Category: Nanotechnology

Anybody remember Alba, the glowing transgenic bunny? An item on the Nature Science Update website (24 October 2001) reports an Italian researcher has now created a floral version with daisies that glow under ultraviolet light. While the research was originally aimed at helping to tag plants such as transgenic crops, the glowing daisies were created as an aesthetic project; the technique reportedly could be applied to any white flower. However, due to public hostility toward genetically-modified organisms in Italy, there are no plans to commercialize the glowing flowers. The NSU item also mentions similarly modified pigs with glowing snouts.

The Institute for Molecular Manufacturing (IMM) has posted responses to a pair of articles in the September 2001 issue of Scientific American which attempt to cast doubt on the feasibility of nonbiological molecular assemblers. The issue devoted six articles and a great deal of text to various perspectives on nanotechnology. The issue included various attacks on the feasibility of molecular assemblers and the work of IMM Research Fellow K. Eric Drexler and his research associates. The responses deal with issues raised in articles by Richard Smalley of Rice University and George Whitesides at Harvard University.

from the if-only dept.
In an op/ed piece in the Washington Post (and other papers including the San Jose Mercury News) on the Sept 11 attack on the World Trade Center, well-known engineering expert and Duke Univ. professor Henry Petroski points out that strong materials made possible using nanotechnology might provide the framework for fire-resistant skyscapers. Petroski authored the popular book "To Engineer is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design", among others.

from the what-about-licensed-copies? dept.
Despite calls or actual legislation to ban human cloning around the globe, at least some people seem to believe itís inevitable — and that people need legal protection for their personal DNA patterns. The DNA Copyright Institute (DNACI) is trying to persuade famous individuals to copyright their DNA to prevent unwanted duplication.

According to the companyís website, DNACI provides services for high-profile individuals such as actors, models, athletes, musicians, scientists, and others seeking to show ownership of their Personal DNA Pattern in order to protect it against future actions such as DNA theft and misappropriation, cloning, and other unauthorized activities.

Press coverage of DNACI can be found from BBC News and New Scientist.

from the presidential-punditry dept.
United Press International has recently run a number of interesting — and largely critical — commentaries on President Bushís policy decisions regarding embryonic stem cell research and human cloning with terms that range from "unworkable" to "embarrassingly stupid."

Read more for a sampling.

from the be-careful-when-choosing-grandparents dept.
Andrew writes "This item from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences from New Scientist: Annibale Puca and his team of researchers at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) have used genetic linkage analysis to show a 95% probability that a particular region on chromosone four correlates to long lifespan in humans. Importantly this region appears to have a strong influence on the rate of ageing. Read about it at: http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns999 91201"

According to an HHMI press release, "By comparing the DNA of siblings who are extremely long-lived, researchers believe they have found a region on chromosome 4 that may hold an important clue to understanding human longevity. According to the researchers, their finding is "highly suggestive" that somewhere in the hundreds of genes in that region of chromosome 4 is a gene or genes whose subtle modifications can give a person a better chance of living well beyond the average life expectancy."
Additional information on this research can be found at EurekAlert and in this article from UPI.

A useful overview of work to develop nanoscale computing systems appears on the Science Notes website, an annual showcase of work by students in the Science Communication Program at the University of California, Santa Cruz. The article, "Atoms that add" by Erica Klarreich, covers work in molecular electronics, quantum dots and other approaches to nanoscale devices that could be used to build computing systems.

from the World-Watch dept.
According to a report in Tornado-Insider (ìThe Renaissance of Minatecì, by D. Coviello, 23 July 2001), funding has been secured for Minatec, the new research and incubation center for microtechnology and nanotechnology startups in Grenoble, France. Minatec operates under the French Commissariat de líEnergie Atomique (CEA) Laboratoire díélectronique, technologie et instrumentation (LETI; website is in French), based in Grenoble. The financing plan would provide 122 million euros (about U.S. $106 million). About half of the funds will come from nearby regions, towns, councils and departments, with the remainder provided by private institutions and the CEA. According to the report, Minatec aims to build a 60,000-square-meter center for 3,500 entrepreneurs, students, professors and researchers in the field of microelectronics and nanotechnology to work on developing products and launching start-up companies. It is expected to be completed by 2004.
If you read French, you can find more information at the Minatec website.

from the molectronics dept.
An extensive article in the New York Times ("Clever Wiring Harnesses Tiny Switches", by K. Chang, 17 July 2001) provides an overview of recent advances in the field of molecular electronics. The article focuses on work by Hewlett-Packard Labs. HP was awarded a patent on 3 July 2001 for a wiring strategy that takes describes how to connect molecular-scale devices by essentially assigning each switch a random marker that allows signals to be routed to it. The method is important because, as the NYT states, "conventional wires are too wide to attach to such molecular components, and the prospect of trying to hook together billions of components or more is daunting, if not impossible." The article quotes HP Labs research director Stanley Williams: "The current patent really is the blueprint for the research we're going to be doing for the next four years." HP was awarded another patent on a molecular memory device in October 2000.
Note: Access to content on the NYT website it free, but may require registration.

The article also notes that "researchers have already constructed the tiniest of components — molecules that act as switches — and they are now starting to tackle the harder problem: how to wire the tiny switches together into useful devices." The demonstration in June 2001 of a functional single-molecule switch is highlighted.

from the World-watch dept.
An interesting and extensive overview of the issues related to the regulation or banning of human cloning in South Korea appeared in the Korea Herald ("Experts call for urgent legislation on human cloning", by Yoo Soh-jung, 13 July 2001). The article also surveys similar debates in the United States and Europe.

The cloning issue is of particular concern in South Korea, in part because in 1998, researchers at Kyunghee University Hospital's infertility clinic claimed they succeeded in a human cloning test. The researchers removed the nucleus from the ovum of a 30-year-old woman and replaced it with a somatic cell. They claimed ovum successfully reached cell division and segmentation. (These results have since been disputed.) The director of the research team was quoted as saying that the "experiment was not designed to clone human beings but to clone specific organs for transplant."