Category: news

from the sounds-like-he-gets-it dept.
In an interview with Science posted at Yahoo, outgoing President Clinton said: "[Most] people still don't know what nanotechnology is. But if you combine the sequencing of the human gene and the capacity to identify genetic variations that lead to various kinds of cancers with the potential of nanotechnology, you get to the point where, in the imagination, you're identifying cancers when, assuming you have the screening technologies right, there are only a few cells coagulated together in this mutinous way, so that you raise the prospect of literally having 100 percent cure and prevention rate for every kind of cancer, which is something that would have been just unimaginable before…And I think the work we've done in nanotechnology in 10, 20 years from now will look very big, indeed. I just think that the potential of this is just breathtaking, and it will change even the way we think about things like calculation or what we're supposed to know how to do. It will — it's going to really, I think, have a huge and still under-appreciated impact on our understanding of human processes and our capacity to do things."

from the California-state-tax-dollars-at-work-(finally) dept.
UCLA professor Gary Axen reports this announcement from UCLA: " The California NanoSystems Institute — a wide-ranging research enterprise poised to make a major impact in areas ranging from information technology and household lighting to medical treatment — was named today as one of the three research efforts statewide to receive $100 million in state support to help propel the future of the state's economy…The Institute will explore the power and potential of manipulating structures atom-by-atom to engineer new materials, devices and systems that will dramatically change virtually every aspect of our technology, including medical delivery and health care, information technologies, and innovations for the environment." Read More for the full text including video link, since the announcement URL we're using looks temporary.

from the explosive-tech-news dept.
Tim Harper writes "TNT Weekly, a weekly round up of whats hot in the nanotech world has just gone live at www.cientifica.com — follow the links to TNT Weekly. Any comments, suggestions, questions or anything else, please let us know. thanks" From their website: "TNT Weekly is a free weekly e-mail newsletter providing links and introductions to articles and press releases that have appeared on the web in the last week on the subject of nanotechnology. Click here to view the week 45 sample issue, or here to view the week 48 issue…Our mission is twofold: To inform researchers in all disciplines relevant to Nanotechnology, a field where, like no other in history, multidisciplinary collaborations will bear the greatest fruit; To provide lay and business readers with access to the latest and most relevant information on research and existing and upcoming businesses poised to capitalise on the vast potential of nanotechnology. A key advantage of our editorial team is the ability to cut through the nanotechnology hype." CP: The company is based in Spain, and the site has a European focus.

from the our-old-friends-at-SciAm dept.
Robert Trombatore writes "Scientific American has come a long way in the past few years from when they basically took the position that any of the MNT technologies Foresight founder Eric Drexler proposed were improbable at best. While they still aren't ready to leap to defend MNT, the tone of this article is much more positive in comparison. Starting with an overview of recent breakthroughs in nanotech and then going into detail about 3 specific breakthroughs, this piece helps illustrate just how far "mainstream" scientific acceptance of MNT has come. There are a couple of disparaging comments such as "In June, nanotechnologists from the Foresight Institute–a think tank where Drexler is chair–followed suit, issuing their own prophylactic guidelines to stop goo. But other scientists–many of whom air their views in news items that accompany Science's special section–dismiss the grim predictions." This shows that while Scientific American has come a long way, the editors still feel it necessary to make light of some of the issues surrounding nanotech."

from the worth-paying-for dept.
The Asian Technology Information Program in Tokyo has a Nanotechnology Project of great use to those attempting to track what is happening in that part of the world. Much of the material listed is available only to subscribers, but lots of useful info is free, including abstracts of all reports and at least some presentations. Serious nanotechnology organizations will want to subscribe, but much can be gleaned from the free Nano News headlines, e.g. Japan's urgent effort to catch up with the U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative.