The policy and ethics subcommittee of California’s Blue Ribbon Task Force on Nanotechnology got a briefing yesterday on UC Berkeley’s new Center of Integrated Nanomechanical Systems, funded at $12 million over five years. The Vision on their homepage is visionary indeed: “Yet, there is no fundamental reason why machines and motors cannot be scaled down… Continue reading Update on Center of Integrated Nanomechanical Systems
Update: see this correction for an even earlier course: http://new.foresight.org/nanodot/?p=1958 –CP To our knowledge, this is the first college course on nanotechnology from a business perspective, being taught at UC Berkeley by Tom Kalil and Drew Isaacs: “Offered for the first time in Fall, 2005, this is UC Berkeley’s first course focused on nanotechnology-based business… Continue reading First "Business of Nanotechnology" course
Stacy Lawrence at Technology Review presents a graphic showing that knowledge and fear about nanotech anti-correlate: “In one survey, the more people knew about nanotech, the greater optimism they had about its potential benefits; the less knowledge, the more concern they had over potential risks.” I could not tell the source of this info; if… Continue reading Nanotech: more knowledge = less fear
On Mondaq (free reg required), Foley & Lardner has published a writeup on the first FDA approval of nanoparticulate drugs: “As nanotechnology companies emerge in the pharmaceutical market, they will have to develop the capability to navigate through the regulatory waters. Until recently, federal agencies had not faced the question of whether to approve a… Continue reading 1st Nanoparticulate drugs approved by FDA
“Sensors happen to be among the simplest electronic devices one can make from nanomaterials, yielding an abundance of development activity. But of 66 companies claiming to offer nanosensors, only 13 actually harness the size-dependent properties of nanomaterials,” according to a report from Lux Research.
Red Herring reports on complaints by U.S. Senator Wyden : “ ‘Just discussing export controls in our country, while Europe and Asia are making progress, could have a chilling effect on U.S. leadership in this area,’ Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) told NanoBusiness Conference attendees over cocktails early this week in New York City. The senator… Continue reading Sen. Wyden criticizes nanotech export controls
In a talk for NanoBusiness 2005, Bell Labs president Jeffrey Jaffe gave a visionary perspective: “During his keynote address, Jaffe said that the pieces are falling in place to create nanotechnology-enabled communications networks that allow people to converse over great distances, while feeling as if they’re in the same room…Ultimately, according to Jaffe’s vision, tiny… Continue reading Bell Labs president: visionary view of nanotech
You may laugh, or at least smile, but the environmental benefits already resulting from the so-called nanotech toilet are substantial. With a “roughness” reported at under 30 nanometers, evidently these fixtures need much less cleaning, which means much less of that nasty chemical cleanser going down the drain. Oh, and they should be healthier for… Continue reading Environmental benefits from…nanotoilets?
Big debate over at Howard Lovy’s on the nanoweapons-of-mass-destruction concept, mentioned here previously. Most notable to me is that both Howard and Charles Choi imply that only near-term possibilities are worth discussing today: “there’s no real danger of that happening anytime soon” and “If studies raise convincing evidence that near-term nanotechnology can lead to a… Continue reading Nanoweapons followup: near-term only?
In case you missed attending this in person (as I did), check out the transcript from the Council on Foreign Relations discussion on nanotechnology, including George Atkinson, science and technology adviser to the secretary of state, U.S. Department of State: “Do we need every wise nanotechnologist working here in the United States? I think my… Continue reading U.S. Dept of State on international nanotech competition
