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Gaming the Future: The Book!

Category: news

Will nanobots alter how our brains function?

from the So-what's-really-real dept.
Gina Miller writes "An audience at the Boston Fall Sensors Expo conference and exhibition was exposed in a keynote entitled 'The Rapidly Shrinking Sensor: Merging Bodies and Brain' to the idea that within a few decades nanodevices will fundamentally alter how our brains function. A September 26 EETimes article Inventor foresees implanted sensors aiding brain functions reports 'provocative predictions' by speech-recognition pioneer and Foresight Advisor Ray Kurzweil that 'by 2030 nanosensors could be injected into the human bloodstream, implanted microchips could amplify or supplant some brain functions, and individuals could share memories and inner experiences by 'beaming' them electronically to others'."

U of L Chemical Engineers' Process Grows Crops of Nanowires

Judith Hughes at the University of Louisville (Kentucky, USA) submitted this press release on 13 May 2002: "U OF L CHEMICAL ENGINEERSí PROCESS GROWS CROPS OF NANOWIRES

LOUISVILLE, Ky. ñ University of Louisville chemical engineer Mahendra Sunkara, doctoral student Shashank Sharma and their research group have developed a process for growing nanometer-scale wires that allows them to control more easily the minute wiresí size, structure and composition."

More information is available at the UL Chemical Vapor Assisted Materials Synthesis Lab in the Chemical Engineering Department

Scientists Produce Long, Hair-Like Nanotubes

Two submissioins on this item:

waynerad writes "For the first time, researchers have created a simplified method for making long, continuous, hair-like strands of carbon nanotubes that are as much as eight inches in length. This breakthrough, reported in the May 3 issue of Science, is a first step toward creating such products as microcables for electrical devices or mechanically robust electrochemical actuators for artificial muscles.

The researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and collaborators at Tsinghua University in Beijing found that chemical vapor deposition (CVD), a widely used technique to grow nanotubes, has a high yield of long strands when a sulfur-containing compound and hydrogen are added to the process."

And Brian Wang writes "For the first time, researchers have created a simplified method for making long, continuous, hair-like strands of carbon nanotubes that are as much as eight inches in length. This breakthrough, reported in the May 3 issue of Science, is a first step toward creating such products as microcables for electrical devices or mechanically robust electrochemical actuators for artificial muscles. The researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and collaborators at Tsinghua University in Beijing found that chemical vapor deposition (CVD), a widely used technique to grow nanotubes, has a high yield of long strands when a sulfur-containing compound and hydrogen are added to the process. Researchers have previously created nanotube fibers with more complex methods, but because CVD is commonly used to make nanotubes, it would be easily adaptable and more efficient for synthesizing the long strands for practical applications. This new method produced nanotubes that measured 20 centimeters, much longer than conventional nanotubes, said Pulickel Ajayan. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-05/rpi -spl050102.php"

Debate on U.S. ban on human cloning intensifies

Gina Miller writes "In Dispute Over Cloning Experiments Intensifies, The New York Times reported on the debate in the Senate, as of March 6, 2002, on a proposal to ban all human cloning, including therapeutic cloning (also called 'somatic cell nuclear transfer', or SCNT), in which nearly microscopic balls of a few hundred cells are produced to provide stem cells for medical treatments that might cure diseases that are today incurable. The total ban has already been passed by the House and is being pushed by Pres. Bush. Actor Christopher Reeve argued passionately that therapeutic cloning should go forward because '…we have a moral responsibility to help others. Time is absolutely critical.' Supporting Mr. Reeve was Nobel laureate molecular biologist Paul Berg and Jerry Zucker, a movie producer who hopes that therapeutic cloning will provide a cure for the diabetes his daughter suffers from. Proponents of a ban railed against 'human embryo hatcheries.' United Press International Opposition grows to total ban on cloning provides additional detail about the same Senate testimony, quoting Reeve 'I'm here today because I'm very concerned we're about to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory … It is amazing to me that we have to be here today, because it's so clear that embryonic stem cells … are a miracle that could be available to us, yet there's a fear factor in this country that's really very disturbing to watch.'

A month later, as reported by Reuters on April 10 (Bush Backs Ban of All Human Cloning) and by The New York Times on April 11, 2002 (Bush Makes Fervent Bid to Get Senate to Ban Cloning Research) Bush urged the Senate to pass the bill outlawing all forms of cloning. A counter plea from 40 Nobel laureate scientists urged support of legislation that would allow therapeutic cloning."

Read more for an extensive set of links to background pieces on the developing debate over human cloning.

CVD process tames carbon nanotube growth

waynerad writes "A chemical-vapor deposition technique has been applied to carbon nanotubes to give them unusual electronic properties, according to researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The treated nanotubes could be used by chip makers to interconnect single-electron transistors with high-efficiency wires. The group aims to build a nanotube architecture that will exhibit near-superconducting speeds at room temperature, plus the ability to pack devices tighter and control quantum effects."

Nanotech and Solar Power

Mr. Tejano writes "Space Daily has a great article about a group of researchers at Virginia Tech that are developing flexible solar cells [using nano-structured thin films] that they hope will replace their silicon equivalents. It can be read here: http://spacedaily.com/news/materials-02i.html"

Open Source GM Crops?

Gina Miller writes "Genetically-modified crops spotlight issues of safety, openness, and intellectual property that will become even more important with molecular nanotechnology. Some similar concerns are reflected in the Foresight Guidelines on Molecular Nanotechnology.

UK report says gene crops could create superweed. Cross-pollination of seeds spilt during harvest allowed three varieties of genetically modified rapeseed plants to exchange herbicide resistance genes, creating a "superweed" resistant to all three herbicides. To avoid these superweeds that would be difficult to eliminate, the recommendation is that only one variety of herbicide resistance be used in genetically modified plants.

Panel Urges U.S. to Tighten Approval of Gene-Altered Crops. The caution recommended by the UK panel was reflected by a panel convened by the US National Academy of Sciences. Noting that biotechnology companies are developing new plants containing combinations of genes, or genes that cause the plant to produce industrial chemicals or other exotic materials, the panel concluded that testing of genetically altered plants should be made "significantly more transparent and rigorous." The panel's conclusion implies that public access to data should take precedence over the ability of companies to keep data confidential.

Can a company still profit from data it releases to the public? Swiss Firm Unveils Plan for Sharing Rice Genome One company poised to publish a "draft" (not completely finished) sequence for the genome of a variety of rice announced a compromise in which the company 'would freely share the information with researchers, but keep the right to license and patent commercial developments'. Other companies preparing sequences of other varieties of rice have promised completely free access to the information. How access to scientific information developed by for-profit entities will be handled is clearly an issue very much in flux: from open source software to biotechnology and gene patents. What will be the trade-offs as nanotechnology matures?"

Nanotube-laced epoxy: three times harder, far bett

brianwang writes "The longstanding promise of superfortified heat-conducting materials has become a reality. University of Pennsylvania scientists have determined that adding a relatively small number of carbon nanotubes to epoxy yields a compound three-and-a-half times as hard and far better at heat conductance than the product found in hardware stores. The researchers report their successful tinkering with the commonplace adhesive in the April 15 issue of the journal Applied Physics Letters. Led by Penn physicist Alan T. "Charlie" Johnson, the team created a composite of 95 to 99 percent common epoxy mixed with 1 to 5 percent carbon nanotubes, filaments of carbon less than one-ten-thousandth the width of a human hair. "These findings add considerably to carbon nanotubesí luster as possible additives to a variety of materials," said Johnson, an associate professor of physics and astronomy at Penn. "In addition to adhesives such as epoxy, we are looking at nanotube-based greases that might be used to carry heat away from electronic chips." Johnsonís group determined that epoxy doped with nanotubes showed a 125 percent increase in thermal conductivity at room temperature. "This is the first published report of enhanced thermal conductivity in a material owing to the addition of carbon nanotubes and the first demonstration of simultaneous thermal and mechanical enhancement of a real-world material," Johnson said. Epoxy is an attractive target for fortification with carbon nanotubes, Johnson said, because itís relatively easy to mix the minuscule filaments into it, and there are clear industrial benefits in a harder, better-conducting epoxy. Other scientists have attempted to fortify epoxy with carbon nanotubes, but Johnsonís group succeeded in dispersing the nanotubes more evenly. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-04/uop -net041502.php"

Agilent awards Europhysics prize to nanotube researcher

from the rewarding-innovation dept.
Agilent Technologies Inc., the scientific and instrumentation division spun off by Hewlett-Packard some years ago, announced in a press release (11 April 2002) that it has presented the Agilent Technologies Europhysics Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Condensed Matter Physics to four scientists for their pioneering work in the study of carbon nanotubes. The award was presented at a general conference of the European Physical Society (EPS).

Agilent's Roberto Favaretto, vice president and general manager, Europe/Middle East/Africa, presented the 2001 award to Sumio Iijima, Cees Dekker, Thomas W. Ebbesen and Paul L. McEuen for the discovery of multi- and single-walled carbon nanotubes and pioneering studies of their fundamental mechanical and electronic properties. "The Agilent Technologies Europhysics Prize demonstrates our commitment to fundamental contributions in scientific areas essential to Agilent's future," said Favaretto. "These researchers have made a key contribution by creating an entirely new field in condensed matter physics — a field at the intersection of nanoscience, nanotechnology and molecular electronics."

Dekker was also awarded the 2002 Julius Springer Prize in Applied Physics for his work on the electrical properties of carbon nanotubes and their application in molecular electronic circuits (see Nanodot post from 5 February 2002).

Seeing protein structure with an AFM

Gina Miller writes "Physics News Update (26 March 2002) reports that researchers from Case Western Reserve University have developed a computational technique to get a sharper picture of a protein structure from an atomic force microscope (AFM) image. Because the region of an AFM tip that contacts the protein during imaging is typically about the same size as the protein molecule, the image that is obtained is too low resolution to reveal the structure of the molecule. Studying a cartilage protein called aggrecan, the researchers combined in their image processing technique data from the AFM, from the genomic sequence of the protein, and from transmission electron microscopy to yield a refined structure allowing them to identify certain elements of the 3-D structure of the protein.

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