NYU prof Nadrian Seeman, who won the Foresight Institute Feynman Prize back in 1995, has done it again. From Science Daily: New York University chemistry professor Nadrian C. Seeman and his graduate student Baoquan Ding have developed a DNA cassette through which a nanomechanical device can be inserted and function within a DNA array, allowing… Continue reading Nanotechnology robotic arm built at NYU
At every meeting of the Technology Roadmap for Productive Nanosystems, we find at least one new rising star in nanotechnology. At the recent meeting held at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, it was Prof. Matthew Francis of UC Berkeley. Access to these folks is one of the main attractions for organizations participating in the Roadmap process.… Continue reading Rising nanotechnology star: Berkeley's Matthew Francis
The Future of Things, an online magazine based in Israel, has a nanotechnology article/interview with the clearest explanation I’ve seen of the two generations of nanocars built at Rice University. We’ve discussed this before, but a more comprehensible exposition is always welcome. See especially the Flash movie of how the latest nanocar moves. Some excerpts:… Continue reading New nanotechnology movie shows nanocar propulsion
Will Ware, whom you may remember from NanoCAD, has done the most accurate simulation and animation of a molecular bearing design to date. He explains: Using NanoEngineer-1 (see http://www.nanoengineer-1.com) and other open-source software, I have created an animated simulation of the molecular bearing design on page 298 of Nanosystems by Eric Drexler. I worked with… Continue reading How a molecular nanotechnology bearing will actually move
A new book by German physicist Jürgen Altmann of Dortmund University looks at Military Nanotechnology: Potential Applications and Preventive Arms Control (Routledge, 2006). Both near-term and long-term applications are examined. From the abstract: NT applications will likely pervade all areas of the military…By using NT to miniaturise sensors, actuators and propulsion, autonomous systems (robots) could… Continue reading Facing up to military nanotechnology
Medical News Today tells of an advance by teams at Rutgers, UCLA, and Institut Jacques Monod in Paris on figuring out how an important molecular machine in nature does its job. Some excerpts: Two papers by Ebright and collaborators in the Nov. 17 issue of the journal Science define for the first time the mechanisms… Continue reading Nanotechnology shows dynamics of nature's molecular machines
We at Foresight are big fans of researchers with ambitious nanotech goals, and today we introduce to you Prof. Shuguang Zhang, associate director of the Center for Biomedical Engineering at MIT. In eJournal USA he wrote of his vision for the future of nanotechnology via molecular machines: By imitating nature, scientists are designing completely new… Continue reading Visionary nanotechnology molecular machines pursued at MIT
Researchers at UCSF and UC Berkeley have found a way to combine a drug with a dendrimer to give a treatment that cures colon cancer in mice — in one treatment. From Phys.org: Single-Dose Drug-Loaded Dendrimer Cures Mice of Colon Cancer In a dramatic demonstration of the power of nanotechnology, a team of investigators has… Continue reading One-shot nanotechnology treatment *cures* colon cancer in mice
For decades we’ve heard of the horrific difficulty of the protein folding problem: how to go from knowledge of a linear sequence of amino acids to the three-dimensional structure of a folded, useful protein? This is needed if we are to use proteins to build 3D structures that we want for nanotechnology. From Physorg.com we… Continue reading Atomically-precise protein folding software aids nanotechnology
From Nature.com, news of nanotechnology advances at Hebrew University: Tiny machines that patrol the body for invaders are one of nanotechnology’s favourite dreams. But a device made from a single molecule by a team of researchers in Israel sounds remarkably similar. They have built a ‘DNA machine’ that detects a virus by reading its genome,… Continue reading Israel's nanotechnology DNA machine detects viruses
