We here at Foresight are not particularly interested in climate change — the effects, even if you take the IPCC projections as gospel, are dwarfed by the capability of nanotech (for good or ill). But we are considerably more concerned about the way science is done, and whether it can reliably find the truth. So… Continue reading Feynman on Climategate
Technology Review: Complex Integrated Circuits Made of Carbon Nanotubes. The first three-dimensional carbon nanotube circuits, made by researchers at Stanford University, could be an important step in making nanotube computers that could be faster and use less power than today’s silicon chips. Such a computer is still at least 10 years off, but the Stanford… Continue reading Technology Review: Complex Integrated Circuits Made of Carbon Nanotubes
There’s an amusing cartoon at XKCD: … which underlines yet again how amazing the technology is beneath the abilities we take for granted everyday (and put to very ordinary uses). Back in this post: The heavily-loaded takeoff I pointed out that that was likely to be the fate of most of the to-us astounding capabilities… Continue reading nano-productivity
The Speculist blog’s FastForwardRadio podcast is featuring speakers from Foresight’s upcoming conference next month (January 16-17 in Palo Alto) for the next few weeks. Tonight: Futurist Michael Anissimov and nanotechnologist Ralph Merkle. 10:00 Eastern/9:00 Central/8:00 Mountain/7:00 Pacific.
One of the reasons I inveigh so heavily against the use of the word “nanotechnology” to mean merely stuff that’s measured in nanometers, is that while it focuses on the size — “nano” — it tends to ignore the function — the “technology.” Nanotech to me is about high-energy-density, high-frequency, eutactic machinery. To those focused… Continue reading "Nanotechnology" causes global warming
See this article at New Scientist Real red blood cells owe their astonishing agility to their “biconcave” or tyre-like shape. To create synthetic particles with the same agility, Samir Mitragotri of the University of California and his team got their inspiration from the way real red blood cells acquire their final shape in the body.… Continue reading Not respirocytes yet, but …
Scientists use nanosensors for first time to measure cancer biomarkers in blood. From Eurekalert: New Haven, Conn.—A team led by Yale University researchers has used nanosensors to measure cancer biomarkers in whole blood for the first time. Their findings, which appear December 13 in the advanced online publication of Nature Nanotechnology, could dramatically simplify the… Continue reading Scientists use nanosensors for first time to measure cancer biomarkers in blood
Ray Solomonoff, inventor of algorithmic probability and one of the founding fathers of AI, died December 7 after a brief illness. I met Ray at the AI@50 conference at Dartmouth, given to celebrate the first AI conference and honor the five then surviving participants. He was very friendly, still sharp and insightful, and we had… Continue reading Ray Solomonoff, 1926-2009
From the TR Physics Arxiv blog: The quantum vacuum has fascinated physicists ever since Hendrik Casimir and Dirk Polder suggested in 1948 that it would exert a force on a pair of narrowly separated conducting plates. Their idea was eventually confirmed when the force was measured in 1997. Just how to exploit this force is… Continue reading Quantum propulsion?
Our conference is coming up January 16-17. Conference page and registration info here. Time is running out for registration and lodging discounts! I put together the slate of speakers for this conference by inviting the speakers I personally wanted to hear, talking about AI and nanotech and how they will change the shape of the… Continue reading Foresight 2010: register now for discounts!
