Nanodot Archives

Gaming the Future: The Book!

Researchers create superconducting nanotubes

from the cold-current- dept.
United Press International reports researchers in Hong Kong have created one-dimensional, single-walled carbon nanotubes that posses superconducting traits, adding to their potential to become the basis of a new generation of ultra-tiny electronics. Z.K. Tang and Ping Sheng, physicists at the Institute of Nanoscience and Technology at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, led a research team that showed single isolated nanotubes can be superconductive. Furthermore, the tubes were one-dimensional. They report on the discovery in 29 June 2001 issue of Nature.
"The isolated, highly aligned and very small diameter — around four angstroms or about the width of four atoms — nanotubes demonstrate a transition to superconducting behavior around 15 degrees Kelvin, a much higher temperature than for superconductivity observed in nanotube bundles," according to a summary of the research.

Media calls for greater emphasis on nanotechnology

from the public-affairs dept.
A pair of recent guest editorials in major San Francisco and Seattle newspapers have called for increased focus and greater funding for U.S. nanotechnology programs:

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Hal Plotkin, who is also the Silicon Valley Correspondent for CNBC.com, writes in his piece ("The Tech Sector Needs A Nanotechnology Target", 21 June 2001): "As a field, nanotechnology is about where rocket science was at the dawn of the Space Age. Huge early investments in the space race yielded technological dividends that are only now beginning to dwindle. A similar race toward inner space will probably lead to even more lasting rewards." Plotkin also notes "Concerns over safety have already led to the creation of a voluntary set of ethical guidelines for nanotechnologists. The proposed rules say a lot about what could happen if something goes wrong", and points to the Foresight Guidelines.
And in the Seattle Times, Thomas Kalil, a former deputy assistant to the president for technology and economic policy in the Clinton administration, criticizes the Bush Administrationís proposed FY2002 budget (" Cutting-edge small technology deserves big U.S. investment ", 28 June 2001). Even though nanotech-oriented programs in the U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative saw a 23% increase in the proposed budget, overall funding for many of the agencies involved was cut. Kalil writes: "Unfortunately, the budget the Bush administration has submitted to Congress will make it difficult to significantly expand the NNI. The Bush plan would cut the research budgets of the National Science Foundation, NASA and the Department of Energy, agencies that all play a key role in the NNI . . . For a number of reasons, however, a failure to significantly expand U.S. government funding for nanotechnology would be a serious blow to America's future."
Kalil concludes, "At a minimum, the Bush administration and Congress should work together to double federal spending on nanotechnology research over the next five years. America's economic and technology leadership in the 21st century will depend on these kinds of farsighted investments."

U.S. "Soldier Nanotechnologies" program comes to attention

from the battletech dept.
The U.S. Armyís new Soldier Nanotechnolgies program to create a University Affiliated Research Center (UARC), with industry partners, to develop nanometer-scale science and technology solutions that could be incorporated into a soldier's gear, has attracted considerable attention in the media.

An article in Interactive Week ("Army To Invest In Cyberuniform Center", by Doug Brown, 25June 2001) reports that with an investment of $10 million annually, the Army is looking to collaborate with a to-be-decided university to start an Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies. This institute will study how to incorporate new technology into the clothes and other equipment troops will carry in the 21st century.
UPI reporter Kelly Hearn filed three reports: "Army developing high-tech uniform", and "Congressional panel hears plans for nanotechnology in the military", both 27 June 2001. The second article reports on the testimony of Delores Etter, deputy undersecretary of defense for science and technology. Etter, along with chief scientists from other military departments, before the House Armed Services Strategic Subcommittee on the state of military research and development, on 26 June 2001. Prepared statements by Etter and others can be found on the Committeeís website, but these do not contain much explicit mention of nanotechnology. And Hearn also interviewed Dr. Michael Andrews, deputy assistant secretary of the Army for Research and Technology about Army research programs in nanotechnology and robotics.

An Army-sponsored workshop that initiated the program was previously covered here on nanodot.

Distant shores: nanotech concerns rural agritech advocacy group

from the concerned-but-confused dept.
For an interesting example of the distant shores the concept of molecular nanotechnology is washing up upon, and the concerns being raised about nanotech by people and groups not directly connected to the research and development community, take a look at this report issued by the Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI): The ETC Century: Erosion, Technological Transformation and Corporate Concentration in the 21st Century, by P.R. Mooney (February 2001). [Note: this is a link to an Adobe Acrobat PDF file, not a web page.]
Although the RAFI author does take note of the potential benefits of nanotechnology, concerns over the potential negative impacts seem more prominent.

RAFI is an international non-governmental organization headquartered in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, dedicated to the conservation and sustainable improvement of agricultural biodiversity, and to the socially responsible development of technologies useful to rural societies. RAFI is concerned about the loss of genetic diversity – especially in agriculture – and about the impact of intellectual property on agriculture and world food security.

Gold nanotube arrays provide sensitive separation, detection systems

from the non-carbon dept.
An extensive article in Chemical and Engineering News ("From Membranes to Nanotubules", by A. Maureen Rouhi, 11 June 2001) describes work with gold template-synthesized nanotubule membranes that are enabling new approaches to separations and analytical sensing. Researchers led by Charles R. Martin, a chemistry professor at the University of Florida, are creating membranes composed of gold nanotubules, and are working to interface the nanotubule membrane architecture with biological recognition agents for applications in chemical separations and single-molecule sensing.

Nanotechnology Down Under

from the World-Watch dept.
Australasian Science, a monthly popular science magazine published by the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science (ANZAAS), has devoted most of its June 2001 issue to nanotechnology. Although not all the content is online at the AS website, an interesting article ("Nanomachines: The New Industrial Revolution") by Michael Wilson, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Technology in Sydney, is online.

However, you can find most of the rest of the articles from that issue on the SmallTimes website, including one on "Ethics in the Nanoworld", by John Weckert.

Cleaning up the patent system

An interesting article on dubious patents ("Owning the Future: Patent Pollution", by Seth Shulman) appears in the July/August 2001 issue of Technology Review Magazine.
Shulman points out, "as almost anyone in the intellectual-property game will tell you, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office continues to grant patents that are, well, patently invalid. I'm talking about patents for things that have either already been invented or are so straightforward and apparent they don't meet the patent's law requirements for being novel and nonobvious."
He continues, "For years, people have griped about these bogus patent claims . . . And the patent office has long promised to do better. But now two Web-based ventures, IP.com and BountyQuest, are taking their own steps to rein in bad patentsóeither by stopping them before they are granted or by knocking them out after the fact. What makes these startups really interesting is that they are attracting support across a broad spectrum of intellectual-property players — from patent system boosters to open-source programmers. In the polarized IP field, that is no small feat."

IP.com is a partner with Foresight in the PriorArt.org project, a joint venture that gives open-source and free-software developers the chance to 'defensively publish', and place their innovations in a searchable software database.

Researcher describes method to allow AI systems to argue

from the Open-the-pod-bay-doors,-HAL dept.
Ronald P. Loui, Ph.D., an associate professor of computer science at Washington University in St. Louis, has described a method for using artificial intelligence that incorporates the ability to argue into computer programs. His work is initially focused on legal arguments.

Louiís article, "Logical Models of Argument," consolidates research results from the mid-80s to the present. It appears in the current ACM Computing Surveys.
According to a press release on Loui's work, A.I argument systems permit a new kind of reasoning to be embedded in complex programs. He says the reasoning is much more natural, more human, more social, even more fair. His proposal for A.I. argumentation is based on defeasible reasoning — which recognizes that a rule supporting a conclusion can be defeated. The conclusion is what A.I. specialists call an argument instead of a proof. Defeasible reasoning draws upon patterns of reasoning outside of mathematical logic, such as ones found in law, political science, rhetoric and ethics. Defeasible reasoning is based on rules that donít always hold if there are good reasons for an exception. It also permits rules to be more or less relevant to a situation. In this sense it is like analogy: One analogy might be good, but a different one might be better.

Nanotechnology and Societal Transformation

from the preparing-for-the-future dept.
A paper on "Nanotechnology and Societal Transformation" by Michael M. Crow and Daniel Sarewitz appears on the Center for Science, Policy, and Outcomes (CSPO) website. The authors conclude:
"Should nanoscience and nanotechnology yield even a small proportion of their anticipated advances, the impacts on society will be far-reaching and profound . . . We can allow these transformations to surprise and overwhelm us, and perhaps even threaten the prospects for further progress. Or we can choose to be smart about preparing for, understanding, responding to, and even managing the coming changes, in order to enhance the benefits, and reduce the disruption and dislocation, that must accompany any revolution."

The paper was presented at the workshop on the Societal Implications of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology sponsored by the U.S. National Science and Technology Councilís Subcommittee on Nanoscale Science, Engineering and Technology (NSET) in September 2000.

RF powered Nanotech

from the on-the-right-wavelength? dept.
Edd writes "I was just wondering if anybody else thought it possible to power nanoscale electronic devices with the ambient RF [radio frequency] signals that are present in our everyday lives. I want to know what are some of the limitations of such a thing (other than it is a really small amount of power). The angle I am coming from is from electromagnetic induction in its simplest form, the idea being that you have electronics that have no onboard power supply, but draw all their electric power needs from RF or other electromagnetic waves that are present in the environment. It would be neat to have a wireless power supply, no?"

Gaming the Future: The Book!

Category: Nanodot

Researchers create superconducting nanotubes

Media calls for greater emphasis on nanotechnology

U.S. "Soldier Nanotechnologies" program comes to attention

Distant shores: nanotech concerns rural agritech advocacy group

Gold nanotube arrays provide sensitive separation, detection systems

Nanotechnology Down Under

Cleaning up the patent system

Researcher describes method to allow AI systems to argue

Nanotechnology and Societal Transformation

RF powered Nanotech

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