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Gaming the Future: The Book!

Author: Foresight Editor

Nanotech Hits the Roads

Roland Piquepaille writes "When you hear the word 'nanotechnology,' I bet you immediately think about nanochips or ultra-small medical devices. But do you know that nanotechnology is starting to be used in highways, bridges and other buildings? In "Small Science Will Bring Big Changes To Roads," a very long article from Better Roads Magazine, you'll discover that "research in structural polymers could lead the way to guardrails that heal themselves, or concrete or asphalt that heal their own cracking." Nanotechnology is also used to design better steel or concrete. And there are even nanosensors in place on the Golden Gate Bridge to monitor its behavior. The nanotechnology revolution is on its way, even if self-healing potholes and guardrails are still science fiction. This long article discusses nanotechnology advances in concrete and cement, self-cleaning traffic signs or better steel. This shorter overview contains selected excerpts about embedded nanosensors, self-healing pavements and smart dust."

Foresight Institute Appoints Scott Mize President

Foresight Institute has appointed Scott Mize to the position of President. "This is an important step in our evolution," said Christine Peterson, Founder and former President of Foresight Institute. Peterson will remain with Foresight Institute as Vice President focusing on public policy, legislative issues and education.

Photonic chips go 3D

Roland Piquepaille writes "Building computer chips which use light instead of electricity will be possible in a few years, thanks to the new techniques developed by two separate research teams from the MIT and Kyoto University. Both have built photonic crystals that can be manufactured using processes suited to mass production. Technology Research News says that "the techniques could be used to make smaller, more efficient communications devices, create optical memory and quantum computing and communications devices, develop new types of lasers and biological and chemical sensors, and could ultimately lead to all-optical computer processors." Please read this overview for more details and references about the two different approaches towards photonic chips, which measure only hundreds of nanometers — right now."

President of India cites Nanosystems

Rosa Wang writes "In his address to a group earlier this year, just published in the press today in India, the President of India sees the future in nanotechnology. There is no ambiguity in their intent:"

Our future lies in nanotechnology
GUEST COLUMN | President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
July 31

"When I think of nanoscience and nanotechnology, I am reminded of three personalities. The first person is Richard Feynman, who described the concept of 'building machines' atom by atom in his talk at Caltech titled 'There is plenty of room at the bottom'. The second person is Eric Drexler, who wrote the book titled Nanosystems, Molecular Machinery, Manufacturing and Computation. The third person is Prof C.N.R. Rao, who pioneered and fostered nano science research in India."

Moving Water Molecules By Light

Roland Piquepaille writes "An interdisciplinary team of researchers at Arizona State University (ASU) has discovered a new nanotechnology effect, the ability of moving water molecules by light. This is a far better way than current methods such as damaging electric fields and opens the way to a new class of microfluidic devices used in analytical chemistry and for pharmaceutical research. For example, this makes possible to design a device that can move drugs dissolved in water, or droplets of water and samples that need to be tested for environmental or biochemical analyses. Please read this overview for more details and references, plus an image of two water drops illuminated with a fluorescent dye and sitting respectively on a nanowire surface and on a flat surface."

Nanomedicine Breakthroughs at Xerox's PARC

Roland Piquepaille writes "The new Scripps-PARC Institute for Advanced Biomedical Sciences (SPIABS for short) is the fruit of the union between Xerox's PARC and the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla and promises to transform medical research and the practice of medicine. The Mercury News writes that it's making a big leap to innovation in medicine. SPIABS already announced an enthalpy array, an extremely precise nanocalorimeter. It can detect changes of millionths of a degree in temperature, using samples of only 240 nanoliters. This nanocalorimeter will be used to "help pharmaceutical companies quickly pick out the best drug candidates and get improved medications to market sooner." Earlier this year, SPIABS unveiled the FAST cytometer, a laser scanning device so precise it can spot a single cancerous cell in the middle of the ten other millions contained in a standard blood sample. And SPIABS is working on other projects, such as sutures sewn on the perimeter of a removed tumor, equipped with laser diodes to spot and kill new cancerous cells as soon as they appear. Please read this overview for more details, references and pictures."

Nanoimprint lithography

RobertBradbury writes "Space Daily had a recent article about progress by Stephen Chou's group (at the NanoStructures Lab) with nanoimprint lithography. Their most recent article in Applied Physics Letters is here [1]. They are getting down to 5nm ridges spaced 14nm apart. From the looks of NNT conference program last December this area is getting hot."

Do the Nano-Locomotion

Roland Piquepaille writes "It's widely accepted today that nanotechnology will soon be able to deliver medicine inside the human body or to do research on cells. But to achieve this goal, you need nano-cargos moving through liquid environments, such as blood. And this is a very difficult challenge because the nano-swimmers have to struggle with blood's viscosity, which has very large effect in a nanoscale environment. But now, two Iranian researchers have found a simple and elegant solution to this problem, based on the principle of non-reciprocal motion and described in "Teaching Nanotech to Swim" by Technology Review. Their nano-swimmer consists of three aligned spheres connected by two rigid rods which can contract and expand. The nano-cargo then advances in the blood like an earthworm inside the soil. Even if these nano-swimmers look promising, nobody knows when they will be able to deliver drugs in our bodies. Read this summary for more details and references. You'll also find an illustration showing how the nano-swimmer moves."

U.S. Public Sensible About Nanotechnology

A recent study of the American public's views on nanotechnology has shown a remarkably accurate understanding of its potential benefits and drawbacks. Conducted by North Carolina State University researcher, Dr. Michael Cobb, assistant professor of political science, who designed the survey and analyzed the data, and Dr. Patrick Hamlett, associate professor of science, technology and society, and Dr. Jane Macoubrie, assistant professor of communication, the results will appear in the next Journal of Nanoparticle Research.

Report on Royal Society atomic manipulation meeting

David Bradley Science Writer writes "The Royal Society recently held a meeting on atomic manipulation. You can read a summary report of the meeting by a freelance science writer on the RS site available as a PDF file here."

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