from the maybe-maybe-not-but-still-interesting dept.
RajayKumar writes "CNN has an article regarding light traveling faster than c. This article goes into more detail than the previous article mentioned on Nanodot. CP: The piece explains that it is not clear that the light coming out is the same light that went in, so it may not be correct to say the light exceeded c.
from the yup-here-comes-the-money-for-sure dept.
Senior Associate Luke Nosek, VP Strategy at X.com, points out this item from The Standard on venture capitalist John Doerr at the Internet Summit: Still, in a sign that the revolution is changing, Doerr, an investor credited with being one of the early Internet visionaries, admits that his interests are shifting. When asked what the next big thing is, Doerr didn't answer by describing some new Internet technology. "I'm getting interested in making things again — atoms," he says. The largest global markets to come, he added, will be in providing clean water, clean power and transportation.
from the let's-get-a-2nd/3rd/4th-opinion-on-this-one dept.
Senior Associate ChrisPhoenix brings weird news: "I wouldn't have believed it, but it's reported in the American Institute of Physics Physics News Update number 494. A team in Europe has done some new thermodynamics work. They say that heat engines may be made more efficient than previously thought, by putting the hot and cold baths in direct contact for brief periods of time–this may even lead to new engine designs. Even more surprising is their second paper, which claims that a quantum particle strongly interacting (entangled) with a "quantum thermal bath" may violate the Clausius inequality. The particle may gain heat from a colder bath. They term this "appalling behavior", but come right out and say that this could constitute a perpetual motion machine of the second kind."
from the like-trying-to-get-a-drink-from-a-firehose dept.
The Virtual Journal of Nanoscale Science and Technology is a weekly multi-journal compilation of the latest nanoscale research, including journals from APS, AIP, AVS, even some Russian journals. It should save you time (and possibly money, since you can order specific articles instead of taking an annual subscription, which gets darn expensive, believe me). Abstracts are free, as are weekly emails of the table of contents.
from the "But-That-Sounds-Like-Science-Fiction!" dept.
The BBC reports: "It has taken scientists just a day's work to unravel the entire genetic sequence of an antibiotic-resistant 'superbug' that is one of the leading causes of hospital-acquired infections…The work has been done extraordinarily quickly — even by the latest standards. The 2.8 million 'base pairs' — the nucleotides that pair up to make the twisted ladder of DNA's double helix — were sequenced using what is the essentially one day's production capacity at the US Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute (JGI) in California." CP: It's clear what's coming: sequence an individual human genome in one day. Then: faster.
from the au-revoir-but-not-goodbye? dept.
Futurist F.M. Esfandiary has been placed in cryostasis at Alcor Life Extension Foundation, reports the San Jose Mercury News: "The tall, affable, soft-spoken philosopher, visionary educator, lecturer and writer…was respected by scientists, engineers, students who took his classes and intellectuals who read his books or attended his lectures. A quarter-century ago he was predicting things that are now happening. What he called “teleshopping'' and “tele-education'' are now ordinary Internet activities. And he foresaw such medical and biological breakthroughs as fertilization and gestation outside the womb and the correction of genetic flaws." FM thought he would live to see the year 2030 — he may be proven correct on that prediction as well. Good luck to him and others now in residence at Alcor and other cryonics facilities, especially Foresight pal Phil Salin.
from the OK-so-it's-not-our-favorite-magazine dept.
BradHein writes "Scientific American has an article titled Computing with Molecules by Mark Reed and James Tour. The article covers Reed and Tour's work with molecular electronics. Some of the topics include current day research challenges in working with self assembly, combining molecular systems with conventional electronics, and creating complex molecular devices."
from the technology-for-all-not-just-the-rich dept.
Senior Associate BryanBruns reports "A well-written white paper on Transgenic Plants and World Agriculture argues that farmers in poor countries need better access to plant biotechnology. A working group from the US National Academy of Sciences the Royal Society of London, and scientific academies in other nations prepared the paper. (See also stories in the Washington Post and NandoTimes). This paper offers good examples of thinking through how to steer technology so it can benefit farmers and others in poor countries, not just commercial interests in wealthy countries. The report encourages better sharing of intellectual property. The whole report is worth reading, if you are interested in preparing society for advanced technologies, but if you're pressed for time you could look at the summary and the chapter on intellectual property".Read More for Bryan's full post.
from the those-clever-Canadians dept.
Senior Associate GinaMiller points out a report from the NRC on their breakthrough work using a scanning probe to stimulate the automatic self-assembly of organic molecules into lines on a chip surface: While much work remains to be done, they are optimistic about the prospects of nanotechnology…"The appeal of the technique is that we've limited the need for arduous atom-by-atom crafting of structures with an STM, and unleashed a spontaneous process to automatically drive nanostructure growth…" See their animation.
from the Rice-calls-it-"Moleware" dept.
TomKalil writes "DARPA has recently released a call for proposals in molecular electronics (MoleTronics). One of the technical goals of the program is to demonstrate densities of 1011 devices/cm2. See link for a description of existing DARPA-funded research on molecular electronics at HP and UCLA, Rice, Notre Dame, Harvard, Penn State, etc." From the call for proposals: "The second task is hierarchical self-assembly, i.e., bridging the nano- to the micro-worlds. This can be described as a set of processes that will first assemble individual devices, then create functional nano-blocks (e.g., memory and/or logic) from those devices, and finally the interconnection amongst said nano-blocks to form computationally functional circuits (modules) with a reasonable input and output methodology. Innovative interconnect and input/output concepts (e.g., multiplexing and demultiplexing schemes) are solicited."
