Foldit game players have again out-performed scientists in protein design, this time improving the design of a protein designed from scratch to catalyze Diels-Alder cycloadditions.
Human life after advanced nanotechnology has been developed will be fundamentally different from life up until that point.
An array of 96 iron atoms on a copper nitride surface, assembled using an STM and used to write a byte, demonstrates how small magnetic storage could shrink and may lead to novel nanomaterials for quantum computers.
An article in The Guardian quotes Christine Peterson and Robert Freitas on the vision of molecular manufacturing. Freitas is quoted as expecting that the development of nanofactories could be done in 20 years for “on the order of” one billion dollars.
A four-step unidirectional molecular motor driven by light and temperature changes catalyzes different chemical reactions at different steps of its rotary cycle.
A tutorial review available after free registration presents a theory-based exploration of the difficulty in moving from simple molecular switches to arrays of artificial molecular machines capable to doing substantial, useful external work.
RNA CAD tools developed for RNA-regulated control of gene expression in synthetic biology successfully engineered metabolic pathways in bacteria. Will engineering RNA-based genetic control systems lead to design tools for other RNA-based molecular machine systems?
Protein-like structures called peptoids can be formed into stable, free-floating nanosheets.
When can we expect advanced nanomachinery to be commercialized? Will any technologies not be affected in some way by advanced nanotechnology?
How small could a molecular switch be made? It is difficult to think of one smaller than the single proton switch just demonstrated by this group in Germany.
