Mr_Farlops writes "German researchers have developed a simple method to turn light into mechanical energy on the molecular scale. By shining light of one frenquency on an azobenzene molecule, they caused it to crimp and contract, pulling a load. By switching to another frequency, they caused the molecule to relax and stretch, releasing the tension."

Read more for details, links to web reports, and information on other research that indicates lasers can also be used to generate rotary motion in carbon nanotubes.

from the Loose-ends dept.
Hereís a small collection of coverage of the Foresight/IMM Senior Associates Gathering, held in Palo Alto, California, 26 to 28 April 2002:

• Senior Associate and San Jose Mercury News business & technology columnist Dan Gillmor posted some preliminary notes on presentations made at the Gathering by Ralph Merkle, Ray Kurzweil, Stuart Brand, Paul Saffo, David Friedman, and Eric Drexler, in his eJournal entry of 27 April 2002.
• Gillmor also commented on the Gathering in his regular column the following week ("Futuristic small technology promises big changes for all of us", 4 May 2002). As Gillmor notes, "Drexler thinks the nanotech community needs to do a better job of explaining the potential for good. He told this year's gathering, held last weekend in Palo Alto, that we need a ëpicture of the future — a world view — that is workable and appealingí to the wider community, not just the already converted." (If the Mercury News link is broken, the article is also available on the Small Times website.)
• A lengthy piece by Ron Bailey of Reason Magazine ("Whatís the purpose of life? Nanotechnology might provide the answer", 1 May 2002) focuses on a thoughtful and thought-provoking debate between Foresight Advisor Ray Kurzweil and Gregory Stock (Director, UCLA Program on Medicine, Technology and Society) that took place during the Gathering ("BioFuture vs. MachineFuture") on Saturday, 27 April 2002. (Links to some of Baileyís previous commentaries on nanotechnology can be found in a Nanodot post from 3 August 2001).
• Ray Kurzweil has posted a presentation regarding the debate ("Arguments for a Green AND Gray Future") on the KurzweilAI website. Links to audio clips of both Kurzweilís and Stockís presentations, their debate, and the Q&A session that followed, are included.
• Although it was published before the Senior Associates Gathering, an extensive and reasonably well-written article in the Washington Post ("The Next Generation: Biotechnology May Make Superhero Fantasy a Reality", by Joel Garreau, 26 April 2002) touches on many of the looming issues of human genetic and tissue engineering, bio and nanotechnology, transhumanism, AI, and the singularity, and presents views from many perspectives.

Brian Wang writes of news about "carbon nanotube as field emitters

The original paper is described in this abstract in Applied Physics Letters: ON-CHIP VACUUM MICROTRIODE. Integrated, solid-state design had many advantages over the old vacuum-tube style electronics. But some of the tube characteristics, such as the ability to handle high power, might be nice to have on a chip. With carbon nanotubes, acting as miniature emitters of electrons, this might be possible (See Update 454, http://www.aip.org/enews/physnews/1999/split/pnu45 4-2.htm). A new innovation in this regard is the development of an on-chip system of vacuum triodes. Scientists at Agere Systems (a company spun off from Lucent Technologies) build their chip using microelectromechanical (MEMS) technology; a lateral field of carbon nanotubes is grown on a cathode which can then be rotated into a vertical position in order to face a grid (10 microns away) and anode (100 microns away). Radar, electronic warfare, and satellite communications are expected to be the chief applications areas. (Bower et al., Applied Physics Letters, 20 May 2002)"

Mr_Farlops writes "Scientists at Sandia National Laboratories have developed lipids that can grab and carry other molecules as they dart about on an artificial membrane that mimics those found in cells. Producing such a process is not novel however, the methods used to examine it and the insights gained from such examinations are. Because the movement of the lipids appears to be predictable and easy to control, the researchers speculate that such processes can be harnessed to aid in the construction of nanoscale devices."

waynerad submitted this article from the Christian Science Monitor ("It's a small, small, small world", by Laurie Toupin, 14 May 2002) which he describes how an "MIT researcher uses atomic-force microscope (AFM) to determine the hardness of nanoscale materials. The NanoMechanical Technology Laboratory at MIT is using a diamond-tipped 'nano-indenter' to determine how materials behave at nanoscale dimensions. The nano-indenter measures the 'load' (force) being pushed into the sample and how deeply the diamond point goes into it, which gives enough information to calculate how stiff the material is, how strong it is, when it will fracture, and how much load it will take before it permanently deforms [breaks]."