We mentioned earlier the Harvard Business Review list of Breakthrough Ideas for 2007. Nanotechnology shows up again in another idea on the list — this one rather more controversial. Phillip Longman observes that falling birthrates lead, over time, to an increase in families with more conservative values, because they reproduce more. Seems plausible. He then… Continue reading Nanotechnology alleged to aid patriarchy
One advanced tool for nanotechnology that has been proposed is the disassembler, a molecular machine system that could take apart objects atom-by-atom and record their structure to that level of precision. Sarah Fister Gale at Small Times brings us news of a macroscale tool that claims to be able to do something quite similar: The… Continue reading Nanotechnology tool takes things apart atom by atom
The busy Project for Emerging Nanotechnologies over at the Wilson Center is having another meeting-plus-webcast, this time on February 27, noon Eastern time, on the topic of “Using Nanotechnology to Improve Health Care in Developing Countries”: What if doctors in Kenya could equip cells of the retina with photoswitches that can be flipped on, essentially… Continue reading Webcast: Nanotechnology for health care in developing countries
John Walker brings to our attention an apparently distressing set of concerns regarding the new version of Windows, known as Vista, written up by Peter Gutman as A Cost Analysis of Windows Vista Content Protection. Excerpts: The only way to protect the HFS [Hardware Functionality Scan] process therefore is to not release any technical details… Continue reading Windows Vista: potential negative impact on nanotechnology
Celebrating its 20th anniversary, the nanotechnology classic book Engines of Creation is out in a new, free e-book version (5.4 MB pdf) from WOWIO. Material added since the original edition includes a Letter from the Author, Feynman’s 1959 talk, Advice to Aspiring Nanotechnologists (very similar to the author’s Foresight Briefing 1: Studying Nanotechnology, a longtime… Continue reading Nanotechnology classic Engines of Creation new edition
The Harvard Business Review has named its top 20 Breakthrough Ideas for 2007, and home-based, atomically-precise manufacturing makes the list. Business in the Nanocosm, by UC Berkeley business prof Rashi Glazer, does a good job of conveying the future of home-based nanomanufacturing. Excerpts: Conventional manufacturing carves or distills a purpose-suited device from a mass of… Continue reading Nanotechnology: Just-in-time nanomanufacturing at home
In case you missed the China webcast by the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, here’s a short summary from IT Week by Clement James: China bets big on nanotech Country takes aim at $3 trillion global market in nanotech products Nanotechnology is key to the future economic success… Continue reading China rapidly gaining in nanotechnology competition
Public attitudes toward nanotechnology are being tracked closely — perhaps more closely than for any previous set of newly-arriving technologies. The surveys vary a bit, but here’s one by Prof. Steven Currall of University College London that fits my informal observations: One core finding of our research revealed that current public sentiment towards nanotechnology is… Continue reading Public still sensible about nanotechnology
UK nanotech researcher David Leigh and team have published new work in Nature on a nanotechnology achievement — an information rachet, inspired by Maxwell’s Demon but not violating the Second Law — that sounds possibly important for molecular nanomachines. At rotaxane.net, you can read the full paper (pdf), or a more accessible explanation: Chemists at… Continue reading UK nanotechnology team makes motor-mechanism for nanomachines
It’s a challenge to study something that hasn’t happened yet, but they’re taking a shot at it over at the Center for Nanotechnology in Society at Arizona State University, as part of a lecture series titled Studying the Future of Nanotechnology: Establishing Empirical and Conceptual Foundations (pdf). Powerpoint slides and mp3 recordings are now available… Continue reading Studying the future of nanotechnology
