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Gaming the Future: The Book!

Category: Nanodot

Robot with gun operable over internet

from the new-challenge-for-hackers dept.
Senior Associate TomMcKendree writes "In what sounds like a bad idea, a researcher in Thailand has hooked up a robot with a gun, that can be controlled over the internet, and that can be set up to shoot automatically."
An excerpt: "[The inventor] has password-protected the 'fire' command for when the robot is operated over the Internet. 'We think the decision to fire should always be a human decision,' he says. 'Otherwise it could kill people.' " CP: How reassuring, a password.

Nanotubes best heat conductors

from the who-needs-metals? dept.
Senior Associate Brian Wang writes "University of Penn scientists have found that carbon nanotubes are the best heat conductors. Sound can conduct thermal energy at 10,000m per sec down the tubes. They could be very useful as heat sinks in chips. The weak binding between tubes that allows the heat conductance must be overcome in order for strong materials to be created from thicker structures: http://www.eurekalert.org/rele ases/up-iac083000.html"

Nano@HOME project proposed

from the more-fun-than-SETI dept.
Senior Associate Robert Bradbury writes "In the large group meeting, at the very end of the Foresight Spring 2000 Senior Associates gathering , I made a brief statement about the need for a Nano@HOME project. Available now is some background rationale and relevant links in the Nano@Home Project Proposal. This relates to Bryan Brun's recent proposal for open sourcing nanotech, discussed here, as well as possible methods the Foresight Institute and/or IMM could use to generate more public support for nanotechnology and even potential revenue sources."

Protective cage for nanoscale structures

from the behave-or-be-caged dept.
bbrelin brings to our attention work at Purdue in which 10-40 nm structures are "caged" to protect them from unwanted reactions. Now used for metal clusters, such a process may be useful in protecting more complex nanodevices:
"Scientists are trying to use these to build new, stronger materials one molecule at a time for applications ranging from medicine to aerospace. But this bottoms-up approach has had a downside: Nanoparticles can be so fragile and unstable that if their surfaces touch, they will fuse together, losing their special shape and properties…The porous coating permits the particle inside to interact with substances outside, but keeps the nanoparticles from interacting with each other."

Zero-cost online journals urged for 3rd world

from the is-it-"property"-or-is-it-science?-let's-decide dept.
BillSpence writes " In light of MNT security issues and the need to include as much of the Human family in the discussion as possible, we intend to participate in this outstanding idea from Dan Agin, Editor/Publisher SCIENCE-WEEK. –Bill Spence, NanoTechnology Magazine
From Science Week:
A Call to Scientific Journals to Assist Developing Countries
The Email journal ScienceWeek is now offering free online subscriptions to residents of developing countries. For each new paid subscription, an equivalent free subscription is immediately provided to a developing country resident. Details and the definition of "developing country" can be found at http://www.scienceweek.com/freesub.htm ScienceWeek calls upon all science journals with online editions to join us in this effort to increase the dissemination of scientific information and improve science education in the developing world.

Christian Right Lobbies To Overturn Second Law Of Thermodynamics

from the up-next:-gravity-declared-unfair-to-elderly dept.
"America's Finest News Source" has the story: "TOPEKA, KS–The second law of thermodynamics, a fundamental scientific principle stating that entropy increases over time as organized forms decay into greater states of randomness, has come under fire from conservative Christian groups, who are demanding that the law be repealed." Note: This is not a real news story…yet.

US military funding nanotech & implant research

from the implanted-nano-survelliance-for-combat-readiness dept.
William Morgan reminds us of the Defense University Research Initiative on Nanotechnology (covered here previously) and adds: "Topic #16…on this related page may be a mind-opener for some too!" CP: the whole list at that second URL is interesting; see also items 8, 12, 13, 18, 35, 36.

Ultimate computer noodling

from the we'll-settle-for-nanocomputers dept.
brian writes "Nice article in New Scientist that serves to establish both a physical upper limit to computing and a timeline. Kinda 'de rigueur' for Foresight but I find this kind of article useful for explaining singularity-like concepts to people. I.e. getting people to realize that one day (rsn) a 1 Ghz Pentium will seem as useless as my old 1 Mhz Apple ][+ seems today:

So here is where Moore's law must end, with a billion-degree laptop or an exploding submicroscopic black hole. "The truth is we have no notion of how to attain these ultimate limits," admits Lloyd. But don't despair–put your faith in human ingenuity. If the rate of progress doesn't slow, we'll reach these ultimate physical limits in just two hundred years' time.

Originally from Slashdot; see ensuing discussion if you like."

"Say Ah!" article now online

from the hurry-up-we're-aging-fast dept.
Senior Associate RFreitas writes "If anyone would like to read my recent nontechnical nanomedicine article "Say Ah!", published in the July/August 2000 issue of The Sciences, it is now online." An excerpt: "The goals of nanorobotics may seem overblown, even wacky, to people today. But consider that, as recently as 1874, the British surgeon Sir John Eric Erichsen predicted that 'the abdomen, the chest, and the brain will be forever shut from the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon.'…The hope and the dream is that, sometime in the not-too-distant future, [miniature medical] devices will be able to eliminate virtually all the common diseases of the twentieth century, and virtually all bodily pain and suffering as well."

In-depth analysis of "rift" over nanotech goals

from the required-reading dept.
UIUC mechanical engineering student Jon Horek has produced an excellent study for the IEEE titled A Critical Analysis of National Nanotechnology Research Funding (in pdf). It accurately describes, in some detail, the "rift" between researchers who advocate molecular manufacturing (MM) and those who do not. Horek concludes that the U.S. gov't working group on nanotechnology should increase dialogue with the MM research community. An astute analysis, long overdue.

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