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Gaming the Future: The Book!

Category: Nanodot

bioMEMs, capsules cure diabetes in Rats

Brian Wang writes "Pre-cursors of the nanotech medical cures are being tested in rats. Mem capsules with 7 nm holes let out insulin from cells inside the capsule. The holes allow nutrients in to keep the cells alive but keep out the immune system cells to keep the cells alive. Since the cells and the capsules last basically the lifetime of the person, they are effectively a cure. They will take some years to go through long term small animal trials and then to monkey and finally to human trials. The technique can be applied to other diseases. Parkisons, hemofilia etc… http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,47934, 00.html"

Additional information about the device can found in this NSF press release.

Vacuum packed cells survive days to weeks

RobertBradbury writes "A group lead by Fred Levine at UCSD is now reporting in Cryobiology (42:207) that simply drying cells in a vacuum is feasible method for cellular preservation. The highly unexpected discovery is discussed in a New Scientist article from October 22, 2001. This potentially provides a very different approach to cryonic suspensions where you would dehydrate the person first, then lower the temperatures to keep them in stasis. No water means no freezing damage due to ice crystal formation. The question becomes whether or not the extracellular structure of the brain (and other tissues) could survive the dehydration process? The shrinkage due to water loss seems like it would put a fair amount of stress on the proteins that bind the synaptic junctions together."

New website for Chinese nanotechnology network

from the Inscrutable dept.
You might be able to glean some useful kernels of information about nanotech-related research in China from the website of the Nano Science and Technology Network of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CASNANO), although there actually seems to be little substantial content on the site as yet.
The site and program are relatively new efforts; previous coverage of nanotech-related news appeared here on 29 June and 31 July 2001.

NSF examines technology to

from the Information,-please dept.
This tantalizing blurb was posted 21 September 2001 on the website of the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI):

Martha Krebs to Participate in NSF Workshop in December – Advances in a diverse range of scientific disciplines require a need for better communication among the sciences. The NSF has planned a workshop aimed at improving the exchange of ideas between the rapidly progressing fields of Nanotechnology, Biotechnology and biomedicine, Information technology and Cognitive science (Nano-Bio-IT-Cogno). CNSI Director Martha Krebs will participate in the conference, ìConvergent Technologies for Improving Human Performanceî, held on Dec. 3-4 in Arlington, VA. The conference will address issues set for the short and long term that include enhancing individual capabilities and societal outcomes.

It would be interesting to know more about just what sort of ìperformance improvementsî will be considered during the workshop — however, no further information seems to be available at this time.

CNSI researchers report progress with molectronics circuits

from the Getting-wired dept.
An extensive article on the Small Times website ("UCLA team develops molecular switches", by Jayne Fried, 26 October 2001) describes recent work by James Heath and his coworkers at the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) to develop working molecular electronics devices. According to the article, they have have attached molecular switches on a grid as small as 50 nanometers, a significant step forward in the UCLA effort to build a rudimentary molecular computer. "There's a long way to go," Heath said. "Right now we have circuits with molecules on a grid on normal lithographic wires." The goal is that one day the grid would be assembled with carbon nanotubes. More information on the molectronics work at UCLA can be found in Foresight Update #44.

CNSI updates website

from the Moí-better dept.
The California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) has redesigned its website, and added a huge amount of new information. The new site is much more accessible, provides more in-depth background information on CNSI goals and programs, more current news on CNSI research activities, and new information on the Instituteís leadership, faculty, and partners in private industry. If you havenít been to the CNSI website recently, the new site is worth a look.

Self-assembly captures media attention

A number of articles on various aspects of self-assembly in chemical and biological systems, and how it might be used to create nanotech devices, have appeared in recent weeks. These include a piece by Philip Ball in the November 2001 issue of Technology Review magazine (Ball also had an article on self-assembly in the 18 October 2001 issue of Nature, but it is not freely available online). Another article ran in the Boston Globe ("No assembly required", by G. Cook, 16 October 2001).
Technology Review also ran an item on its website on self-assembling peptide nanotubes developed by Reza Ghadiri at Scripps, which have potential use as a nano-mechanical antibiotic as reported in July 2001.

Nanoculture?

from the invitation-for-discussion dept.
JeremyTurner writes:
"October 26, 2001…
Dear Nanodot members and readers,
I was just wondering if the Nanotech initiative will eventually cover an arts/cultural wing? Some individuals such as myself eagerly await the creative benefits towards the Arts and Entertainment industries…In fact, K. Eric Drexler mentioned towards the end of his "Engines of Creation" book that the end-goal of an advanced nanotechnological civilization would be the proliferation of performance and interdisciplinary art. I am worried that due to the recent climate, most of the research will go towards defense and security and little towards health, strategic diplomacy, the environment and culture…Any thoughts on how our country will utilize this emerging technology to our creative benefit? I was also wondering if those outside the United States will benefit and how long would it take for a trickle down effect to occur once corporations such as the Texas-based Zyvex make that ultimate breakthrough?
Best regards,
Jeremy Turner
www.fivethreesix.com"

[Editor's note: the mandate for the U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative (currently) includes a component to examine the "societal implications" of nanotechnology. To date, the most significant result of this part of the initiative has been a NSF report issued early in 2001.]

Zyvex will lead $25 million MEMS/NEMS development program

from the Miniaturizing-manufacturing dept.
An extensive article in Dallas-Ft. Worth TechBiz ("National grant may help speed up Zyvexís plans", by Pavan Lall, 22 October 2001) provides an in-depth look at how Zyvex and its collaborators will benefit from a $US 25 million cost-sharing program that includes a $12.5 million grant from the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

More information on the NIST grant and development program is available in this Zyvex press release from 12 October 2001. Additional coverage also appeared in the Albany, N.Y. Times-Union ("Tiny robots, tremendous potential", by K. Aaron, 25 October 2001).

Along with university collaborators at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Center for Automation Technologies in Troy, N.Y., the University of Texas at Dallas and the University of North Texas, Zyvex will develop prototypical microscale assemblers using microelectromechanical systems, or MEMS, to assemble nanoscale components. The long-term goal is to develop even smaller nanoscale assembler systems. "Our ultimate goal is adaptable, affordable, molecularly precise manufacturing,'' said Rocky Angelucci, Zyvex's technical liaison and manager of the company's NIST program.

Computer system predicts social unrest and civil war

from the Not-quite-Hari-Seldon dept.
A press release from the New Scientist magazine (27 October 2001) reports researchers at Harvard and Ohio State Universities have developed what they term a "conflict barometer" gives a week-by-week measure of the scale of civil unrest. The system is based on a computer program that analyses several thousand news stories from Reuters daily, which classifies events into about 200 categories. These are then used to calculate the proportions of events involving civil protests, repressive government actions and outbreaks of violence. These three factors are fed into an equation to give a nation's "conflict carrying capacity" or CCC. The researchers reported their results in The Journal of Conflict Resolution.

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