WillWare writes "From Ananova, a story about Jennifer West's work at Rice University on "nanoshells", remniscent of earlier work at Sloan-Kettering:"
Tiny golden "bullets" could eventually be used to target and destroy cancerous tumours while leaving healthy tissue unharmed… researchers used nanoshells – tiny particles of silica coated with gold – to apply heat to tumours and destroy them using near-infrared light, a type of low-energy radiation.
Roland Piquepaille writes "Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have constructed a single strand of DNA that spontaneously folds into a highly rigid, nanoscale octahedron. These clonable structures represent a breakthrough because they can be manipulated with the standard tools of molecular biology and can easily be cloned, replicated, amplified, evolved, and adapted for various applications. This opens the way to future nanotools and to the minuscule computers of tomorrow, even if we are quite far from any real products. This overview contains more details. You'll also see a great picture of a clonable DNA octahedron, roughly the size of a small virus."
Roland Piquepaille writes "The nanotechnology research field is pretty fertile these days. Researchers at Harvard recently showed a nanowire which could be the next big diagnostic tool for doctors. Meanwhile, University of Southern California scientists have developed a 'nanosensor' that only works when noise is added. And another Harvard team has developed nanoscale fibers that are thinner than the wavelengths of light they carry which may have applications in ever-shrinking medical products and tiny photonics equipment such as nanoscale laser systems, tools for communications and sensors. This news roundup contains more details and references about these projects. You'll also find a stunning picture of a silica nanowire wrapping a beam of light around a strand of human hair."
Anonymous Coward writes "ECON Corporate Services (ECON) www.Investorideas.com, is pleased to announce the launch of the new domain http://www.nanotechnologyinvestment.com. … The site currently features a growing list of publicly traded companies in the nanotech sector, as well as industry and stock news, articles, links, research and resources for interested investors."
Roland Piquepaille writes "There is not a single day without some breakthrough in nanotechnology. This one comes from Purdue University and says that faster computer memories and higher density data storage could come from affordable self-assembled 'nanorings' made from cobalt. "The cobalt nanoparticles link up when they are brought close together. Normally you might expect these to form chains, but under the right conditions, the particles will assemble into rings instead," said Purdue chemist Alexander Wei. He also thinks this is a promising development towards nonvolatile memories, even if it not for tomorrow. This overview contains more details and references."
Benjamin Melki writes "We would like to inform the nanotechnology community about the recent launch of our internet site: http://www.nanovip.com. This site is now an international nanotechnology business directory…. We aim to help the nano business community to locate local or international partners, companies or competitors through our organized and searchable database. [We offer] detailed listing capabilities; allowing companies to use maximum page space to describe their business … We invite nano companies to check if they are listed on our site and to register (for free)."
Dr_Barnowl writes "The BBC saw fit to fuel the fires of fear over nanotech in last nights Horizon . While the web content is quite moderate, the prevailing image of nanotech the program presented was a swarm of CGI grey goo flying like a whirling dervish over a blasted desert (an image straight out of Michael Crichton's Prey , interspersed with time-lapse shots of reproducing cells and decaying animals as the commentary spoke of 'our day of reckoning'."
Mike Treder writes "CRN is pleased and proud to announce that we have been designated as 'Best Advocate' and 'Best of the Best' for 2003 by Nanotechnology Now." http://nanotech-now.com/2003-Awards/Best-of-the-Be st-2003.htm
Nanotechnology Now announces the Best of 2003 Awards. The "Best of the Best and Best Advocate" awards went to the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology (see following post), "for their efforts to help insure the safe use of nanotechnology-enabled products."
Roland Piquepaille writes "In a study carried out on rats, U.S. researchers have shown that carbon nanoparticles can move inside the brain after being inhaled, and also move from the lungs into the bloodstream. Both Nature and the Guardian publish interesting stories about this potential new danger to our health. 'Little is known about what effect nanoparticles will have when they reach the brain. The toxicity of the nanoparticles that are currently being used to build prototype nanosized electronic circuits — such as carbon nanotubes, which are produced in labs around the world — has not been thoroughly assessed.' This overview contains excerpts from both articles. Now, let's hope that nanotechnology research will continue and will not be harmed by a moratorium."
