The winner of the 2009 Foresight Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology (Theory), Robert A. Freitas Jr., has now been granted the first diamond mechanosynthesis patent. This is not just the first DMS patent but also, I believe, the first mechanosynthesis patent that has ever been issued. Freitas is the sole inventor on this patent, which was… Continue reading Freitas awarded first mechanosynthesis patent
Once again, the Society of Manufacturing Engineers has donated one free pass to their Nanomanufacturing Conference to Foresight: April 14-15, 2010 — SME Nanomanufacturing Conference Hilton Phoenix East in Mesa, Arizona http://www.sme.org/cgi-bin/get-event.pl?–001875-000007-nhome–SME- This includes free admission to one of the pre-conference workshops on April 13, including Understanding Nanotechnology, taught by Foresight Senior Associate Tihamer “Tee”… Continue reading Free pass to SME Nanomanufacturing Conference
In the mailbag today: A new fiction book Beyond Guilty by Richard Brawer, who got help on it from Robert Freitas, winner of the 2009 Foresight Institute Feynman Prize for Theory. Brawer wrote, “Robert A. Freitas Jr., Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Molecular Manufacturing, has graciously edited the references to nanomanufacturing and nanomedicine… Continue reading New sf novel includes nanomedicine, reviewed by Robert Freitas
If you appreciate the mind-boggling abilities of today’s nanoscale probes and microscopes, and/or want to move your career in the direction of nanotechnology, consider joining the Center for Probing the Nanoscale gang at Stanford’s 6th Annual Nanoprobes Workshop on May 14, 2010. Registration accepted until May 7. Fees range from $100 for industry to free for… Continue reading State-of-the-art Nanoprobes at Stanford, May 14
One way to reach molecular machine systems is to get really, really good at protein engineering. If that’s your goal, you’ll want to be in Boston on May 17-21 for PEGS 2010, “the essential protein engineering summit”. Not sure if this is your pathway? Just reading the talk titles is educational. And they have great… Continue reading The protein engineering path to molecular manufacturing
Wondering how U.S. federal nanotech tax dollars are spent? Obama’s first President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) review will be webcast live tomorrow, March 12. This review only occurs every two years so this is your big chance to see what the current administration thinks of the NNI. Thirty minutes are set… Continue reading Live webcast tomorrow March 12 on U.S. Nat'l Nanotech Initiative
A round-up of commentary about the state of nanotech research, given the 50th anniversary of Feynman’s talk: Adam Keiper in the WSJ If this dispute over nano-nomenclature only involved some sniping scientists and a few historians watching over a tiny corner of Feynman’s legacy, it would be of little consequence. But hundreds of companies and… Continue reading Recent commentary
Foresight ally Jeff Ubois has a new book out, published by Fondazione Giannino Bassetti, Conversations on Innovation, Power, and Responsibility. Yours truly is quoted. An excerpt: Peterson suggests that a closer look at the software developers might provide some clues about responsible cultures of innovation. “If you really want to know how to create a sense of responsibility,… Continue reading Software responsibility as model for nanotech?
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
Dexter Johnson writes, “What Should We Call the (Nano)technology in Your Stain-resistant Pants?” … the competition for ownership of the term “nanotechnology” that seems to persist between the adherents to MNT, as exemplified by the Foresight Institute, and those who use the term to acknowledge developments in manipulating and exploiting structures that have at least… Continue reading Nanopants, redux
