Category: Nanodot

Earlier this week, the Bush Administration submitted a $1.05 billion supplemental request for nanotechnology research in 2006. See the 52-page report in pdf format. From a list of strategic priorities on page 26: "designing and developing active nanostructures, systems of nanosystems, and molecular nanosystems", also on page 52. (Info from Daryl Hatano of the Semiconductor Industry Assoc.)

A belated story from The Register: "The [British] government has handed £1m in grants and awards to a nanotech company that has developed a new way of detecting a bioterror attack. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (Nesta) both contributed to the funding package. The company concerned, Nanosight, is cagey about explaining its technology because its patents are all still under review. What it will say is that it has developed a way of replicating viral antibodies using non-biological means, specifically 'computer and microelectronics technology'." The submittor of this item commented: "The story centers around a bio-weapon detector, however, I feel the promise of non-biological production of viral/bacterial antibodies is much more interesting."

Check out the new journal Small from Wiley Interscience, publisher of the book Nanosystems. Sample article from the first issue: "Powering a Supramolecular Machine with a Photoactive Molecular Triad" and from issue 3: "DNA Nanodevices". Most articles are on nanostructures which are not atomically precise, such as from issue 5: "Halloysite Nanotubes as Biomimetic Nanoreactors". (OK, maybe that last title is a bit jargony…) A problem: many articles have no free abstract.

Roland Piquepaille writes "Even if researchers are routinely building all kinds of nanodevices in their labs, the current production process of nanowires or nanosensors is similar to the car manufacturing process before Henry Ford. These nanostructures are almost handmade. Now, researchers at University of California Davis (UC Davis) have adapted a technology developed for Hewlett-Packard Laboratories. And they came with two new ways to massively produce nanowires of precise length. Their 'nanobridges' and 'nanocolonnades' are totally compatible with existing microelectronics fabrication processes. This opens the way for to a wide range of industrial-strength applications, such as bio-chemical sensing, nanoelectronics, nanophotonics, memory and logic devices for future computing. [See also] other details and references."

Just received a review copy of Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track: The Letters of Richard P. Feynman, edited by his daughter Michelle, sister of Foresight member Carl Feynman. It includes letters about the two miniaturization prizes that Feynman offered personally, and quite a few new photos. I had the privilege of attending a couple of his informal tutorials for Caltech students — he made the most challenging physics seem so understandable. Foresight is proud to administer nanotech prizes in his name.–CP

The original 2004 provisional patent application describing the "Freitas process" proposed for building a working carbon dimer placement tool (DCB6Ge) for diamond mechanosynthesis experimentally — apparently the first patent ever filed on diamond mechanosynthesis — is now available online. In February 2005, a full utility patent was filed with the USPTO on this process. Freitas' 2004 Foresight Conference lecture describing a near-term pathway leading directly to diamond mechanosynthesis, which included a summary of this now patent-pending process, is also online here.

Robert A. Freitas Jr. is Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Molecular Manufacturing (IMM).

In some rather stunning work, Joseph AuBuchon, a graduate student in Sungho Jin's group at UCSD, has demonstrated how to make *bent* nanotubes. PhysOrg has a report here. (Check out the pictures!) They also claim to be able to make T and Y shapes out of nanotubes.

This could be a potential start towards methods that might be used to construct subcomponents for a real molecular assembler. That would allow one to bypass the chicken and egg problem we now face.

Judy Conner brings our attention to a story in Medical News Today: "According to a new study by the Canadian Program on Genomics and Global Health (CPGGH) at the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics (JCB), a leading international medical ethics think-tank, several nanotechnology applications will help people in developing countries tackle their most urgent problems – extreme poverty and hunger, child mortality, environmental degradation and diseases such as malaria and HIV/AIDS. The study is the first ranking of nanotechnology applications relative to their impact on development; it was published today by the prestigious, open-access, US-based Public Library of Science journal." Foresight participated in the international panel of experts surveyed.

The current issue of NanoNews-Now offers the results of two expert surveys, one on nanotech business and one on nanotech education, both focusing on what kind of training is most in demand. Pamela Bailey of tinytechjobs offers advice on how to get employed in nanotech: Read More for excerpt. (Site is paid subscription, but there's a 90-day free trial.)

Roland Piquepaille writes "Researchers at the University of Toronto (U of T) have designed an infrared-sensitive material made of nanocrystals so small they were able to tune them to catch the Sun's invisible rays. In "Nanotechnologists' new plastic can see in the dark," you'll discover that it's the first time that a light-sensitive material works in the invisible light spectrum. This opens the way to a broad range of applications, from clothing to digital cameras that work in the dark. But the real breakthrough is that it will permit to catch five more times energy from the Sun, up to 30 percent from the 6 percent achieved today by the best plastic solar cells. Hats off to these researchers… This overview contains more details, comments and references."