Nanodot Blog
DOE office focusing on atomically precise manufacturing
Longtime Foresight member Dave Forrest is leading DOE's Advanced Manufacturing Office in advocating atomically precise manufacturing to transform the U.S. manufacturing base.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry recognizes molecular machines
Sir J. Fraser Stoddart, winner of 2007 Foresight Feynman Prize for Experiment, shares the 2016 Chemistry Nobel for the design and synthesis of molecular machines.
Assembling a large, stable, icosahedral protein molecular cage
A trimeric protein was designed to self assemble into a 60 unit icosahedron with a roomy interior that might find use to ferry molecular cargo into cells or as a chemical reactor.
Chemical fuel keeps molecular motor moving
Removing the necessity of providing several different chemical fuels in a series of distinct steps, a novel chemically-fueled molecular motor autonomously produces movement as long as the fuel supply lasts.
Rational improvement of DNA nanodevice function
Recent research documents a structure-based rational design strategy combining molecular dynamics and single molecule imaging to improve the performance of a DNA tweezers that accurately positions an enzyme and its cofactor.
Atomically precise location of dopants a step toward quantum computers
Precise matching of STM images and theoretical calculations provides exact lattice locations of dopant atoms, advancing the prospects for silicon-based quantum computers.
Watching individual chemical bonds during a reaction
Combining computational nanotechnology with a noncontact-atomic force microscope probe tipped by a single CO molecule allowed researchers to visualize the dance of individual chemical bonds during a complex organic reaction on a silver surface.
Peptoid nanosheets assemble by different design rule
Chains of monomers joined by non-biological peptoid bonds follow different rules of self-assembly and form structures not found in chains joined by the peptide bonds used to form proteins.
Engineered protein assembles molecules into atomically precise lattice
An engineered protein controls the assembly of C60 fullerene molecules into an atomically precise lattice that conducts electricity while neither component alone would.
Another powerful nanoengine remembered
The claim that the recently reported actuating nanotransducers (ANTS) produce forces "orders of magnitude larger than any produced previously" is challenged by a nanocrystal carbon nanotube device reported 11 years ago.
Simulation of quantum entanglement with subsurface dopant atoms
Atomic resolution measurement of quasi-particle tunneling maps of spin-resolved states reveals interference processes that allow simulation of processes important for developing quantum computers based on atomically precise doping of silicon.
Protein design provides a novel metabolic path for carbon fixation
Computational design of an enzyme that carboligates three one-carbon molecules to form one three-carbon molecule, an activity that does not exist in nature, provides proof-of-principle for a novel metabolic pathway for carbon fixation.
Powerful nanoengine built from coated nanoparticles
A nanoengine 100 times more powerful than known nanomotors and muscles was demonstrated using the aggregation and dispersal of gold nanoparticles coated with a polymer that undergoes a rapid transition from hydrophobic to hydrophilic.
Foresight Co-Founder to speak on altruism, nanotechnology
Christine Peterson will speak on "High-Leverage Altruism" at the fourth annual conference of Effective Altruism, using reason and evidence to improve the world as much as possible, and on nanotechnology at the Singularity University Global Summit, the definitive gathering for those who understand the critical importance of exponential technologies.
Foresight President to speak on Artificial Intelligence
Foresight President Julia Bossmann will speak on AI at the TEDxEchoPark "Paradigm Shift" event on Saturday May 14, 2016, in Los Angeles, California.
Triple helices stabilize macroscopic crystals for DNA nanotechnology
A DNA strand capable of forming a triple helix with a portion of the DNA double helices in a macroscopic DNA crystal enhances the weak interactions holding the crystal together so that the crystal remains stable in the absence of a high ionic strength environment.
DNA triplex formation decorates DNA crystals with sub-nanometer precision
A specially designed triplex forming oligonucleotide bearing a cargo molecule binds to a specific sequence in the major groove of a DNA double helix to form a modified DNA tile that self assembles into a macroscopic crystal in which each helix carries a cargo molecule positioned to sub-nanometer precision.
Macroscopic DNA crystals from molecular tensegrity triangles
Structural DNA nanotechnology: progress toward a precise self-assembling three dimensional scaffold by building macroscopic crystals from nanoscale structures.
Five ionized atoms provide scalable implementation of quantum computation algorithm
Five calcium ions held several micrometers apart in an ion trap and manipulated by laser pulses implement Shor's factorization algorithm more efficiently than previous implementations.
DNA nanotechnology defeats drug resistance in cancer cells
Small, stiff, rectangular rods made using scaffolded DNA origami bypass drug resistance mechanisms in the membranes of a cultured leukemia cell line and release enough therapeutic drug to kill the cancer cell.
Foresight Institute appoints Julia Bossmann as new president
Foresight Institute, a leading think-tank for transformative future technologies, such as nanotechnology, synthetic biology, and artificial intelligence, announced that Julia Bossmann has joined the organization as president.
Nanotechnologies to advance solar energy utilization
Increasing efficiency and utilization and lowering costs for harvesting, converting, transporting, and storing energy produced from sunlight provides a showcase for a variety of nanoscale materials, structures, and processes.
Caltech celebrates ten years of Scaffolded DNA Origami
California Institute of Technology is holding a symposium to honor Paul Rothemund's seminal contribution to the field of DNA nanotechnology: the research paths opened by the technology, and where they might lead.
Crowd-sourced RNA structure design uncovers new insights
Thousands of amateurs playing the online RNA folding game Eterna, backed up by a real-world automated lab testing their predictions, have provided insights to improve the algorithms computers use to design RNA molecules.
Will medical 3D printing advance nanotechnology?
Do sophisticated medical applications of 3D printing, like printing titanium bones or human tissues, that portend wider use, also perhaps point toward eventual nanoscale applications as the technology improves?