The Foresight Vision Weekend is only a month away. This is the place to speak openly and brainstorm with others who envision a revolutionary nanotechnology future. What aspect of our nanotech future most excites you — repairing the human body, ending chemical pollution, creating economic abundance, developing space resources, delivering basic necessities — like clean water — to the developing world…or how about a personal role in making all this happen?
Konrad Walus writes "For new readers we provide a basic tutorial on one of the several emerging nanotechnologies (as identified by the ITRS) called quantum-dot cellular automata (QCA). There is growing interest in this concept because of its simplicity and ability to design complex circuits even though the technology is not fully developed. There is even a free open-source design and simulation tool called QCADesigner for people wishing to give QCA design a try."
Roland Piquepaille writes "Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have created magnetic "tweezers" that let them manipulate individual biomolecules. This article from NIST Tech Beat, Controlling Biomolecules With Magnetic 'Tweezers', says it will help them to study "folding patterns and other biochemical details important in medical, forensic and other research areas." This overview contains more details and references about this research work. It also includes a diagram showing the concept of a magnetic trap for single-magnetic-bead manipulation in a microfluidic cell."
Anonymous Coward writes "I just noticed this article on [the] kurzweilai web site yesterday…looks like the start of small nano assembly technology research!" The kurzweilai article links to DNA has Nano Building in Hand.
Delft writes "NEW YORK – The Kavli Foundation and Delft University of Technology today announced the creation of the Kavli Institute of NanoScience Delft. This Institute is among nine new scientific research institutes at leading universities to address major challenges in the fields of cosmology, nanoscience and neuroscience. Of these nine, the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience Delft is the first Kavli Institute outside the United States."
Alex Cohen writes "We are in search of active researchers to attend the National Academies Keck Futures Initiative conference on Designing Nanostructures at the Interface between Biomedical and Physical Systems. The Futures Initiative conference provides an opportunity for researchers from different disciplines to focus on new questions in Nanotechnology. The conference provides a means for attendees to build collaborations and exchange ideas. Conference attendees are also eligible for Futures grants, which support interdisciplinary research. Invitees travel expenses are paid for by the National Academies Keck Futures Initiative."
Palo Alto – Silicon Valley, California, May 14, 2004, 9 AM – 5 PM. The Fundamentals of Nanotechnology Tutorial, sponsored by Foresight Institute, is designed for individuals who want a quick grasp or refresher of the basics. Four top nanotech speakers will give in-depth briefings on nanotech, and answer your individual questions on the science and technology, the long-term goals and near-term opportunities of the Next Industrial Revolution.
Anonymous Coward writes " Nano-hive has hit version 1.0.0 and released a source and binary package. Nano-hive aims to be a plugable distributed nano-simulation architechture. At the moment the release is aimed at developers and single workstation applications, in the future there will be quantum simulation plugins and better support for distributed computation."
JamGrrl writes "This isn't exactly big news, but this article details many of the problems in getting MEMS to work — specifically, how do you lubercate a machine when the oil molecule itself is just too big? It turns out that alcohol is one useful candidate. An informative read."
Insanely Destructive Devices: Trying to defend against self-replicating weapons of mass destruction, by Foresight advisor Lawrence Lessig, about a class he's teaching with Steve Jurvetson, Senior Associate and tutorial/Gathering speaker at our May meeting.
