Robert F. Service writes an accessible summary in Science on How Far Can We Push Self-Assembly? On the current achievements of chemists using covalent bonding: “Using that trick, they have learned to combine as many as 1000 atoms into essentially any molecular configuration they please.” On the status of work using noncovalent bonding: “Chemists have… Continue reading Limits of self-assembly for nanotechnology
Foresight Research Associate Bryan Bruns reports: “Will heavy investments in nanotechnology lead to a North-South nanodivide? In the Policy Forum of the July 1 issue of Science, an article, Small Things and Big Changes in the Developing World, argues that the answer appears to be no. Mohammed H.A. Hassan of the Academy of Sciences for… Continue reading Nanotechnology in the developing world
UCLA chemists have created the first nano valve that can be opened and closed at will to trap and release molecules. The discovery, funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, was published July 19 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “The fact that we can take a bistable molecule that behaves as… Continue reading New artificial molecular machine: the Nano Valve
The first annual Nano 50 Awards for the top nanotech technologies, products, and innovators have been announced by NASA’s Nanotech Briefs publication. Note the inclusion of Harvard’s Charles Lieber, co-chair of this fall’s Foresight Conference on Advanced Nanotechnology, for which the abstract submission deadline is July 31. Starting in August, the Nanotech Briefs publication will… Continue reading Nano 50 Awards announced
You may like the “for Dummies” series, or dislike it, but surely it was inevitable that there would be a Nanotechnology for Dummies book, due out in five days. I can’t tell from the description whether this will be a useful introduction or not, but am always a bit nervous when the first phrase is… Continue reading It had to happen: Nanotechnology for Dummies
Recently there have been a spate of media articles triggered by a July 13 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office to the effect that, as an LA Times piece put it: “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is failing to protect the public from tens of thousands of toxic compounds because it has not gathered… Continue reading Let's put nanotechnology in larger chemical context
In an Alternet article called The Evolution of Frankenfoods?, there’s a comment on voluntary controls on nanotech: “Jennifer Sass of the Natural Resources Defense Council worries that industry will get its way on voluntary, rather than enforceable, regulations. ‘Having these kinds of joint partnerships and collaborative efforts is a good thing,’ she says, ‘But without… Continue reading Nanotechnology controls: Voluntary or required?
Signal, the publication of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association, has a Special Report on nanotechnology in their July issue, including: (1) Small Matters: Nanotechnology could lead to the next arms race; experts debate how to prepare, (2) a piece on the New Jersey Nanotechnology Consortium, and (3) a story on photo-activated porphyrin nanotubes.… Continue reading Nanotech arms race debated
My first column is up over at Always On, and you can rate it on a scale from “Way Off” to “On the $”. Excerpts: “So there’s a big international race on to see which country will lead the Nanotechnology Revolution. How will the U.S. do?…you can have lots of venture capital looking to invest… Continue reading Nanotech in U.S.: Find more molecule geeks soon or lose out
There’s still time to nominate your favorite potential Prize candidates — even yourself — for the nanotechnology prizes to be given out at this fall’s Feynman Prize Banquet at the 13th Foresight Conference on Advanced Nanotechnology: 2005 Foresight Institute Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology (Theory) 2005 Foresight Institute Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology (Experiment) New: 2005 Foresight… Continue reading Nominations for nanotech prizes, including Feynman Prize, due this Friday, July 15
