Results for ""molecular nanotechnology""

There are multiple paths leading to molecular nanotechnology. Two of the more visible are chemistry and physics.

The chemists at U. Michigan (Choi & Baker) have recently combined dendrimers and DNA to allow directed assembly of more complex structures (here). This is an extension of our previous discussion of DNA based directed assembly methods (here). A memorable quote is by Baker, "So it's like having a shelf full of Tinker Toys."

Now at the same time the physicists and electronics engineers at HP (Kuekes, Stewart & Williams with Heath) are publishing significant advances in molecular electronics with a molecular scale crossbar latch (here, here and here). This technology is based on nanoimprint lithography (and here). They hope to combine this with existing semiconductor methods at the 32nm scale by 2013. The capacity of this technology is in the vicinity of a trillion switches per cm² which is at least 10,000 times the density of current chips. Methods that likely to plug into existing technologies have a significant advantages by providing incremental improvements in existing industries.

Rumors circulate that behind the scenes that patent(s) may be in preparation for an assembly process that could legitimately be called directed mechanosynthesis (vs. self-assembly, directed-assembly or bulk-assembly (i.e. lithography based methods))¹. But one has to ask, "What is the state of parallel mechanosynthesis?" For it is the parallelization of mechanosynthesis that could play a large role in it becoming an important manufacturing process. If that cannot be achieved it would appear that self-assembly or directed assembly (even of large molecules or lacking complete precision) would appear to have advantages. The only other alternative would seem to be that mechanosynthesis has to be extremely fast. Some might say that using mechanosynthesis assemblers can assemble themselves (after all this is what happens in biology). But that fails to take into account the amount of time that nature put into the development of the self-replication process. Lacking a complete self-replicating system the only alternative is a bootstrap process.

Finally, there is biotechnology. It provides all of the benefits of molecular nanotechnology with the possible exception high density of covalent bonds per unit volume. But with respect to parallelization and production costs it is way out in front because it can easily take advantage of self-replication. It has atomic precision and assemblers of many types. The costs of production blueprints (genes) in this arena has recently been significantly reduced by technologies for DNA synthesis using microchips (Gulari, Katz, Church, Gao) (here). The only thing it is lacking is the intelligent design of enzymes. But that similar to the hurdle that the semiconductor industry had to overcome with the semi-intelligent design and layout of chips over the last 20-30 years. It is simpler in some respects (enzymes may contain thousands to tens of thousands of atoms while chips have millions to tens of millions of transistors) but more complex in others (enzymes are 3D structures while semiconductor chips are largely 2D structures.

So asking the question of "Who's on First?" is not unreasonable.

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String theorist Michio Kaku suggests molecular nanotechnology as one way to deal with the heat death of the universe: "There is nothing in the rules of science to prevent the regeneration of an advanced civilisation from the molecular level. For a dying civilisation trapped in a freezing universe, this may be the last hope." The size of his proposed devices seems to vary, however. Read more for the full quote.

SpaceDaily based on UPI is covering how scientists from Luc Jaeger at UCSB to Ned Seeman at NYU (and others) are creating grand plans to use DNA and related chemical molecules to do everything from assembly to analysis.

Sounds like the combination of the fact that the hardware to do the synthesis of these molecules exists and the fact that there are a lot of things these molecules can manage via self-assembly is giving these methods a lead in the "real" molecular nanotechnology arena.

Christine Peterson has pointed out AzoNano.com which is a new Online Journal of Nanotechnology which is a collaboration between AZoM.com PTY. Ltd. in Australia and The Institute of Nanotechnology in the U.K.

A brief review of the book list seems to suggest their primary focus is on nanomaterials rather than on molecular nanotechnology. For example, Nanosystems and Nanomedicine Vol. I are not included. More…

Chemists at U.C. Riverside have apparently discovered a carborane (a complex molecule of boron, carbon, chlorine and hydrogen) that they are claiming is the world's strongest acid. Details are here. Perhaps this provides an additional tool for the chemistry path to molecular nanotechnology.

PingS writes "I am going to be a sophomore in electrical engineering this upcoming year. I have been tracking nanotechnology for the past four months, and read through multiple literatures on the Foresight website including Engines of Creation and the Unbounding Future. I have also read the recent publication Recent Advances and Issues in Molecular Nanotechnology. I am currently working on Nanosystems, but it is 'very technical' for a sophomore, so I am progressing 'very slowly'. I want to let you guys know that I have done a lot of background research into nanotechnology and am familiar with most of the current issues and debates (Smalley, Whitesides).

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nanobot writes "knh productions based in Toronto has made a documentary on nanotechnology. Produced by Ken Hama, Naomi Matsuura and Selva Nair, this documentary claims to explore "the hypes, hopes and facts of this fascinating field as seen through the eyes of award-winning scientists, industry leaders and writers." Find out more"

Ed. Note. It would appear that they may have confined themselves to researchers in Canada. None of the cited participants are names that I recognize as major players in "real" molecular nanotechnology. They may have interviewed some very fine scientists but there are a lot of fine scientists who haven't bothered to read (and understand) Nanosystems leaving the open question as to whether such a documentary could be considered balanced.

DavidForrest writes "The Foresight Conference this last weekend was one of the best ever. Kudos to all involved. I hate to nitpick after such a wonderful event, but as a metallurgist, I feel compelled to comment on the "metals are weak" meme that resurfaced several times. More…

The 2004 Feynman Prize winners have been announced. They include Dr. David Baker and Dr. Brian Kuhlman for Theoretical Work, Dr. Homme Hellinga for Experimental Work, Howard Lovy for Communication and Damian Allis as a Distinguished Student.

Details follow…

Ed. Note. Howard's blog has his comments on the award and Damian's site is a trip.