Category: Nanotechnology

from the now-the-boss-will-pay! dept.
Looking for a way to get your company to pay your way to hear about nanotechnology in Vancouver this July? (You should be — Vancouver is wonderful.) Now you can: The dead-tree version of the journal Simulation reports that SCSC 2000 topics include "Nanotechnology and Molecular Manufacturing". The conference website boasts that "The theme for this year's conference is: MAINSTREAM Simulation. SCSC 2000 addresses the MAINSTREAM of simulation…in the MAINSTREAM of world-wide government and industry." (OK, we get the point.) Other topics and meetings held in conjunction help ensure that if you work with computers, you may be able to justify this trip. Can anyone recommend/disrecommend this meeting?

from the yippee-ti-yi-yo,-get-along-little-moieties dept.
alison describes a report on progress toward the ability to "herd" atoms and molecules using the electric and magnetic fields of an integrated circuit. Click below for details. "The manipulation of atoms with the magnetic and electric fields of integrated circuits strikes me as the most viable candidate method I have heard for a real 'assembler.' Note that by using Bose-Einstein condensates as the source for atoms, one can control not only their position, but also their orientation and state of excitation (ionized, vibrating, etc.). I believe that this approach is more viable than mechanosynthesis, although it's obviously still early in the game."

from the tinier-and-tinier-hammers-and-chisels dept.
Jeffrey Soreff points out an article in Science [registration required] describing silicon crystals grown with "nearly uniform" diameters of 4-5 nm. The feat was performed using diphenylsilane in supercritical hexane at 500° C and 270 atmospheres. Click below for Jeffrey's summary of the article.

from the it-was-right-here-just-a-minute-ago! dept.
WillWare writes "Heise On-Line recently carried this story about what appear to be working quantum dots, made by a couple of chemists in Essen. Translation below rendered by Babelfish with a little help where it made obvious mistakes."

(I think Babelfish means "prize" instead of "price" for the "Förderpreis".)

from the in-a-gattaca-vida dept.
Gina "Nanogirl" Miller writes "Cornell nano-researchers create component for a 'lab on a chip' that cuts DNA separation from a day to a matter of minutes. Researchers have long sought to create a "laboratory on a chip" that could greatly speed up the process of DNA sequencing. That goal has come a step closer with the announcement that Cornell University researchers have built and tested a nanofabricated device that can separate DNA fragments by length. (Cornell press release May 15, 00) link "

from the here-come-weird-robots dept.
Work at Brandeis on polymorphic (shape-changing) robots will help us get used to this idea long before they can be implemented with nanotechnology. Sounds like science fiction…

NANOGIRL writes "—*Molecules with attitude, ready to perform. Functioning nanostructures self-assemble out of ink. Observed through a microscope, dried ink appears as a jumble of particles. Now an ink has been produced that, as it dries, can be seen under very powerful microscopes to self-assemble into orderly layers of very tiny caves — actually, nanoscopic pores — each leading to the next. Within these caves, ligands — active molecules that exhibit molecular recognition charactistics — interrogate any gas or fluid, laser light, or electric or magnetic field passing through. (Sandia 5/4/00) link —*Magnetic actuation enables three-dimensional MEMS. Recent work in magnetic actuation at the University of Illinois promises to enable the mass production of microelectromechanical system (MEMS) devices that can self-assemble "upward" from their substrate into the third dimension.(EETimes 5/15/00) link —*New Info from Slow Muons. The magnetic properties of superconductors are at least as fascinating as their extremely high electrical conductivity. As researchers try to understand the new high temperature superconductors(HTSCs) at a fundamental level, they need to scrutinize magnetic fields inside these materials. A new technique using cold muons, described in the 22 May PRL, can probe these fields within NANOMETERS of a material's surface–by far the most detailed look ever. (PRF 5/15/00) link "

from the seven-year-snooze-bar dept.
Fred Chamberlain writes "In anticipation of the gathering, a short-story about people waking up from cryostasis (thanks to nanotech) is now posted on Alcor's website. It's a reprint from LifeQuest Issue No. 4 (Nov. 1988), one of the early stories inspired by "Engines". Comments were requested from a few people who either will be at the gathering, or should be. So far, all that's emerged is a flurry of email about how some of us define virtual reality vs. cyberspace, bio-cyber interfaces, etc. This weekend we're going to be trying to visualize what's coming and how to deal with it. Here's one possible scenario. "