Nanodot Archives

Mr_Farlops writes "Using nanorods and liquid plastic semiconductor, researchers at University of California, Berkeley, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have created a solar cell that can be painted or sprayed onto a surface.

The Sacramento Bee article, which I found on Slash, was a bit short on details and perhaps incorrectly cites this discovery as an advance in nanotechnology."

[Editor's Note: Additional information, including some diagrams of the solar cells, can be found in this joint press release (28 March 2002) from the UC-Berkeley and LBL.

Additional coverage is available in an article from the Reuters News Service ("Group Makes Cheap Plastic Solar Energy Cells", 28 March 2002), and another from United Press International ("Researchers make plastic solar cells", 28 March 2002).]

from the what's-really-going-on-here? dept.
An extensive article on the Small Times website ("Second top official to step down at California NanoSystems Institute", by Jayne Fried, 22 March 2002) reports that molecular computing researcher James Heath will step down as an acting co-director of the California NanoSystems Institute (http://www.cnsi.ucla.edu/) at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) . . . but not right away. Heath will be leaving UCLA to devote more time to research, and will join the faculty at California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. "It's a tough thing to do, to go to Caltech," Heath told Small Times. "This (CNSI) is my baby, but it comes down to when I go to bed at night I think about institute problems."

According to the article, Heath expressed disappointment and frustration with the pace at which technology is moving from research labs to the marketplace within the University of California system. "UC has not been very strong in transferring intellectual property out into the world and making it happen," Heath said. Part of the reason is that the UC system is a "big company that is not quite as nimble as it could be."

The report notes that Heath's departure leaves the multi-million dollar CNSI with co-director Evelyn Hu, a nanotech electrical and computer engineer at UC Santa Barbara, and Roy Doumani, acting chief operating officer. Hu is one of the founders of CNSI. "I won't deny Jim's leaving is something that is very sobering because he's had such an influence," Hu said. "We worked so closely together." The article also notes that although Heath will be at Caltech, Doumani said Heath "will remain active and be able to stay as a member of CNSI." The plan appears to be an open door policy in which scientists outside the UC system will participate in CNSI. "I hope to find a way to get Caltech involved in the institute," Heath said.

As the title of the Small Times article reflects, Heath is the second major figure to announce departure from a CNSI leadership position in recent months. In January 2002, Martha Krebs left as director of CNSI for a broader role at UCLA. Krebs was also associate vice chancellor of UCLA for research, and said she will be devote herself full time to that job. Krebs was a key figure in establishing CNSI, and had moved to California a year ago from Washington, D.C., to become director of the institute. Previously, as science director at the U.S. Department of Energy, Krebs helped establish the U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative.

Mr_Farlops writes "A Melbourne university student has developed a program that generates algorithms for quantum computers. As Nanodotter, Mark Gubrud made plain [in a Nanodot post from 30 August 2001], setting up algorithms for quantum computers is very hard. Because of this, most research with quantum computers has focused on Shor factoring. But with this new tool perhaps new methods will become availible.

If you agree with Penrose (I am still very skeptical), the brain uses obscure quantum physics to process the data that it does. For this reason and others this research in quantum computing may apply to artificial intelligence."

CMP Cientifica, a European-based nanotechnology research and consulting company, and nAbacus, a nanotech consulting company based in Hong Kong, have finally issued their Nanotechnology Opportunity Report, a 500-page, two-volume report that offers an in-depth look at nanotechnology from a business, technology and global perspective.

An article on the Small Times website ("Nanotech reality check: New report tries to cut hype, keep numbers real", by E. Pfeiffer, 11 March 2002) provides a good overview of the report.

In conjunction with Foresight Institute, CMP Cientifica is offering special pricing on the NOR for members of the Foresight community. For more information, or to order, visit the Foresight NOR web page.

eru writes "A press release issued on March 13th on the NSF website announced that selected portions of the "Small Wonders: Exploring the Vast Potential of Nanoscience" symposium will be webcast live on Tuesday, March 19. Further details, including scheduling, can be found here."

from the publication-priority dept.
A press release (26 February 2002) issued by researchers at the Lund Institute of Technology (LTH), Lund University in Sweden claims, ìEurope is one step ahead of the US in the development of a new type of semiconductor structure consisting of incredibly thin nano threads.ì The claim refers to recent announcements (see Nanodot posts on 1 February and 26 February 2002) of research to create cylinder-shaped nanoscopic nanowire bundles that interweave substances with different compositions and properties, so that well-defined junctions and interfaces with potentially important functionalities are incorporated within individual nanowires. The alternating bands of different semiconductor materials in the super-thin wires serve as electron and photon manipulators. According to the release, which seems largely to have been issued to establish publication priority, a Swedish team headed by Professor Lars Samuelson at the LTH, has taken the lead in this field of research. ìIn nano threads, we can combine semiconductor materials that no one has previously been able to grow. This results in entirely new electrical properties: a single electron can be monitored and made to run a unidimensional electronic steeplechase,î says Professor Samuelson.

from the cold,-cold-world dept.
Anonymous Coward writes "The BBC is carrying a story about a couple in France whose frozen bodies may be thawed by local authorities. Cyronics have been outlawed there, and the official position is that burial or cremation are the only acceptable fates for the dead. The couple in question were apparently wealthy enough to have set up the necessary equipment on their own property, but even this does not guarantee their post-mortem privacy. While there are not too many details, it would appear that the husband placed his wife in a freezer in 1984 after she died of cancer, and he himself was placed in the freezer by his son when he recently died."

Vik writes "According to this BBC article, the UK Government wishes to pass laws that allow it to veto research – even from the private sector – and to censor the publication of results.

While nanotechnology is not explicitly mentioned, it looks like the thin end of an anonymous wedge to curb research into any technology that the UK Government sees as being destabilising.

A list of "sensitive" technologoes is to be maintained, and students using them will have to be licenced by the government. Academics are livid. It is draconian stuff indeed, being one of those dreadful forms of legislation which prohibit a wide range of commonplace acts but are only enacted when the Government or police feel like it.

Vik :v)"

Update: More coverage on this issue appeared in the New Scientist (18 February 2002).

Kevin Keck writes "Steve Jurvetson, Senior Associate and well-known VC, will be speaking and leading a panel entitled "Nanoelectronics: The Quantum Leap from Theory to Practice" at Stanford Business School on Tuesday, February 19, sponsored by the MIT/Stanford Venture Laboratory. On the panel are Stan Williams, Director of Quantum Science Research at HP; Randy Levine, CEO of ZettaCore; Scott Mize, CEO of AngstroVision; and Kyepongjae (KJ) Cho, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University."

LawrenceTrutter writes "The Space.com story, Microscopic Nanotubes Could Make Ships Lightweight, Superstrong , discusses the predictions made by NASA's Nanotube team. Several applications of the nanotubes mentioned in the article include composite, nanoelectronics, biomedical applications, energy storage, and thermal materials.

Dr. Richard Smalley of Rice University is also quoted in this article. There is also a brief report on Richard Smalley's team progress."

Gaming the Future: The Book!

Category: Nanodot

Photovoltaic Paint? (flexible solar cells)

James Heath will step down as CNSI head, maybe, in a while . . .

New Algorithms for Quantum Computers

Nanotechnology Opportunity Report (NOR) released

Streaming Coverage of NSF Nanotech Symposium

Swedes claim leadership in composite nanowires

Cryonics under fire in France

UK Govt. drafts laws that may censor nanotech research

Jurvetson on Nanoelectronics

Nanotubes Could Make Ships Lightweight, Superstron

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