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Gaming the Future: The Book!

Author: Foresight Editor

InfoWorld quizzes the NanoBusiness Alliance — sorta

A short piece in InfoWorld ("Time to think small", by InfoWorld Editor in Chief Michael Vizard, 5 April 2002) provides a not-very-informative interview with NanoBusiness Alliance Executive Director F. Mark Modzelewski and NBA board member Dave Holtzman, who try to "explain why nanotechnology is going to be the next big thing". I canít tell whether itís the questions or the answers, but the explanations donít grab me . . . A few of the better responses:

Modzelewski: "What we really try to do is bring together the pieces that are coming together in this industry across researchers, startups, universities, government officials, venture capitalists, and corporations. We want to start to get a dialogue going as to what the industry's going to need to get bigger [and] quicker."

Holtzman: "This is going to be a real game-changer, because you can do so much with limited resources. It takes away the home field advantage of having huge beds of natural resources in your country. You can create almost anything you want to with very limited resources. That's going to have to create some kind of a shift in world power as this technology continues."

Derwent patent service will add focus on nanotech IP

According to a press release (5 April 2002), Derwent Information, a leading patent information provider, will offer a new service aimed at meeting the growing information needs of the nanotechnology industry. Entitled [sic ñ what exactly is it "entitled" to?] "Nanotechnology – Structures and Devices, the Industry and Technology Patents Profile (ITP)", the new service provides comprehensive information about global patents specific to the nanotechnology field. Each patent is summarized in an abstract, highlighting the novelty, advantages and uses of the new invention. Subscribers to this service will receive regular updates in PDF format, delivered direct to their desktops by email, CD-ROM or FTP. More information is available at the Derwent website.

Encyclopedia Nanotech

Steve Lenhert writes "Encyclopedia Nanotech is an online dictionary/encyclopedia for nanotech-related terminology. The goal of this 'nanoword network' is to provide a transdisciplinary reference point for the various words we use in nanotechnology. I am posting here in order to solicit constructive criticism and stimulate semantic discussions about these terms.

Read more for additional details.

Intellectual expresses skepticism about our posthuman future

from the Failures-of-vision dept.
Mr_Farlops writes "The New York Times examines Dr. Francis Fukuyama's new book, Our Posthuman Future ("A Dim View of a `Posthuman Future' ", by Nicholas Wade, 2 April 2002). Some may recall Fukuyama as the author of The End of History and the Last Man. In this new book he exchanges the optimism of that earlier work for a pessimistic view of the future of biotechnology. It is his view that science is rapidly aquiring the tools to fundamentally redefine what human nature is. He wonders, while acknowledging the evil that Napoleon and Caesar did, what we may lose if advanced neurotherapy simply edits that type of personality out of society. Of course nanodotters are already very familiar with this line of thinking, what with Joy, Weizenbaum, Sales, Kaczynski and others but, it might be worthwhile to read and comment on the article."

According to the article, Fukuyama fears that "Major increases in human longevity could also be disruptive . . . because 'life extension will wreak havoc with most existing age-graded hierarchies,' postponing social change in countries with aging dictators and thwarting innovation in others." The article also notes "[Fukuyamaís] views are not academic; he has an official voice on such matters as a member of the White House's Council on Bioethics" So is Leon Kass, who doesnít like the idea of human cloning, either (see Nanodot post from 31 August 2001.)

Quantum computing: storage of quantum data

waynerad writes "According to the EE Times (April 2, 2002), Harvard University researchers transfered quantum information encoded in laser beams into a physical system and subsequently retrieved it."

Assessing the environmental impact of nanotech

An extensive article in Science News Magazine ("Taming High-Tech Particles: Cautious steps into the nanotech future", by Jessica Gorman, 30 March 2002) says that nanotechnology "appears to be a new industry in the making. However, as nanomaterials approach commercial development, some researchers are beginning to look at the potential consequences of putting the new materials into the environment or the body. These scientists' goal is to launch preemptive strikes against any problems that might arise down the line."

The article focuses on research at the new Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology (CBEN) at Rice University in Houston, one of six new national Nanoscale Science and Engineering Centers (NSECs) established by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) in September 2001 (see Nanodot post from 27 September 2001). The Rice CBEN was also host to a workshop on the possible environmental impacts of nanotechnology in December 2001 (see Nanodot post from 17 December 2001).

The potential environmental impacts of nanotech materials and devices will also be the focus of new research programs recently announced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). For more information, see the Nanodot post from 15 March 2002.

Thanks to Mr_Farlops for bringing the Science News item to our attention. He also comments: "Poorly designed nanotechnology could lead to pollution. For example, anti-cancer smart bullets like Sloan-Kettering's nanogenerator and the "Gottingen grenade" could lead to problems if these molecular parts, intentionally designed to infiltrate cells, began to accumulate in the tissues of wild animals and plants. Some nanomachine parts, designed to be as inert as possible like chlorofluorocarbons, may also build up unless some measures are taken to break them down."

Investors Chronicle features nanotechnology

An extensive article in the UK-based Investors Chronicle ("The Next Big Thing Will Be Very, Very Small", by Bill Bows, 1 March 2002) offers some pretty fantastic numbers for the potential nanotech market:

The market for products and processes supported by nanotechnology is estimated to be worth between $20bn and $50bn. Technology-focused investment bank Evolution Capital believes this could grow to $150bn by 2005 and to more than $1trillion by 2010. Mark Welland, professor of nanotechnology at Cambridge University, proclaims: "In the past 30 years the computer chip has revolutionised the way we communicate. Over the next 30 years we will see a revolution of an even greater dimension through nanotechnology."

The article goes on to state:

By bringing the manufacturing process down to the nanoscale, huge advances are possible in creating products that are more versatile, more energy- efficient and more powerful than those currently available. Nanotechnology promises to transform a wide range of scientific fields from precision and electromechanical engineering and mainstream biological and chemical sciences, to medical research.

The remainder of the article takes a look at the venture investment environment in the UK and compares it to developments in the U.S., and concludes with some sound advice:

However revolutionary the advent of nanotechnology appears, hype, from any source, should be avoided, says [a UK venture capitalist]. "We need to deal in reality not hype," he says. "If you want to create sustainable shareholder value you have to be able to deliver something that is going to perform and grow going forward."

U.S. presidential science advisor advocates nanotech

from the good-advice dept.
For some insight into the decision by the Bush administration to request a 17% increase in funding for the U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative, read the transcript of an address ("Science Based Science Policy") by the head of the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP) and presidential Science Advisor John Marburger to the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Boston on 15 February 2002. Although Marburger was discussing R&D funding as a whole, it is significant that he repeatedly raised the need to support research and development in the field of nanotechnology during his address.

A pair of muddled articles in the Philadelphia Inquirer

An article in the Philadelphia Inquirer ("The tiniest building blocks", by Faye Flam, 1 April 2002) presents a rather muddled view of recent research by David Luzzi and others at the University of Pennsylvania into novel carbon structures, including fullerene molecules inside nanotubes, which the article rather grandiosely describes as "a new form of matter". The article also makes a number of highly disparaging remarks about the prospects for advanced nanotechnology systems . . . as if carbon nanotube research were the end point, rather than a faltering first step. The article is accompanied by a short sidebar that gives an equally muddled presentation on the use of self-assembly to create some interesting nanotube arrays.

[Additional information about the nanotube ìpeapodî research referred to in the article can be found in Nanodot posts from 3 January and 1 March 2002.]

Magnetic Properties of Nanocrystals

Gina Miller writes "More on the magnetic properties of nanocrystals in United Press International's Nanotech could power future magnets (30 March 2002), an interview with Laura Henderson Lewis, materials scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory's Department of Applied Science. "Tomorrow's supermagnets could be made of molecule-sized chunks of materials that normally would never interact, possibly creating magnetic fields strong enough to levitate trains at room temperature…" Lewis studies how magnetic materials perform and interact at the micro- and nano-scale, which involve groups of hundreds of atoms or even single molecules. Because magnetic atoms only affect other atoms a nanometer or so distant, engineering the structure of materials on the nanometer scale provides unique opportunities to control the magnetic properties of the materials. The methods mentioned for achieving nanometer scale control of structure are, however, not especially molecular – rapid solidification and milling with steel balls. For other coverage of nanomaterials research at Brookhaven National Laboratory, see Nanodot post of March 22, 2002 Brookhaven Lab launches nanomaterials research effort"

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