group's name is a take-off on THONG, who protested topless at NanoCommerce 2004. [Nano is such a fun field to cover!–CP]