An article in New Scientist with the optimistic title “Artificial life forms evolve basic intelligence” gives an update on how two specific examples of computational artificial life is doing in terms of evolving to have more interesting behavior. An excerpt: Brains that have been evolved with HyperNEAT have millions of connections, yet still perform a… Continue reading Can "artificial life" evolve intelligence? An update
The Space Studies Institute will hold Space Manufacturing 14 on Oct. 30-31, 2010 at NASA Ames here in Silicon Valley. Topics to be covered include: Session 1: Space Transportation Architecture Session 2: Closed Environment Life Support Systems Session 3: Robotics and Space Manufacturing Session 4: Extraterrestrial Prospecting Session 5: Engineering Materials from Non-Terrestrial Resources Session 6: Space… Continue reading Space Manufacturing Conference: Abstracts due Aug. 16
Nanowerk describes a recent advance toward the “e-nose” by an international team of researchers. Team member Andrei Kolmakov explains: Our approach demonstrates the potential of combining bottom-up nanowire fabrication protocols with state-of-the art microfabrication methods to design prospective simple sensing arrays which, in principle, might be scaled down to the size of few micrometers and… Continue reading Nanotech-based electronic noses getting smaller
We’ve received an update on work by our friend Anirban Bandyopadhyay at the National Institute for Materials Science in Tsukuba, Japan. Here’s the abstract of his recent Nature Physics paper: Modern computers operate at enormous speeds—capable of executing in excess of 1013 instructions per second—but their sequential approach to processing, by which logical operations are… Continue reading Cellular automata used for 700-bit parallel processing
Foresight Research Analyst and Technical Editor James Lewis has tracked the careers of those receiving Foresight’s student award. Here are his findings on the careers of a few of these gifted young researchers: We at Foresight find it gratifying to track the subsequent careers of those who have won our nanotechnology-related prizes and awards, in… Continue reading Foresight's student award-winners go on to great things
The Open Science Summit on July 29-31 in Berkeley is looking better and better. Topics include OpenPCR, DIY biology, open source hardware, brain preservation, synthetic biology, gene patents, open data, open access journals, reputation engines, crowd-funding and microfinance for science, citizen science, biohacking, open source biodefense, cure entrepreneurs, open source drug discovery, patent pools, tech transfer, and… Continue reading Don't miss the Open Science Summit, July 29-31, in person or live webcast
We can get a hint of the power coming from longer-term nanotech by seeing what is being discovered today on how to use some of the new materials becoming available. Many of us have been intrigued with graphene, a one-atom-thick planar sheet of bonded carbon atoms. It’s no surprise that exciting applications are being found… Continue reading Single-atom sheet of carbon clears arsenic from water
If you’re having trouble remembering to stop by Nanodot (this blog), and also having trouble keeping up with your RSS feeds (as I am), there’s an easier way to keep up with Nanodot news, albeit a bit delayed. Once a month we compile all the most recent Nanodot posts — plus other news such as… Continue reading Update e-newsletter: an easy way to monitor Nanodot posts
Finishing off the week on a fun note, we see that robotic firm Willow Garage — of special interest to Foresight due to their emphasis on open source — has achieved an important milestone in robotics: namely, the ability for a robot to fetch a beer from the fridge and deliver it. It’s worth seeing… Continue reading Willow Garage reaches robotic milestone involving beer (video)
The nomination/submission process for the 2010 Foresight Institute Feynman Prizes in Nanotechnology is now open. Two $5000 prizes are offered, one for theory and one for experimental achievement. These prizes recognize progress toward the goal of atomic-level control in the construction of macroscale 3D objects: an ambitious goal but one toward which physicist Richard Feynman… Continue reading Nominations now open for 2010 Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology
