UNESCO’s Division of Ethics of Science and Technology has taken a shot at writing about The Ethics and Politics of Nanotechnology. Nanotechnology Now has a brief critique. David Berube has a longer one. To do a thorough critique here of these kinds of documents would take too long—I’d be blogging all day, every day. Instead… Continue reading UNESCO on nanotechnology ethics & politics
John Faith brings our attention to an item at PhysicsWeb on how to overcome friction in nanosized mechanical devices: Friction is a big problem in nanosized devices because they have huge surface-to-volume ratios, which means that their surfaces quickly wear out and seize up. Traditional lubricants are useless in such machines because they become thick… Continue reading Towards frictionless nanomachines
Nanotech Briefs has announced its annual Nano 50 Awards: the top 50 products, technologies, and innovators. (Disclosure: I was on the judging committee — but only one of many judges, so if you disagree with the list, it’s not my fault!). One concern you may have, with which I would have to agree, is that… Continue reading Annual Nano 50 awards announced by Nanotech Briefs
John Brandon at PC Magazine does a close-up on the NanoRobotics Laboratory at Carnegie Mellon: Tiny robots will someday crawl up your spine—literally. These microscopic critters, currently in a development phase at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, are biomimetic (that is, based on biological principles), have bacteria motors attached to their near-invisible bodies, and can… Continue reading Carnegie Mellon pursues top-down path to nanorobots
The term “bottom-up” was originally used to refer to molecule-by-molecule assembly of atomically-precise products. But more recently we’ve seen the term used to describe processes that produce products which are not atomically precise. The following Azonano item is an example of this usage. However, it seems likely that this kind of research — which does… Continue reading DNA-directed self-assembly of nanowires
The July/August 2006 issue of Small Times is now available (also as a 6 MB pdf), and includes statistics on nanotech venture capital in the various states of the U.S. The top ten (on page 38): 1. California 100.0 2. Massachusetts 29.1 3. Texas 8.1 4. Missouri 7.5 5. Michigan 6.6 6. North Carolina 6.4… Continue reading And the winner is…California, for highest nanotech venture funding in U.S.
From Azonano.com, news from Canada: Forget the phrase, “sharp as a tack.” Now, thanks to new University of Alberta research the popular expression might become, “sharp as a single atom tip formed by chemically assisted spatially controlled field evaporation.” Maybe it doesn’t roll off the tongue as easily, but considering the researchers have created the… Continue reading Single-atom sharpest tip made in Canada
Foresight and other nanotech NGOs and companies have requested the U.S. House Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on Interior and Related Agencies, to allocate US$1 million for an EHS (environmental, health and safety) roadmap, to be prepared by the National Academy of Sciences. Organizations and companies participating in the call were: Air Products & Chemicals, Inc., Altair… Continue reading $1 million requested for nanotech EHS roadmap
In a release titled First nanotechnology journal from a major publisher to offer open access, Springer announced its new journal “Nanoscale Research Letters (NRL), which will be the first nanotechnology journal from a major commercial publisher to publish articles with open access. The new journal provides an interdisciplinary forum for the open communication of scientific… Continue reading Good news: Springer launches open access nano journal
It had to happen: Royal BodyCare Inc., just renamed RBC Life Sciences Inc., has now enabled all of us to go into the business of selling nanotech directly to the public: About the company: “We are the first company in network marketing to incorporate Nanotechnology into our product line.” About NanoCeuticals™: “RBC Life Sciences®, utilizing… Continue reading Now *you* can sell NanoCeuticals™!
