To end our week on a cheerful note, Freeman Dyson points to a positive trend affecting nanotechnology in an interview in TCS Daily: I tell young people that the new technologies of computing, telecommunication, optical detection and microchemistry actually empower the amateur to do things that only professionals could do before. Amateurs and small companies… Continue reading Dyson on opening up science
Regular readers of Nanodot know that we often disagree with ETC Group — but not always. They have issued a press release condemning a plan by a private firm to seed the ocean with iron particles in an effort to fight global warming. An excerpt: As worrying, Planktos boasts on their website that the iron… Continue reading Nanotechnology or not: Iron seeding of ocean seems premature at best
These days Foresight is focused on our Technology Roadmap and policy initiatives such as Open Source Physical Security. But we still have our visionary side, shown in a Fortune profile of Foresight advisor Ray Kurzweil, which also features Foresight director and X PRIZE founder Peter Diamandis: If you went around saying that in a couple… Continue reading Fortune profile on Kurzweil and nanotechnology
Karen Schmidt, whose writing has been featured here recently, brings our attention to nanotechnology podcasts, posted at NISEnet and the Exploratorium, as well as on ITunes. One example: Vroom! Nanocars and Nanofactories In this edition of SmallTalk, we hear from the man who builds the world’s smallest vehicles. He calls them “nanocars.” Dr. Jim Tour,… Continue reading Nanotechnology podcast: Nanocars and Nanofactories
For a visionary look at space applications of nanotech, see a new column over at Nanotechnology Now. An excerpt: Occasionally astronauts have to leave their spaceships, so researchers at Northeastern University and Rutgers University propose that we protect the astronauts by including layers of bio-nano robots in their spacesuits. The outer layer of bio-nano robots… Continue reading Nanotechnology frontier meets space frontier
Here’s a cheery note to end our week on: There’s been lots of coverage of recent work by Northwestern’s Prof. Samuel Stupp’s work using today’s nanotechnology materials to tackle paralysis. An excerpt from NanoTechWire.com: In a dramatic demonstration of what nanotechnology might achieve in regenerative medicine, paralyzed lab mice with spinal cord injuries have regained… Continue reading Nanotechnology to fight paralysis
The winners of this year’s Lego engineering contest were inspired by nanotechnology concepts to design a robot to clean plastic from the ocean: For the competition, the students had to prepare a presentation on this year’s theme — nanotechnology, or molecular-size machines. They looked for a nanotech application that could clean up small, degraded plastic… Continue reading 7th graders to clean ocean with nanotechnology
If helping the environment is one of your top goals for nanotechnology — as it is for us here at Foresight — you may want to check out this Thursday’s nanotech webcast from the busy folks at the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies at the Wilson Center. They’re releasing a new report titled “Green Nanotechnology: It’s… Continue reading "Green nanotechnology" webcast to highlight environmental benefits
The folks over at the Wilson Center’s Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies have been busy, as summarized on their NanoFrontiers page. First we have a report (2 MB pdf) from their NanoFrontiers Workshop, written up by Karen Schmidt. A couple of excerpts: It seems that the sky is the limit on what might one day be… Continue reading Visions for the future of nanotechnology
BusinessWeek.com reports that nanotechnology is the next big thing in Russia: Russia will pour over $1 billion into equipment for nanotechnology research over the next three years as it uses massive oil and gas export earnings to diversify an economy now heavily dependent on raw materials, First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said Wednesday. “(Nanotechnology)… Continue reading Russia: $1 billion from oil into nanotechnology
