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Gaming the Future: The Book!

Category: Nanodot

Employment Review predicts bright future for nanotech workers

from the One-word:-nanoplastics dept.
For an upbeat but credulous look how the approaching advent of widespread nanotechnology is being viewed outside the scientific community, read the article in the December 2001 issue of Employment Review online ("Miniaturization fosters revolutionary future").

Article discusses potential dangers, misuse of nanotech

from the shadows-on-the-road-ahead dept.
An extensive article on the potential dangers and misuse of nanotechnology appears on the Small Times website ("Nanotech's dark side debated in the aftershock of Sept. 11", by John Carroll, 2 November 2001). The article quotes Foresight President Chris Peterson, as well as Foresight advisors Glenn Reynolds and Ralph Merkle. Foresightís voluntary guidelines for the safe development of molecular nanotechnology were mentioned as part of the articleís discussion of possible regulation or restriction of nanotech research and development.

Some of these issues were also presented in a New York Times article that appeared in September 2001.

Self-assembling microwires may connect biosystems

According to a press release, researchers at North Carolina State University and the University of Delaware have discovered a new method of growing microscopic wires that can conduct electricity in a liquid environment. The study shows that colloidal nanoparticles ñ dispersed particles ranging in size from 15 to 30 nanometers ñ can spontaneously self-assemble into wires when placed under the force of an alternating (AC) electric field, a process known as dielectrophoresis. The microwires are about a micrometer, or one-millionth of a meter, in diameter, and up to a few millimeters long. The formation of these microwires can be controlled and used in rudimentary electrical circuits. The research was published 2 November 2001 issue of Science. An interesting point noted in the press release is that making electrical circuits in wet environments may lead to a host of bioelectrical uses, such as providing electrical connections to living cells and tissues.

Battle is on for U.S. soldier nanotech center

A number of universities in the U.S. are competing to become the host for a University Affiliated Research Center (UARC) for the U.S. Armyís Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies (ISN). A considerable amount of information about the intended goals of the ISN center can be found in the formal solicitation for the ISN center, released in October 2001, which is available as an Adobe Acrobat PDF file (about 155 KB). Funding for the ISN will be about $US 10 million per year, for at least five years.
According to the solicitation: "The individual soldier will. . . will require systems revolutionary in their capabilities. Recent advances in the field of nanoscience suggest that may be possible to provide the soldier with radically new capabilities in full-spectrum threat protection without incurring significant weight or volume penalties. Such soldier systems will only be realized by directing additional resources to the Army's Science and Technology Program in the emerging field of nanoscience. . . . The purpose of this research center of excellence is to develop unclassified nanometerscale science and technology solutions for the soldier. A single university will host this center, which will emphasize revolutionary materials research toward advanced soldier protection and survivability capabilities."
Responses to the solicitation are due by 15 November 2001, and competition for the center is keen. An item from the Cornell Daily Sun ("Army Research Facility May Replace Ward Lab", 25 October 2001) describes some of Cornell universityís efforts to bring the center there.

Previous coverage of the ISN program appeared here on 28 June and 13 September 2001

Synthetic anti-oxidants extend mouse lifespan

According to a press release, a team of medical researchers reports they have demonstrated that synthetic catalytic anti-oxidants can help treat neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinsonís and Alzheimerís, and enhance overall lifespan in mice. The work was reported in the November 2001 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience. The report details experiments in which the treatment rescued a severe neurological phenotype in mice engineered to undergo a specific form of oxidative damage. Treatment with the synthetic catalytic scavengers of reactive oxygen species (SCSs) also resulted in a dramatic enhancement of lifespan of the mice.

AIChE takes a limited look at nanotechnology

from the Nose-to-the-benchtop dept.
The October 2001 issue of Chemical Engineering Progress, a publication of the American Institute of Chemical Engineering (AIChE), has a brief article on nanotechnology, but itís rather limited in scope. Not surprisingly, the emphasis is on nano-structured materials and process chemistry involving nano-scale catalysis, with some attention given to carbon nanotubes; the timeline is rather near-term and little is said about the possibility of nano-scale devices.
Note: Access to the online version of Chemical Engineering Progress is free, but may require registration. The article is an Adobe Acrobat PDF file (about 440 KB).

Article looks at dangers, military uses of nanotech

from the The-future-as-minefield dept.
A rather morbid but informative article about the potential dangers of advanced nanotechnology and the abuse of information technology appeared in the Montreal Gazette ("Cyber-doomsayers offer chilling vision", by Alex Roslin, 14 October 2001). The article leads off with a fictional "grey-goo" meltdown, then recaps the arguments made by Bill Joy over the past year and a half. The article then more usefully focuses on current interest in military applications of micro- and nano-technologies, as well as information systems. The article quotes retired U.S. Army colonel Thomas Adams, who has criticized the U.S. military for its failure to envision the potential consequences of technologies it is helping to develop:

"We are rapidly approaching an event horizon in human development, a point at which the mutually reinforcing trends described here will combine to produce an aggregate result so different from what we now know that it is impossible to guess what it will be."

Ninth Foresight Conference on Molecular Nanotechnology

The Ninth Foresight Conference on Molecular Nanotechnology will be held at the Westin Hotel in Santa Clara, California from 9 -11 November 2001. The keynote speaker will be James Murday of the U.S. Naval Research Lab and Director of the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office. A special conference session on Venture Capital for Nanotechnology and a Nanotechnology Patent Roundtable will be held.

ASME 2001 conference will include nanotech track

from the More-conferences dept.
A reminder: The special nanotechnology track at the 2001 American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) International Mechanical Engineering Conference (11-16 November 2001) will include a keynote panel discussion, three nanotechnology tutorials, and nine conference technical sessions devoted to various aspects of nanotechnology.

NRC issues preliminary report on review of NNI

from the committee-speak dept.
A preliminary report has been issued by a committee organized by the National Research Council (NRC), an independent advisory body under the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) serving the government, to conduct a review of the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI). The review was initiated in August, and is due to be completed in May 2002. The preliminary report identifies several items deemed critical to the success of the NNI: program management, including interagency coordination and ways of measuring progress; a balanced research portfolio that includes long-term planning, short-term successes, high-risk projects, and ìgrand challengesî; research partnerships with local, state and international entities including academia and the private sector; investment in developing infrastructure, fostering interdisciplinary research, and looking beyond nanoscale research to the creation of macro-scale products using nanotechnology; training of future scientists and engineers and examining societal impacts. (In other words, achieving the goals laid out in the original program are crucial to its success — it took a committee to arrive at this? Hopefully the final report will offer something more substantial.)

The report is available online, but be prepared to be exasperated: It is presented using the OpenBook system, as a series of low-resolution PDF files — one page at a time! Hint: many of the pages are blank; most of the sparse content is in Section 2.

Additional information about the NRC review (project scope, committee membership, meeting agendas, etc.) of the NNI is available at the NRC website.

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