Here’s a cheery note to end our week on: There’s been lots of coverage of recent work by Northwestern’s Prof. Samuel Stupp’s work using today’s nanotechnology materials to tackle paralysis. An excerpt from NanoTechWire.com: In a dramatic demonstration of what nanotechnology might achieve in regenerative medicine, paralyzed lab mice with spinal cord injuries have regained… Continue reading Nanotechnology to fight paralysis
The folks over at the Wilson Center’s Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies have been busy, as summarized on their NanoFrontiers page. First we have a report (2 MB pdf) from their NanoFrontiers Workshop, written up by Karen Schmidt. A couple of excerpts: It seems that the sky is the limit on what might one day be… Continue reading Visions for the future of nanotechnology
Gazette.net reports that nanotechnology is bringing dramatic advances: Imagine not having to go to the doctor when you are sick. No medicine, no popping pills. Instead, tiny cell-like machines in your body would already be at work manufacturing medicine and delivering it exactly where it is needed. University of Maryland researchers say these ‘‘nanofactories” may… Continue reading Nanotechnology "nanofactories" may not be far away
Nanowerk brings our attention to a new report by the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress titled Nanotechnology: The Future is Coming Sooner Than You Think (pdf), apparently authored by Senior Economist Joseph V. Kennedy and sponsored by Rep. Jim Saxton (R-NJ). On molecular nanosystems: At this stage a single product will integrate a… Continue reading Visionary Congressional report on nanotechnology
For many years we’ve been asked, “How will molecular machines be controlled inside the body?” In a nanotechnology advance that is getting wide attention, University of Tokyo researchers have found a way to build molecular-scale scissors — only 3 nanometers long — and control them with light. As explained at Physorg.com: Researchers in Japan have… Continue reading Controlling nanotechnology scissors for medical uses
Work at Purdue and The Catholic University of America has clarified how a natural nanotechnology motor works to “pump” DNA into the head of a virus. From Small Times: The virus consists of a head and tail portion. The DNA-packaging motor is located in the same place where the tail eventually connects to the head.… Continue reading Nature's nanotechnology motors to inspire future machines
Small Times reports that nanotechnology medical applications are expected to climb immensely: U.S. demand for nanotechnology medical products will increase over 17 percent per year to $53 billion in 2011, says The Freedonia Group, Inc., a Cleveland-based industry research firm. Afterwards, the increasing flow of new nanomedicines, nanodiagnostics, and nanotech-based medical supplies and devices into… Continue reading Nanotechnology health uses to grow hugely
A Yale researcher has won the $25,000 Wiley Prize in the Biomedical Sciences for his discovery of natural molecular machine that guides some proteins to fold properly in the warm, crowded environment inside cells: They learned that a large double donut-shaped machine is responsible. They analyzed how that machine uses the energy of ATP and… Continue reading Molecular machine work wins $25,000
The busy Project for Emerging Nanotechnologies over at the Wilson Center is having another meeting-plus-webcast, this time on February 27, noon Eastern time, on the topic of “Using Nanotechnology to Improve Health Care in Developing Countries”: What if doctors in Kenya could equip cells of the retina with photoswitches that can be flipped on, essentially… Continue reading Webcast: Nanotechnology for health care in developing countries
Those of you who have tracked nanotechnology for a long time know that Sun Microsystems was one of the first corporations to take an interest in the field, e.g., sponsoring the Foresight Conferences over the years, and more recently helping to fund the Technology Roadmap for Productive Nanosystems. Now that foresight, combined with their compatibility… Continue reading Sun's nanotechnology vision paying off
