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Gaming the Future: The Book!

Category: Nanodot

X Prize for Nanotech?

Hal Finney writes "The X Prize Foundation, which recently awarded the Ansari X Prize for achieving a milestone in private space flight, is asking for suggestions for new X Prize ventures, under the name of The WTN X PRIZE. Among the topics they are considering are 'Technological ìholy grailsî, such as… molecular assemblers (true nanotechnology)".

What would be a good prize target for a nanotech project that is along the path to a molecular assembler? Hopefully it would be easier than the Feynman Grand Prize; something that could be done in the same kind of time frame as the Ansari X Prize took, and something for which a million dollar prize would be motivating?"

Nanotube Oscillator Might Weigh a Single Atom

Roland Piquepaille writes "Recent developments in nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) have typically used vibrating silicon rods so small that they oscillate at radio frequencies. But now, Cornell University researchers have replaced the silicon rod by a carbon nanotube. This new electromechanical oscillator might be capable of weighing a single atom. The oscillator consists "of a carbon nanotube from one to four nanometers in diameter and about one-and-a-half micrometers long, suspended between two electrodes above a conducting silicon plate." Such an oscillator, tunable from 3 to 200 MHz, could be used in future cell phones, which have to change frequently their operating frequencies. The only problem is that the current production of carbon nanotubes is too small for such a huge market. Read more for additional details and references."

Nanotube Transistors Assembled with DNA

JohnFaith writes " Here's an article from Technology Research News about tools being developed for designing DNA structures with carbon nanotubes. The DNA assembles into a matrix and the semiconducting carbon nanotubes form transistors in the spaces between the DNA. The work is happening at Duke , with more papers and info at Chris Dwyer's page. Interesting to see research that may provide arbitrarily complex 2D structures versus homogeneous films."

Jurvetson sees nanotechnology innovation wave

Michael Kanellos of CNET News.com writes of a recent lecture by venture capitalist and Foresight Senior Associate Steve Jurvetson: "Nanotech will tap nature's potential, investor says". "Speaking at the Hot Chips conference at Stanford University, Jurvetson asserted that nanotechnology–the ability to make products on the molecular level–will usher in the next great wave of innovation despite the recent cancellation of Nanosys' high-profile initial public offering. That revolution will occur, in part, because scientists will be able to harness or imitate the power of nature."

Nanorobots Inside Our Bodies?

Roland Piquepaille writes "In this very short article, Genome News Network (GNN) looks at the work of a Brazilian researcher, Adriano Cavalcanti, and his colleagues. Cavalcanti is working in nanorobotics, an emerging field in medicine which states that nanorobots soon will travel inside our bodies, digging for information, finding defects or delivering drugs. The GNN article contains spectacular images, and Cavalcanti's page about Nanorobotics Control Design includes additional ones. Even if the computer-generated images are impressive, please notice that real uses of nanorobots for health care will only appear progressively within the next ten years. Finally, this summary contains more details and a third set of images of simulated nanorobots at work. [Additional note: I didn't flash about Cavalcanti's work when Nanodot wrote about it last July in Collective Nanorobots Control Design. Now, I think it's worth mentioning a second time.]"

Advanced Nanotechnology Conference

1st CONFERENCE ON ADVANCED NANOTECHNOLOGY: RESEARCH, APPLICATIONS, AND POLICY, October 22-24, 2004, Crystal City Marriott Hotel Washington, DC area. Join us as we examine nanotechnology from three different perspectives. Choose your areas of focus: FRIDAY — Research SATURDAY — Applications SUNDAY — Policy and Funding. While Friday is designed for researchers and technologists, Saturday and Sunday will make this revolution accessible to public interest representatives, investors, general public, and those aiming at a career in the field. https://foresight.org/conference/AdvNano2004/index.html

A New Use for Old Printers: Treating Burn Victims

Roland Piquepaille writes "Researchers in the US are using old inkjet printers to produce sheets of human skin to be used on burn victims. The printer cartridges are filled with living cells that are printed one by one into skin tissue. They think that this 'skin-printing' method will minimize rejections by patients and reduce post-operative complications. In this article, the Wall Street Journal (paid registration needed) writes that while the technology is still in its early stages, it could be used clinically within two years. This could be a life-saving technology for the 20% of burn patients who have the most extensive burns. Considering that each year, some 45,000 people are hospitalized with burns in the U.S. alone, this 'skin-printing' method is a very useful advance in regenerative medicine. You'll find more details, previous references and an illustration in this overview."

Nanotechnology Could Speed Internet 100x

Roland Piquepaille writes "Using a new hybrid material made of nanometer-sized "buckyballs" and a polymer, Canadian researchers have shown that nanotechnology could lead to an Internet based entirely on light and 100 times faster than today's. This material allowed them to use one laser beam to direct another with unprecedented control, a featured needed inside future fiber-optic networks. These future fiber-optic communication systems could relay signals around the global network with picosecond (one trillionth of a second) switching times, resulting in an Internet 100 times faster. Please note this discovery appeared in a lab: we'll have to live with our current networks for some time. This overview contains more details."

Nanotech Hits the Roads

Roland Piquepaille writes "When you hear the word 'nanotechnology,' I bet you immediately think about nanochips or ultra-small medical devices. But do you know that nanotechnology is starting to be used in highways, bridges and other buildings? In "Small Science Will Bring Big Changes To Roads," a very long article from Better Roads Magazine, you'll discover that "research in structural polymers could lead the way to guardrails that heal themselves, or concrete or asphalt that heal their own cracking." Nanotechnology is also used to design better steel or concrete. And there are even nanosensors in place on the Golden Gate Bridge to monitor its behavior. The nanotechnology revolution is on its way, even if self-healing potholes and guardrails are still science fiction. This long article discusses nanotechnology advances in concrete and cement, self-cleaning traffic signs or better steel. This shorter overview contains selected excerpts about embedded nanosensors, self-healing pavements and smart dust."

Moving Water Molecules By Light

Roland Piquepaille writes "An interdisciplinary team of researchers at Arizona State University (ASU) has discovered a new nanotechnology effect, the ability of moving water molecules by light. This is a far better way than current methods such as damaging electric fields and opens the way to a new class of microfluidic devices used in analytical chemistry and for pharmaceutical research. For example, this makes possible to design a device that can move drugs dissolved in water, or droplets of water and samples that need to be tested for environmental or biochemical analyses. Please read this overview for more details and references, plus an image of two water drops illuminated with a fluorescent dye and sitting respectively on a nanowire surface and on a flat surface."

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