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Gaming the Future: The Book!

Author: Foresight Editor

Swedes claim leadership in composite nanowires

from the publication-priority dept.
A press release (26 February 2002) issued by researchers at the Lund Institute of Technology (LTH), Lund University in Sweden claims, ìEurope is one step ahead of the US in the development of a new type of semiconductor structure consisting of incredibly thin nano threads.ì The claim refers to recent announcements (see Nanodot posts on 1 February and 26 February 2002) of research to create cylinder-shaped nanoscopic nanowire bundles that interweave substances with different compositions and properties, so that well-defined junctions and interfaces with potentially important functionalities are incorporated within individual nanowires. The alternating bands of different semiconductor materials in the super-thin wires serve as electron and photon manipulators. According to the release, which seems largely to have been issued to establish publication priority, a Swedish team headed by Professor Lars Samuelson at the LTH, has taken the lead in this field of research. ìIn nano threads, we can combine semiconductor materials that no one has previously been able to grow. This results in entirely new electrical properties: a single electron can be monitored and made to run a unidimensional electronic steeplechase,î says Professor Samuelson.

nanogloss.com – new website

cyril fievet writes "Just wanted to let you know that nanogloss.com – the online dictionary of nanotechnology – has just been launched… Cheers!"

Article in The Scientist takes a skeptical look at nanotech

from the half-a-loaf dept.
An article in The Scientist ("Nanotech Dreams", by Senior Science Editor Jeffrey M. Perkel; 4 March 2002) offers a general overview of nanotechnology from a life science perspective. The article presents some background on the ideas of Richard Feynman and Eric Drexler (mixed with a few hoary science fiction clichés and comments from nay-sayers to the idea of advanced molecular nanotechnology, such as Richard Smalley) before focusing on current research in several areas. "It's an unusual field," says Chad A. Mirkin, a professor of chemistry and director of the Institute for Nanotechnology at Northwestern University. "It's a field that focuses on a scale rather than on a material. So it affects everything."

The article also quotes Robert A. Freitas Jr., a research scientist at Zyvex Corp. and author of Nanomedicine, about the distance between long-term visions for nanotechnology and current capabilities: "My vision of nanomedicine ranges from the near-term to the far-term," he says. "I look at the things that can't be done for 20 years as a vision, as the ultimate goal, as a wonderful thing, way out there, that we can grasp for. And in the meantime, we have to do all the things that are necessary to get up to that point, and there's an awful lot of work to be done, and lots of work for everybody."

The bulk of the article actually focuses on various companies attempting to create biosensor systems using various micro- and nano-scale technologies, and nanostructured materials that may have therapeutic applications. The article does concludes by returning to disputes over the feasibility of nanorobotic systems, and gives greater play to the more conservative view:

Northwestern's Mirkin bluntly surmises, "I think it's baloney . . . I think a lot of people, including scientists, try to say, 'This is pie-in-the-sky. A lot of it is really far out. It's going to have a big impact, but it's not going to be realized for 25 to 50 years,'" says Mirkin. "That's wrong, and it's also wrong to say it's going to revolutionize everything in the next couple of years. Something in the middle is correct."

Columnist calls for hard questions about emerging technologies

A lengthy commentary by Richard Louv on the lack of substantial discussion and debate of emerging technologies — including nanotech — appeared on SignOnSanDiego.com, the website of the San Diego (California) Union-Tribune ("Debate should advance with technological leaps", by Richard Louv, 24 February 2002). Louv quotes Daniel Yankelovich, a public opinion analyst: "Overconfidence in technology leads to distraction, lack of attention to the human element, not watching where you're going . . . In any enclosed environment in which people are isolated, you become vulnerable to delusionary thinking. You stop questioning." Louv writes, "Have we stopped questioning? Maybe. Or we've barely begun."

Read more for additional quotes from the article.

NBA works to foster nanotech in Colorado

An article in the Denver Post ("Group has big plans for tiny technology: The NanoBusiness Alliance targets Denver", by Jennifer Beauprez, 21 February 2002) reports the NanoBusiness Alliance (NBA) has picked Denver as one of three cities to start its nationwide push to expand. According to the report, NBA representatives will meet with Denver Mayor Wellington Webb on 5 March 2002 with hopes of creating a loose network of local business leaders, university researchers, entrepreneurs, investors and government officials who can expand the industry.

NSF thinks nanotech is OK

An article on the NewsOK.com website from The Oklahoman ("Oklahoma receives funding to expand research program", by Chip Minty, 26 February 2002) reports Oklahoma was named one of five states chosen to receive a three-year, $9 million grant from the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). The funding is designed put Oklahoma in a better position to compete for federal research funding in the future. Historically, the state has been among the poorest states in the nation when it comes to federal funding for scientific research. According to the article, the money allows the state's major research institutions to expand work in nanotechnology and functional genomics, said Frank Waxman, state director of the grant program. The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education have committed $4.5 million in matching funds for a total infusion of $13.5 million for new research programs.

While atoms and fullerenes roll, Canada frets about NT competitiveness

from the World-Watch dept.
An article in the Toronto Star ("Atoms on a roll", by Rachel Ross, 18 February 2002) describes the "[s]teady but significant strides have made molecules called ëbuckyballsí a promising new tool in science, medicine and technology", covering work at the Canadian firm C Sixty, which hopes to create medical applications of fullerenes, as well as the work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Pennsylvania with carbon nanotubes packed with fullerene spheres. (See the Nanodot post from 3 January 2002.)

A second piece from the Toronto Star ("Keeping pace in research spending", by David Crane, 17 February 2002) is an editorial by the Starís economics editor, who says, " The [Canadian] federal government has launched Canada on a national debate on how to make our country one of the most innovative in the world. This is essential if we want to do well as a country in the 21st century." One of the areas in which Crane worries whether Canada can remain competitive is nanotechnology.

Canada is not the only country worrying about keeping up in the increasing global competition for nanotech leadership. Similar concerns have also been expressed in France and Japan.

Seoul researchers report buckytube

An article on the Small Times website ("South Koreans create building blocks for tiny, tailor-made nano-tranistors", by Peg Brickley, 27 February 2002) describes work by South Korean scientists at Seoul National University who packed nanotubes with tiny spherical fullerene molecules to create regions of varying semiconducting properties within each tube. The result is a hollow structure containing the equivalent of a series of tiny transistors far smaller than any now in existence, according to their research report that appeared in the 28 February 2002 issue of Nature.

This work takes a quick step toward practical application of results reported on 3 January 2002 by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Pennsylvania who discovered that carbon nanotubes packed with fullerene spheres, like so many peas in a pod, have tunable electronic properties.

Holographic control of atom lithography

A brief article on the Physical Review focus website ("Guiding Atoms with a Hologram", by J.R. Minkel, 21 February 2002) describes research into holographic control of atom lithography:

One approach to 3D patterning envisions steering atomic beams with a maze of laser light, but creating complicated light patterns isn't easy. Now a team reports in the 25 February print issue of Physical Review Letters that a so-called holographic crystal can efficiently generate more complex stencils for atoms. With a single incoming laser, the authors generated a three-beam interference pattern and etched a periodic design onto a gold surface. The method could theoretically accommodate 1000 beams and make intricate structures, such as photonic crystals–a new technology that may lead to "circuits of light."

Cryonics under fire in France

from the cold,-cold-world dept.
Anonymous Coward writes "The BBC is carrying a story about a couple in France whose frozen bodies may be thawed by local authorities. Cyronics have been outlawed there, and the official position is that burial or cremation are the only acceptable fates for the dead. The couple in question were apparently wealthy enough to have set up the necessary equipment on their own property, but even this does not guarantee their post-mortem privacy. While there are not too many details, it would appear that the husband placed his wife in a freezer in 1984 after she died of cancer, and he himself was placed in the freezer by his son when he recently died."

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