Attendees at this year’s Lux Executive Summit (pdf) will get to tour Harvard’s Center for Nanoscale Systems. As an alumna of the rival school down the street (MIT), I suggest that while you’re there, you help tweak their website, which has one of the least impressive nano definitions I’ve seen: The term nanoscale refers to… Continue reading Tour Harvard's nanotechnology center — and fix website
From Popular Science, an article by Sarah Webb on a humorous educational nanotech video called When Things Get Small, “an irreverant, madcap, comically corny romp into the world of things ‘nano’ “: “The 30-minute flick—a collaboration between physicist Ivan Schuller of the University of California at San Diego and producer Rich Wargo—is a corny romp… Continue reading $400K federally-funded nano-comedy film available
Multiple press releases received from the North Pole describe current and planned uses of nanotech: (1) A new sleigh made using carbon nanotubes is expected to complete tonight’s rounds in half the time normally required, due to the higher speeds made possible by this strong material, (2) Santa Claus will be wearing a suit made… Continue reading Nanotech to be used extensively at North Pole
Here's a must-read piece about the new nanotech bill, with a fun illustration, by popular demand on Howard Lovy's NanoBot:
"'How the Schmirk Stole Nanotechnology'
(A Fantasy of Science)
With abject apologies to Dr. Suess
by J. Storrs Hall"
Enjoy! and Happy Holidays from all of us at Foresight Institute. –CP
from the end-of-an-era dept.
An article in the June 2001 issue of Technology Review Magazine reports ("Trailing Edge: Coffee Cam") that a venerable icon from the early days of the Web — the coffee cam in the Trojan Room at the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory — will be retired later this year. According to the article, "The University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory will move to new quarters later this year, and the coffeepot and its camera–after 10 years of cult fame–will retire."
The coffee cam, which was the first video feed connected to the Internet, was originally connected to the local network at the lab in 1991, and made its debut on the World Wide Web a few years later.
from the that's-different dept.
Oldtimers among you will recall when nanotechnology was anathema to the MEMS community, who viewed it as science fiction. Now nanotech is such a (fundable) buzzword that MEMS is being repositioned as nanotechnology by "Trends in Nanotechnology", based in Europe. Elsewhere in the issue appears this: "We're going to make just one prediction, which is that the use of the word nanotechnology will see explosive growth in the coming year. Unfortunately, most of this growth is likely to represent bandwagon-jumping." Ironic, yes? Read More for the repositioning quote.
from the at-least-it's-Max-not-Joe dept.
PR News on Yahoo reports that a nanotech "action figure" [read: doll for boys] is a big hit: " 'All factors indicate that by year-end Max Steel will exceed a $100 million brand worldwide in its first year,' said Matt Bousquette, president of Mattel's Boys/Entertainment division. 'And, that the product line will be a complete sell-out by Christmas in various countries'…Max Steel is a unique aspirational character that kids can identify with and the innovative 12-inch scale appeals to boys four years old and up. Josh McGrath is a cool college student and action sports athlete who is accidentally infused with nanotechnology (N-Tek(TM)) giving him super human abilities and turning him into Max Steel." CP: "Aspirational" is right, and those aspirations just might work out.
from the up-next:-gravity-declared-unfair-to-elderly dept.
"America's Finest News Source" has the story: "TOPEKA, KS–The second law of thermodynamics, a fundamental scientific principle stating that entropy increases over time as organized forms decay into greater states of randomness, has come under fire from conservative Christian groups, who are demanding that the law be repealed." Note: This is not a real news story…yet.
