Category: Nanodot

from the seat-of-your-pants dept.
The Next Wave, by Michael Fitzgerald in the July 2002 Issue of Business 2.0, tells how startup Nano-Tex uses 10 nm-long nanowhiskers to make cloth too dense for liquids to penetrate, but still soft enough to wear:

Forget all the futuristic hype about subatomic robots. Nanotechnology is already here, and Burlington CEO George Henderson is using it to save the U.S. textile industry from extinction (and your pants from Beaujolais).

An informative sidebar lists nanotechnology products now available or in development. Founded about four years ago, Nano-Tex was the subject of a Dec. 27 2000 Nanodot post.

from the taking-a-long-view dept.
They've Seen the Future and Intend to Live It by Bruce Schechter in the NY Times (registration required) provides an informed and positive portrayal of the long range outlook that Dr. Ralph C. Merkle and other Foresight members bring to their views of life and the development of nanotechnology. Describing some of what was said at the most recent Foresight and IMM Senior Associates Gathering, the article travels from the National Nanotechnology Initiative and near term prospects to the "far more expansive vision of the future" held by Foresight members, and the link to cryonics, much in the news following Ted Williams's suspension (Nanodot July 10, 2002).

from the how-long-will-it-take? dept.
2012Rocky, writes "Chris Phoenix has an essay at nanotech-now.com on assembler timeline possibilities Ten-Year Assembler Timeline and Weather Forecast

Like most things in nanotech, assemblers are a big topic. Is an assembler even possible? What do we need to do to develop them? Who is working on them? When will we have them? And what will we be able to do with them? That's too many questions for one essay; I'll focus on the technology required to build one, and by extension, the schedule we might see. The point of this essay, as the title implies, is that it's impossible to give a sensible timeline for the development of an assembler."

from the better-living-through-nanotubes dept.
RobertBradbury writes "The NY Times (registration required) is reporting here on "Nanotube 2002". No reported breakthroughs on synthesis yet, but a nice description of the various capabilities of nanotubes and some novel applications for which they might be used, particularly MEMS scale microgears. But if Tim Harper is correct, and there really are 40 nanotube companies now [ref], then one has to wonder if the nanotube industry isn't going to have some of the same problems that some segments of the dot-com industry did?"

from the regulate-or-relinquish dept.
schnippy writes "The latest issue of "Disarmament Diplomacy" from the Acronym Institute has a long piece on the need for a new 'Inner Space' treaty to prevent nanowarfare and "Grey Goo" scenarios. The author provides a model treaty, based on the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, and argues that inner space should be treated as a sanctuary similar to the idea of an outer space sanctuary."

Note that Sean Howard also includes a "plan B" draft treaty that would totally outlaw all research and technology development at the nanoscale, which, if it could be enforced, would essentially bring to a halt all scientific and technological advance.

from the total-test-tube-replication dept.
Two nanodot readers wrote to report a BBC News story: First synthetic virus created. A team of scientists at the State University of New York at Stony Brook assembled a complete synthetic DNA copy of a poliovirus genome, transcribed the DNA into RNA using a purified enzyme, and translated and replicated the RNA in a cell free extract "resulting in the de novo synthesis of infectious poliovirus." Although no fundamentally new technology was used, the milestone demonstrates the power of current biotechnology.

from the a-really-interesting-government-report dept.
Mr_Farlops writes "A document (Found at the World Technology Evaluation Center site in PDF format.), issued by the US National Science Foundation and Department of Commerce, examines the eventual merger of nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, and cognitive science to improve human mental and physical performance. The report's authors recommend that the United States set a national priority to research and develop technologies that will enhance human abilities and efficiencies."

from the we-really-need-products dept.
Kurioz writes "Nanotechnology may be over-hyped, published by The Register, states:"

Nanotechnology will require sustained investment over at least the next decade, as well as more commercial applications, if it is to deliver on its initial promise.

Nanotechnology, which is the design and manufacture of extremely small electronic circuits and mechanical devices built at the molecular level of matter, has been touted as an emerging sector for some time now, but a white paper published on Thursday has said that the technology is over-hyped and a long way from delivering on its full potential.

from the linking-small-things-longing-for-big-bucks dept.
Gina Miller writes " Racing toward a nanotechnology industry, by Jon Van of the Chicago Tribune, posted on the SiliconValley.com web site, reports the building of a new nanotechnology center at Purdue University in Indiana aimed at linking scientists and entrepreneurs. Purdue researcher Hicham Fenniri is quoted on the expected role of the Birck Nanotechnology Center (see Nanodot Sept. 10, 2001) in facilitating advances in designing and characterizing new materials.

from the very-small-contacts dept.

OwenMcCarthy writes "The EE Times reports that researchers in Buffalo are working towards terabit/inch storage densities by applying "nanocontacts" to traditional magnetic media.

By applying atomic-dimension "nanocontacts" to magnetic media, an experiment at the State University of New York here has revealed the potential of an effect known as "ballistic magnetoresistance." The tiny metal contacts showed a 3,000 percent change in magnetoresistance at low switching fields of a few hundred oersted.

Storage density has been increasing at a startling rate in the last couple of years; it was only a matter of time before the peculiar properties of the nanoscale would be exploited toward this end.