Category: Nanodot

Dr_Barnowl writes "A somewhat dubious product was recently released by BatMax (See here for technical details.) It was apparently convincing enough to be posted by a Slashdot moderator (here).

The company basically claims it can drastically improve the performance of your mobile phone battery with what amounts to a stick-on decal. The spurious and unscientific descriptions of the technology (allegedly) involved are nothing special, apart from the association with nanotechnology.

It would seem that it's not just manufacturers of sunblock, tennis rackets and trousers that have cottoned on to the "magical" properties of putting a *10^-9 in your product blurb. If this becomes commonplace, what kind of damage will it do to the funding prospects of projects promising similarly outrageous (but scientifically feasible) benefits as a result of genuine MNT?"

Ed. Note: Hmmm… a "nano-ceramic" — aren't most ceramics "nano-" in nature?

Brian Wang writes "By 2011, the market for next-generation, nonvolatile memories will be worth $65.7 billion, according to a new report from research firm NanoMarkets LC on Wednesday (August 18, 2004).

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David Kanaan writes "Nanotechnology-Based Solid Lubricant NanoLub Shows Promising Performance for Space Applications

NanoLub surpasses minimum limits for space durability

New York, USA, August 5, 2004. ApNano Materials Inc. (www.apnano.com), a provider of nanotechnology-based products, today announced that its proprietary product NanoLub, the worldís first commercial nanotechnology-based solid lubricant, has significantly surpassed an outgassing screening test for space applications. This aerospace qualification test, in accordance with international specifications, was conducted under a simulated space environment by the Space Technology Division Materials Group of the Soreq Nuclear Research Center in Israel.

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Anonymous Coward writes "Feynman's vision has finally begun to materialize, thanks to ever more sophisticated microelectronics. Micro- and nanoscale machines are poised to become a multibillion-dollar market as they are incorporated in all kinds of electronic devices.

But, again, at very small scales, chemical batteries can't provide enough juice to power these micromachines. As you reduce the size of such a battery, the amount of stored energy goes down exponentially.

Researchers developing sensors the size of a grain of sand had to attach them to batteries they couldn't make smaller than a shirt button. The nuclear microbatteries we are developing won't require refueling or recharging and will last as long as the half-life of the radioactive source, at which point the power output will decrease by a factor of two.

For the IEEE Spectrum article click here."

Ed. note: This reminds me of the Gd¹⁴⁸ power source for nanorobots (Nanomedicine Vol I, Sec 6.3.7, pgs 156-159). It begs the issue that a lot more people are going to have to become a lot more comfortable with radioactive power sources.

Anonymous Coward writes "The Inquirer posted an article stating that Applied Micro Systems will team up with US company Micromechatronics to create a highly miniaturised set of robots. These robots will be used to build microprocessors and are appearantly capable of moving in nanometers. A potential for "top down" production of further miniaturized nanobots seem probable."

Ed. note: The article seems a bit thin and nikkei.net appears to require registration. Does anyone have any more detailed information? At 3 cm² this is quite a way from "nanorobots" even if it can move in nm increments. And with chips pushing down into the 70nm and smaller range it is questionable how "nanorobots" of this size could be useful.

Dr_Barnowl writes "The BBC reports on the upcoming nanotechnologies that we can expect to see in the near future. One interviewee asserts that "As soon as you mention it, people conjure up images of small robots carrying out surgery or things that are not desirable."

Whereas my perception is that as soon as you mention it, people go "Whuh?" Not really anything new or innovative here, but it's always nice to see nanotech mentioned in mainstream media, even if the Drexlerlian vision is being dimissed as sci-fi, as per usual.

Aside from that, there is a link to everyones favourite manifestation of nanotech – NanoPants! "

Nanotechwire is pointing out the forthcoming publication of Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology, and Medicine by Elsevier who claim that it is to be the world's first peer-reviewed journal devoted to nanomedicine. Robert Freitas is supposed to have an article "What is Nanomedicine?" in the first issue. One would hope that will get the journal off in a good direction. Slowly the mainstream science community seems to be acknowledging that nanotechnology and nanomedicine are not fantasies.