Author: Foresight Editor

from the things-to-do-with-your-AFM dept.
Small Times featured an August 19, 2002 article by correspondent Elizabeth Gardner entitled Nanoink writes its own ticket using quills on the nanoscale that describes the offering by NanoInk Inc. of a package of supplies and software to enable use of an atomic force microscope for Dip-Pen Nanolithography (DPN) to build nanostructures by writing 10 nm-wide lines (see Nanodot June 13, 2002). The next step for Nanoink is to develop an array of independently controlled tips, similar to IBM's Millipede Project (see Nanodot June 19, 2002), which uses an array of 1024 AFM tips.

from the better-security-through-smaller-sensors dept.
Small Times featured an August 22, 2002 story by correspondent Doug Brown entitled Bush Administration OKs Report Making Nano a Terror War Priority:

The White House has signed off on a report detailing the full scope and breadth of the budget request and research vision established by the National Nanotechnology Initiative, which includes a heightened commitment to using nanotechnology to fight weapons of mass destruction.

The 153-page report, National Nanotechnology Initiative: The Initiative and its Implementation Plan (an 879 KB PDF file) is labelled a "Detailed Technical Report Associated with the Supplemental Report to the President's FY 2003 Budget" and dated June 2002. The report adds a new "grand challenge" to the NNI program: "Nanotechnology for bio-chem-radiological-explosive: detection and protection (expanded and refocused Bio-Nanosensors)"

from the Scientific-Visualization dept.
waynerad writes "Here's a fun website I found: The NASA Nanotechnology Gallery. It has: pretty pictures, powerpoint presentations, and MPEG movies of carbon nanotubes (mostly)."

from the Looking-for-roadmaps dept.

larens imanyuel writes "In each phase of the Industrial Revolution a new industrial system has arisen on top of the previous one. Each has involved enabling technology, new organizational principles, and new major product lines. For instance, a century ago electrification with small motors allowed Henry Ford to design the modern assembly line to mass produce automobiles. Several decades ago silicon technology allowed the mass production of personal computers through an exponential refinement of technique, commonly known as Moore's law, that became the Semiconductor Roadmap. The question naturally arises as what the equivalent industrial system will be for the next half century."

from the exploring-very-small-frontiers dept.
The International Journal of Engineering Education has published a Special issue on Nanotechnologies (Volume 18 number 5, September 2002). The Table of Contents is available on the Web. Michael Wald, Editor, writes that single copies are available at US$35+US$15 postage. Inquire at [email protected].

from the shrinking-the-gap dept.
Gina Miller writes "An article summarizing progress with carbon nanotube field effect transistors is available on the nanotechweb.org web site. Nanotubes speed up, by Adrian Bachtold, which originally appeared in the August issue of Physics World, reports that 'Transistors fabricated from carbon nanotubes now have electrical characteristics that can rival silicon devices.'"

from the better-viewing-through-plasmons dept.
Gina Miller writes "A Purdue University press release 'Nanoantennas' could bring sensitive detectors, optical circuits describes mathematical simulations published by Purdue researchers that demonstrate that antennas made from metal wires and spheres only about 10 nm wide should be able to bend light in the opposite direction to the usual case to produce a 'super lens' that 'drastically improves the quality of medical diagnostic images.'"

from the life-and-death-matters dept.
Zarathustra2101 writes "The current issue of Reason magazine features an article entitled Forever Young: The New Scientific Search for Immortality by Ronald Bailey. The author paraphrases Dylan Thomas thus: 'The defining political conflict of the 21st century will be the battle over life and death. On one side stand the partisans of mortality, who counsel humanity to quietly accept our morbid fate and go gentle into that good night. On the other is the party of life, who rage against the dying of the light and yearn to extend the enjoyment of healthy life to as many as possible for as long as possible.'"

from the can-we-work-this-out? dept.
Three Nanodot readers wrote (see below) about The New York Times piece Opposition to Nanotechnology by Barnaby J. Feder, August 19, 2002, which reports that "nanotechnology is encountering the kind of real-world headwinds that have impeded biotechnology." The central focus of the article is the concerns of the ETC Group about nanoparticles in the environment penetrating living cells and accumulating in animal organs (see "Call for moratorium on commercial nanomaterials," Nanodot July 29, 2002).

from the getting-to-know-you dept.
JohnFaith writes "The University of Washington Center for Nanotechnology will be holding a three day workshop called "Nanotech meets Business" September 18-20, 2002. Registration deadline is Sept. 10, but costs less if you sign up before the 5th." Non-technical presentations on the 18th followed by more technical workshop Sept. 19-20.