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Gaming the Future: The Book!

Author: Foresight Editor

Quantum-Dot Nano-Lasers

from the can-they-use-that-name? dept.
TanMauWu writes "An article in the April 2001 issue of Technology Review reports the creation of "Nanodot Lasers". These lasers can potentially output coherent light in a very wide range of frequencies, as opposed to the limited frequencies modern lasers can provide."

The lasers are semiconductor particle quantum dots — just a few nanometers across — and quantum effects tune the color of the glow to the size of the particle. The work was conducted by MIT chemist Moungi Bawendi and Victor Klimov, a laser expert at Los Alamos National Lab in New Mexico.

Genetic Mutant or high tech bio-art?

from the Bunny-bemusement dept.
Is a glowing bunny an aesthetic statement? rinkjustice calls our attention to this item, which raises some interesting questions about what happens when genetic manipulation moves beyond basic research and the treatment of genetic diseases into . . . other arenas:
"Chicago-based conceptual artist Eduardo Kac has created a stir when he was prevented from unveiling his latest high tech art named Alba, at an exhibition of digital art in Paris. Alba is a transgenic bunny that glows bright green in blue light. It was the result of splicing the green fluorescent protein from the Aequorea victoria jellyfish into the genes of a rabbit. Some called the denial of his exhibit censorship, while others — horrified at this genetic manipulation — accuse Kac of playing God.
Is Alba legitimate bio-art? Is it an indication of how house pets will be in the future? Kac is already in the process of combining said jellyfish protein with Mexican hairless dogs for a glow unobscured by fur."

RPI Starts Nanotechnology Research Center

willgorman submitted this item on the creation of the Center for Nanotechnology Research at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, New York. According to the press release, research areas of the Center will include advanced materials and coatings, biosciences and biotechnology, nanoelectronics, microelectronics, and nanosystems. In addition, a new research effort on potential socioeconomic impacts will be initiated to understand the impact of nanotechnology on industry and society.

In a related item, RPI and Zyvex Corporation recently formed a two-year collaboration designed to develop new microsystems capabilities. Under that agreement, Zyvex and RPI will explore MEMS assembly and packaging technologies through the cooperation of Zyvex's and RPI's research and development facilities.

Nanotube circuits and more at APS conference

from the Totally-tubular dept.
brian wang writes "Speaking at an American Physical Society meeting in Seattle, Phaedon Avouris of IBM described the creation of a carbon nanotube integrated circuit, with a thousand nanotubes acting like transistors . . . Speaking at an APS meeting in Seattle, Avouris described how, in a mixed batch of nanotubes, one can short out the metallic nanotubes (with a surge of voltage) while leaving the semiconducting ones intact for use as circuit elements."

But, as DanKindsvater notes, AIP Physics News later ran this correction about this item: "Researchers at IBM have not yet made an integrated circuit of carbon nanotubes . . . Rather, Phaedon Avouris and Philip Collins of IBM have announced a scheme for the fabrication of large arrays of nanotubes. They also put together one p-type nanotube transistor and one n-type transistor to form a working logic NOT gate."

Read more for other highlights in nanotube research reported at the APS conference.

Micro (nano) Assembly Proposed by metal industry

from the Industry-outlook dept.
ErenNano writes:
"I found this article while surfing the web. Itís a collection of predictions about where technology is leading, and nano assemblers were mentioned under the term Micro Assembly. An excerpt:
ìThe period of 2030 through the 2050s in manufacturing will be typified by the developments of microfabrication, virtual marketing and testing, and biocomputing. Microfabrication will be the most sweeping transformation for manufacturing since the advent of the computer. It will allow the fabrication of materials and parts at the molecular level, building them with the features we desire (strength, weight, flexibility, and so forth) at incredible levels of material efficiency . . . [W]ith the advent of nanotechnology, microscopic assemblers will grasp reactive molecules and combine them only in preplanned and controlled ways. Through these controlled and repetitive combinations, complex structures may be built up a few atoms at a time . . . The resulting material, and therefore the structure produced, will be many times stronger and lighter than traditional ones. Indeed, they will be stronger and lighter than anything we can build today."

Homo Excelsior meme bank update

from the Browsing-the-future dept.
pmoss sends a reminder of the expanding resources on the Homo Excelsior website, which he describes as "a central database of science and technology that is peer-reviewed and . . . is generally concerned with the memes related to nanotechnology, megascale engineering, cryopreservation, uploading and other associated sciences and technologies."

boron nitride nanotubes, cones and spheres

from the alternative-chemistries dept.
Brian Wang spotted this interesting item in Electronic Engineering Times on boron nitride nanostructures: "Northwestern University research has delivered the world's first nanotubes, -cones and -spheres constructed from boron nitride rather than the usual carbon. Single-walled boron-nitride (BN) nanostructures are hypothetically stronger and lighter than steel, but were only recently demonstrated here by professor Laurence Marks. Once BN nanostructures are embedded into polymers, they could serve to ruggedize the surface of metal parts, as well as form the basis for oxidation-proof coating. BN nanostructures have been hypothesized since carbon buckyballs were first built in the 1980s. But previous evidence of BN nanostructures was limited to multiwalled nanotubes, concentric fullerenes and nano-arches, the images for which were obtained only after the samples had been exposed to air, contaminating them with artifacts."

The Future of MEMS is NEMS

from the Big-bugs-have-little-bugs dept.
Waldemar Perez calls our attention to an article on NanoElectroMechanical Systems (NEMS) in Technology Review Magazine ("NEMS: Machines Get Tiny," by David Voss, April 2001). In his opinion, Mr. Perez writes, "NEMS research promises to give us machines on the nanometer scale, [but this is] exactly there were critics argue Brownian motion will destroy them or make these machines unworkable and unreliable . . . these first generation NEMS prototypes will suffer from high wear (a well known problem on MEMS) until we can incorporate into them Drexler-type nanobearings and other devices."

Nanotechnology Regulation?

from the let's-think-twice dept.

Ralph Merkle, Principal Fellow at Zyvex, and Glenn Reynolds, who sits on the Foresight Board of Directors, were quoted extensively in a United Press International article ("Nanotech laws unlikely, say experts," by K. Hearn, 24 February 2001) on the potential for governmental regulation of nanotechnology. Both discounted the possibility, at least in the near future.

An online link to this article is not currently available. But Read more for a few excerpts . . .

Foresight Open Source Disclosure Project — Disclosed

from the Out-in-the-Open dept.

Thanks to coverage in Salon.com, and discussion on Slashdot.org — Foresightís new project to protect open source from patents — has been announced a bit ahead of schedule.

The Salon article ("Patents are your friends," by Damien Cave; 21 March 2001) sums things up pretty well:
"The Foresight Institute, a nonprofit nanotechnology think tank, will announce later this month that it is forming an alliance with IP.com, a Rochester, N.Y., start-up dedicated to protecting intellectual property through the publication of new ideas. Together . . . the pair will give open-source programmers and projects the chance to work within the patent system even as they strive to overturn it."

Read more for details . . .

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