Category: news

from the nanotech-for-futurists dept.
A special event at the World Future Society's annual conference, FutureScope 2001, will be Nanotech and MEMS Futures: "This session is based on Eric Drexler's vision of molecular nanotech vs. nanoscale science and technology, including comparisons of Macro, Micro, Meso, and Nano scale and overviews of their potential capabilities." Led by David Keenan (BF Goodrich Advance Micro Machines) and two Senior Associates, Hank Lederer and Steven Vetter (president, Angstrom Tools).

from the engineering-the-future dept.
A number of interesting presentations from a workshop titled "Beyond Micro Device Engineering: Nanotechnology", held by ASME International (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) in December 2000 in Washington, D.C., are now available either as HTML web pages or Adobe Acrobat PDF files. (Note: some of the PDF files are huge.)

This workshop, as well as the rapidly increasing level of interest in nanotechnology and nanosystems among various engineering communities, was the focus of one of the cover articles in Foresight Update #44 (April 2001). The article provides additional coverage on the workshop, as well as information on other engineering organizations that are taking an interest in nanotechnology.

Special Note: Nanotechnology will be the focal point of one of the many technical tracks that will be featured during ASME's 2001 Congress and Exhibition in November. Nanotechnology will also be the subject of several tutorials to be given during the conference, which will take place in New York City from November 11-16, 2001.

from the setting-standards? dept.
The Advanced Technology Program of the U.S. National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) is sponsoring a special program on "Technology at the Crossroads: Frontiers of the Future" at its 2001 national meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, 3-5 June 2001. Two session of high interest include:
– "Replication of Nanodevices", presented by Ralph Merkle of Zyvex and J. Storrs Hall from the Institute for Molecular Manufacturing. This session will cover molecular replicating systems, including replications of more complex structures on the nanometer scale and exponential assembly into larger devices at the micron scale.
– "The Challenge of Molecular Electronics: Focusing Nanotechnology on the Future Computer", presented by Christopher B. Murray, Manager, Nanoscale Materials and Devices, IBM, T.J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY; and Dr. Paul Weiss, Professor of Chemistry, The Pennsylvania State University. This Frontier session will explore recent notable achievements that show the promise of molecular scale electronics. Anticipating a stream of new advances, such as molecular wires, molecular switches and molecular sensors, particular attention will be placed on the enabling, spillover possibilities for this rapidly moving field.

Other sessions will cover virtual reality in medicine, regenerative medicine (tissue regeneration & stem cell research), information technology, and a discussion by a panel of venture capitalists.
There will also be a keynote address on "Ten Ideas that Have Already Decided the Future", by Foresight Advisor Peter Schwartz, Cofounder and Chairman, Global Business Network, and author, The Long Boom: The Coming Age of Prosperity.

from the thinking-big dept.
The Extropy Institute will be hosting the EXTRO-5 Conference: "Shaping Things to Come", in San Jose, California, June 15-17, 2001. According to a press release, the Extro-5 international conference will assemble "big thinkers from numerous fields to provoke our culture to think more carefully about the more plausible perils of progress and to shape the future for the better."

Big thinkers at Extro-5: "Shaping Things to Come" include inventor, entrepreneur, and writer Ray Kurzweil, leading information economist Hal Varian, science correspondent Ronald Bailey, leading information economy strategist Steve Flinn, cyberspace economist David Friedman, best-selling author Greg Bear, extropic philosopher Max More, evolutionary biologist Michael Rose, artist and cultural catalyst Natasha Vita-More, co-architect of the pre-Web Xanadu hypertext system Mark Miller, and other leading thinkers from computing, artificial intelligence, law, "hard" science fiction, Internet technologies, neuroscience, and business.

Don't miss out on this singular chance to listen to and network with those who are shaping the future. Stimulate your brain, expand your vision of the future, make contacts for your interests and businesses. Attendance is limited, so register now to secure your place.

For more information, visit the Extropy Institute conference Web site, email [email protected] or call conference Chair Max More at 310-823-3594.

Read more for the complete press release.

from the Northwestern-goes-nano dept.
Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois (near Chicago) is celebrating the establishment of its new Institute for Nanotechnology with a day-long Symposium on Emerging Molecule-Based Nanoscale Science and Technology. The symposium will also honor Morrison Professors Joseph T. Hupp and Mark A. Ratner. In addition to Hupp and Ratner, speakers will include Chad A. Mirkin, Director of the new Institute, Richard Smalley of Rice University, George Whitesides of Harvard University, Angela M. Belcher of the University of Texas at Austin, and Richard J. Colton of the Naval Research Laboratory. The symposium will be held on Monday, 21 May 2001 in the Technological Institute Lecture Room 3, at 2145 Sheridan Road in Evanston, Illinois. If you would like to attend, you can register online.