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Gaming the Future: The Book!

Category: Nanodot

UTD announces nanotech collaboration with Canada

from the World-Watch dept.
According to a press release (6 December 2001), the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) has agreed to explore ways to collaborate on nanotechnology research with the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada and the University of Alberta.
Following a Canadian trade mission to Dallas on 28 November headed by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, UTD and Canadian officials signed a letter of intent to foster the exchange of scientific and technical knowledge about nanotechnology, identify opportunities for collaborative research and technology transfer and develop scientific and technical capabilities in nanotechnology applications in energy, computers and life sciences.

The University of Alberta was chosen in August 2001 as the host for the NRC National Institute for Nanotechnology (NINT), news of which was noted here on 27 August and 15 November 2001.

The agreement is similar to one reached last month between UTD and Jilin University in China, which also emphasized cooperative research and other academic efforts in the field of nanotechnology.

Rice workshop to examine environmental impacts of nanotech

If you will be in the Houston, Texas area on Monday, 10 December 2001, consider attending a workshop on "Nanotechnology and Environment: An Examination of the Potential Benefits and Perils of an Emerging Technology" that will be presented by the Rice University Energy and Environmental Systems Institute (EESI), which is co-sponsoring the workshop with the Office for Science and Technology of the French Embassy USA. Rice is hosting the workshop in affiliation with its new Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology (CBEN), one of six major Nanoscale Science and Engineering Centers recently announced by the National Science Foundation and the first to focus on applications of nanoscience to biology and the environment. The workshop will also include a second day that will be "a closed-door session in which scientists will confer on priorities for research in the field, resulting in a research priorities briefing document."
The first day of the workshop is free and open to the public. It will be held from 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. in Anne and Charles Duncan Hall, McMurtry Auditorium, 6100 Main Street. A reception and poster session will be held from 5 to 6 p.m. Preregistration is not required. A speakers list, schedule, and additional information can be found on the EESI website.

AAAS will hold symposium on national security and scientific freedom

The American Association for the Advancement of Science will hold a day-long symposium on "The War On Terrorism: What Does It Mean for Science?" on 18 December 2001 in Washington, D.C.
K. Eric Drexler, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Molecular Manufacturing and Foresight Board Chair, will be participating in a panel discussion during the symposium.

For some background, read the Foresight Position Statement on Avoiding High-Tech Terrorism, and an open letter from Dr. Drexler on "Nanotechnology: Six Lessons from Sept. 11".

NSF, EC will cooperate on some nanotech programs

from the International-nanotech dept.
In another sign of the expanding internationalization of nanotechnology-related research and development, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the EC announced in a press release (3 December 2001) an expanded a program of workshops and funding of mutual research goals in materials science, to include nanotechnology. Under the cooperative program, research goals will be determined jointly by U.S. and European researchers. NSF grants will support the U.S. side of research teams in areas such as surface structure and thin films, carbon nanotubes and the role of defects in materials. The EC will fund the Europeans' participation. The new program expands on a previous agreement that began in 1998.

Zyvex facilitates cooperation between UTD, Jilin U in China

from the International-nanotech dept.
Vik writes "Looks like Zyvex's trip to China has bourne fruit. The Dallas Business Journal is reporting here that Jilin University is to share research with the University of Texas at Dallas. It's good to see such cooperation, particularly in the current climate of distrust, and highlights that ultimately nanotechnology is for the benefit of all.
Vik :v)"

[Editor's note: more detailed information on this cooperative venture between UTD and Jilin University can be found in this press release on the UTD website.]

Investors comment on nanotech as industry

from the at-least-nano-has-a-business-model dept.
"Nanotech Offers Some There, There" by Ann Thayer (Chemical & Engineering News, 11/26/01, not easy to access) discusses the nanotech industry and current investor interest. Galway Partners' Chris Anzalone: "I believe there will be a nanotech boom over the next three to five years. The difference [from dot.coms], of course, is that there will be more there, there." Merrill Lynch's John Roy: "Where there's smoke, there's fire. Nanotechnology is closer than we think, and we need to be watching this. Although no one knows how big this will be, we do know that it never will match the hype." (Might Mr. Roy someday wish he'd left off that last comment?) A chart shows that venture capital is already about double US federal spending on "nanotechnology".

New academic Centers with nano orientation

from the put-Nano-in-your-name-&-get-funded dept.
"New Hubs for Nano" by Alexandra Stikeman (Technology Review, Dec 2001) lists six new academic Centers for various flavors of nanotechnology. Some of them sound intriguing, e.g. RPI's Center for Directed Assembly of Nanostructures, whose director is quoted: "Lots of people can now make nanoscale building blocks. The question is how do you assemble them to create new materials and novel devices that you can control and manipulate." Time will tell whether they live up to these sexy nano-names.

MIT Media Lab to explore digital matter tools

According to a press release (27 November 2001), the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded $13.75 million to the the MIT Media Laboratory to create a Center for Bits and Atoms to explore how the content of information relates to its physical representation, from atomic nuclei to global networks. From the release:

"The center will bring nanofabrication, chemistry and biology labs together with rapid mechanical prototyping, electronic instrumentation and high-bay assembly workspaces. This integrated suite of resources is being developed to enable its researchers to shape simultaneously the information in a system and its physical embodiment, from microscopic to macroscopic scales. The NSF funding will help support research, education and outreach programs, as well as technological infrastructure. "

And:

"Among the challenges to be tackled will be developing "personal fabricators" to bring the malleability that personal computers provide for the digital world into the physical world; providing bidirectional molecular interfaces between computers and living systems; and bringing advanced information technologies to bear on some of the most intractable problems in global development and security."

Creation of cloned human embryos announced

The announcement by Worcester, Massachusetts-based Advanced Cell Technology that its researchers had created cloned human embryos has set of a new round in the debates over cloning technology. ACT claims its work, reported in the 25 November 2001 issue of the Journal of Regenerative Medicine, is not aimed a producing fully-developed cloned humans, but at producing stem cells that can be used for generating individualized new tissues for therapeutic use. However, ACT also announced in a report in the 22 November 2001 issue of Science that its proprietary cloning technology has been used to produce healthy and normal adult animals (in this case, cattle).

Some additional background may be found in these articles from Reuters News Service on ACTís announcement, the renewed debate, and the companyís goals for therapeutic cloning.

Panel discussion on GNR technologies held in Washington, D.C.

A number of items on the KurzweilAI.net website present comments made by inventor-author Ray Kurzweil during a panel discussion on whether humans are an endangered species held in Washington, D.C. on 19 December 2001. Kurzweil proposed a major new national program to develop defensive strategies, technologies, and ethical standards to address the dangers of emerging genetic, nanotechnology and robotics (GNR) technologies. The panel also included Bill Joy of Sun Microsystems, environmentalist Bill McKibben, and theologian Ann Foerst. Responding to calls for a halt or relinquishment of development of GNR technologies, Kurzweil said, "I believe that implementing such a choice would require a Brave New World type of totalitarian government in which the government uses technology to ban the further development of technology," said Kurzweil. An outright ban "would be destructive, morally indefensible, and in any event would not address the dangers."

Kurzweilís comments were reported in a news item on the KurzweilAI.net website. In addition to a brief news item on the panel, you can read a briefing paper on the issues that have been raised in the debate on how to deal with GNR technologies, as well as a set of questions posed to Kurzweil during panel discussion and his responses.

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