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Gaming the Future: The Book!

Author: Foresight Editor

Self-assembling nanoscale camshaft

from the bravo dept.
Biologist Steven Smith, who spoke at the '97 Foresight Conference, has some new work published in Nano Letters : "A Self-Assembling Nanoscale Camshaft: Implications for Nanoscale Materials and Devices Constructed from Proteins and Nucleic Acids". See the illustration, the abstract, and the full paper. Excerpt: "These experiments coupled with the construction of the nanoscale camshaft described above clearly demonstrate that two- and three-address macromolecular assemblies carrying fusion proteins can be produced using the biospecificity of the DNA methyltransferases. With this capacity, it is now possible to consider the construction of materials that self-assemble into two-dimensional and three-dimensional macromolecular arrays."

Nanotech SBIR grants to be extra-large & long-term

from the there's-nothing-small-about-nanotechnology dept.
NIH has put out a call for unusually large, longer-term, and team-oriented applications for Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) projects on nanotechnologies useful to biomedicine. "Partners to the small businesses may play important roles in these projects and may receive appropriate support for their efforts…it should be possible to arrange individual atoms and molecules in space with great precision, leading to the fabrication of truly smart biosensors…the properties of DNA to undergo highly controlled and hierarchical assembly makes it ideal for applications in nanotechnology such as molecular sieves, or scaffolds for the assembly of molecular electronic components. Likewise, eukaryotic rotary motors based on ATPase could be employed as generic engines driving other nanodevices for purposes such as highly directed delivery of drugs or other agents…Nanotechnology promises scientific and commercial opportunities that are virtually unimaginable at this time." And individuals can be paid well: "Because the resources required for nanoengineering are relatively scarce, highly specialized, and multidisciplinary, the total amount of consultant costs and contractual costs requested by applicants may exceed the statutory guidelines."

CIA on nanowarfare: "we do have to worry"

from the worrisome dept.
TNT Weekly brings our attention to an ABCNEWS.com interview of CIA Assistant Director John Gannon. Asked about misuse of nanotech, he says "…we do have to worry about what bad people will do with the same capabilities. And individual governments and the international community need to invest in an effort to understand the implications of these technologies and to take early steps to control potential adverse effects. I would stress that, in the area of new technologies, we do not pretend to know all the answers, which is all the more reason why we need to work together on these challenges. "

Webcast of Kurzweil image transformation demo

from the get-some-TED-for-free dept.
A message from the TED conference: "A FREE hour of the exclusive (impossible to get in) TED11 Conference FREE. Brought to you by Apple's QuickTime group and TED Conferences on Thursday, February 22, 2001 at approximately 8:00 pm EST/5:00 pm PST. [Foresight Senior Associate] Raymond Kurzweil, winner of the National Medal of Technology, in a dramatic, amazing and entertaining presentation complete with singers and dancers will premiere the first complete blurring and image transformation in an astonishing demo of the near future. (This will demonstrate absolutely state-of-the-art digital avatar technology.) This one-hour presentation is not to be missed. Go to http://www.ted.com/webcast.html for specific information on the conference. The webcast will be available by approximately 8 pm EST (5 pm PST) on Thursday, February 22, 2001. The page will be available then at http://www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/ted11/index.html Higher resolution and better quality video will be posted one day later." Read More for the full email.

East coast Foresight?

from the spreading-geographically dept.
Anonymous Thinker writes "I would like to ask if foresight is planning on having events on the east coast? If not I would like propose starting a local chapter here in Atlanta. The Georgia Institute of Technology has an excellent research center for Nanotechnology and I think that it would be an ideal place to begin spreading and discussing the benifits of nanotechnology on the east coast. thanks, G-Man" CP: The current plan is to alternate U.S. coasts for the Foresight Conferences on Molecular Nanotechnology (East in 2000, West in 2001, etc.). Regarding local chapters, we suggest setting up Nanotechnology Study Groups at universities. Georgia Tech would indeed be a good place to have one of these.

Administering Nanotechnology

from the bell-the-cat dept.
Assuming that complete anarchy is not the optimal result of nanotech, some sort of administration, coordination, policy-making, and regulation seems desirable. An organization that can do this will have to represent governments, corporations, and individuals; balance many issues at once; be credible to, and trusted by, people of widely varying ideologies; act rapidly, yet with prudence… the list goes on.
Read more for an attempt to design such a group.

"Pick-and-place" nanoassembly system wins prize

from the 1,000,000-dpi dept.
epw wrote in about the "Pick-and-Place" Nanoassembly System that was discussed on Slashdot as "Hubert's Interesting Nanoassembler." Brian Hubert won the Lemelson-MIT Student Prize for this invention, as reported by Nando Media/AP. His Úwebsite has good pictures and diagrams. It's not molecular nanotechnology as in precise control of individual atoms, but still seems like an interesting development using atomic force microscopes. Read more for the introductory text from the website. "Unlike the prior art, this system can be used to pattern essentially any type of material. …"

Nonlinear atom optics

from the matter-waves-for-nanofab dept.
Michael Mehrle writes "Found this on Slashdot: Nonlinear Atom Optics uses laser light to cool atoms to one millionth a degree Kelvin…. Atom lasers could lead to advances in, among other things, Nanolithography and Holography. Cool. Literally."This was earlier noted on Memepool on Thursday February 15. The University of Arizona press release Atom Optics Technologies Could Be Phenomenal quotes Pierre Meystre saying "More practical atom lasers could lead to applications in precision nanofabrication, atom holography, and "undreamed of applications that will come as surprises."

Read more for more quotes from the press release.

Nanotech regulation: Let's keep the debate alive

from the survival-matters dept.

Chris Phoenix's essay "Can we have "some" regulation of nanotech?" has generated a lot of good discussion. Since the original post has now slipped off the front page of Nanodot, this post is made to encourage continued discussion. Click here to go to the discussion, or on Read More below for an overview of the discussion so far.

Nano simulation tools available

from the punching-ahead dept.
Anonymous Coward writes "This site offers some nano simulation tools for free http://www.nanohub.purdue.edu/"It would be helpful to have comments from anyone who has used these tools.

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