Category: Nanodot

from the green-gold dept.
Gina Miller writes "Nanoparticles of gold, silver, Europium, palladium, and iron can be produced by plants: No fairy tale: Researchers spin straw into gold. Alfalfa can concentrate gold from the soil into nanoparticles useful as tags for studying biological processes and as contacts for nanoelectronic circuits. The method is cheaper and less polluting than alternative methods, and the nanoparticles can be made more uniform by controlling the acidity of the growth medium. Oats work even better than alfalfa. Some technical details are available at Plants with the Midas touch: formation of gold nanoparicles by alfalfa plants."

from the rumors-and-speculations dept.
c/net reports Intel to unveil nanotechnology plans at a forum in San Jose next Thursday. A senior vice president of Intel is to reveal previously announced strategies for moving from the current 130-nm chip elements to less than 100-nm elements. The article speculates that unannounced research efforts to be revealed might include carbon nanotube use in chips. A Nanodot post of August 14 2002 reported Intel's first foray into nanotechnology with 'strained silicon' technology.

from the gecko-not-GEICO dept.
JohnPierce writes with an example where scientists studying a biological phenomenon gained an insight that might be useful with microscale and perhaps nanoscale design and fabrication. Scientists Prove How Geckos Stick, Unlock Secrets To Making Artificial Gecko Glue

from the hype-or-foresight? dept.
Mr_Farlops points out a Red Herring article that debunks predictions by Foresight Advisor Ray Kurzweil and others that within a couple decades computers will exceed human intelligence: Artificial Intelligence? Out of their minds "Here we go again . . . pundits can't stop hyping the business opportunities of artificial intelligence."

from the unexpected-outcomes dept.
Mr_Farlops writes "Many nanodot readers are familiar with silicon compilers, programs that design circuitry for computers. In this article from New Scientist, a circuit design program using genetic algorithms unexpectedly generated a radio circuit rather than designing an oscillator as it was told to do."

U6

from the cramming-more-bits-into-less-area dept.
A NanoMagnetics Ltd Press Release of August 1, 2002 announced the doubling of nanoparticulate storage density for commercial computer disk drives to just over 12 Gb/sq.in. They believe their patented protein-based technology for developing advanced magnetic materials will eventually enable terabyte computer disk drives. A Nanodot post of July 13, 2002 reported the work of other researchers aiming for terabit per inch storage densities using nanostructured magnetic materials.

from the another-reason-to-see-your-dentist dept.
A Hybrid Plastics, Inc. Press Release (32 KB PDF) dated August 7 2002 announced that Pentron Clinical Technologies has introduced of a new class of dental bonding agents based on Hybrid Plastics' Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxane (POSS®) nanocomposites. The new dental adhesives are based on 1.5-nm silicon-derived building blocks, and are said to provide a stronger restorative resin and better bonding between the tooth and the restorative material.

from the things-to-do-with-your-AFM dept.
Small Times featured an August 19, 2002 article by correspondent Elizabeth Gardner entitled Nanoink writes its own ticket using quills on the nanoscale that describes the offering by NanoInk Inc. of a package of supplies and software to enable use of an atomic force microscope for Dip-Pen Nanolithography (DPN) to build nanostructures by writing 10 nm-wide lines (see Nanodot June 13, 2002). The next step for Nanoink is to develop an array of independently controlled tips, similar to IBM's Millipede Project (see Nanodot June 19, 2002), which uses an array of 1024 AFM tips.

from the better-security-through-smaller-sensors dept.
Small Times featured an August 22, 2002 story by correspondent Doug Brown entitled Bush Administration OKs Report Making Nano a Terror War Priority:

The White House has signed off on a report detailing the full scope and breadth of the budget request and research vision established by the National Nanotechnology Initiative, which includes a heightened commitment to using nanotechnology to fight weapons of mass destruction.

The 153-page report, National Nanotechnology Initiative: The Initiative and its Implementation Plan (an 879 KB PDF file) is labelled a "Detailed Technical Report Associated with the Supplemental Report to the President's FY 2003 Budget" and dated June 2002. The report adds a new "grand challenge" to the NNI program: "Nanotechnology for bio-chem-radiological-explosive: detection and protection (expanded and refocused Bio-Nanosensors)"

from the Scientific-Visualization dept.
waynerad writes "Here's a fun website I found: The NASA Nanotechnology Gallery. It has: pretty pictures, powerpoint presentations, and MPEG movies of carbon nanotubes (mostly)."