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        Gaming the Future: The Book!

        Investors Chronicle features nanotechnology

        An extensive article in the UK-based Investors Chronicle ("The Next Big Thing Will Be Very, Very Small", by Bill Bows, 1 March 2002) offers some pretty fantastic numbers for the potential nanotech market:

        The market for products and processes supported by nanotechnology is estimated to be worth between $20bn and $50bn. Technology-focused investment bank Evolution Capital believes this could grow to $150bn by 2005 and to more than $1trillion by 2010. Mark Welland, professor of nanotechnology at Cambridge University, proclaims: "In the past 30 years the computer chip has revolutionised the way we communicate. Over the next 30 years we will see a revolution of an even greater dimension through nanotechnology."

        The article goes on to state:

        By bringing the manufacturing process down to the nanoscale, huge advances are possible in creating products that are more versatile, more energy- efficient and more powerful than those currently available. Nanotechnology promises to transform a wide range of scientific fields from precision and electromechanical engineering and mainstream biological and chemical sciences, to medical research.

        The remainder of the article takes a look at the venture investment environment in the UK and compares it to developments in the U.S., and concludes with some sound advice:

        However revolutionary the advent of nanotechnology appears, hype, from any source, should be avoided, says [a UK venture capitalist]. "We need to deal in reality not hype," he says. "If you want to create sustainable shareholder value you have to be able to deliver something that is going to perform and grow going forward."

        U.S. presidential science advisor advocates nanotech

        from the good-advice dept.
        For some insight into the decision by the Bush administration to request a 17% increase in funding for the U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative, read the transcript of an address ("Science Based Science Policy") by the head of the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP) and presidential Science Advisor John Marburger to the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Boston on 15 February 2002. Although Marburger was discussing R&D funding as a whole, it is significant that he repeatedly raised the need to support research and development in the field of nanotechnology during his address.

        A pair of muddled articles in the Philadelphia Inquirer

        An article in the Philadelphia Inquirer ("The tiniest building blocks", by Faye Flam, 1 April 2002) presents a rather muddled view of recent research by David Luzzi and others at the University of Pennsylvania into novel carbon structures, including fullerene molecules inside nanotubes, which the article rather grandiosely describes as "a new form of matter". The article also makes a number of highly disparaging remarks about the prospects for advanced nanotechnology systems . . . as if carbon nanotube research were the end point, rather than a faltering first step. The article is accompanied by a short sidebar that gives an equally muddled presentation on the use of self-assembly to create some interesting nanotube arrays.

        [Additional information about the nanotube ìpeapodî research referred to in the article can be found in Nanodot posts from 3 January and 1 March 2002.]

        Magnetic Properties of Nanocrystals

        Gina Miller writes "More on the magnetic properties of nanocrystals in United Press International's Nanotech could power future magnets (30 March 2002), an interview with Laura Henderson Lewis, materials scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory's Department of Applied Science. "Tomorrow's supermagnets could be made of molecule-sized chunks of materials that normally would never interact, possibly creating magnetic fields strong enough to levitate trains at room temperature…" Lewis studies how magnetic materials perform and interact at the micro- and nano-scale, which involve groups of hundreds of atoms or even single molecules. Because magnetic atoms only affect other atoms a nanometer or so distant, engineering the structure of materials on the nanometer scale provides unique opportunities to control the magnetic properties of the materials. The methods mentioned for achieving nanometer scale control of structure are, however, not especially molecular – rapid solidification and milling with steel balls. For other coverage of nanomaterials research at Brookhaven National Laboratory, see Nanodot post of March 22, 2002 Brookhaven Lab launches nanomaterials research effort"

        Nano: Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise?

        Gina Miller writes "Nanotechnology: Is It Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise? is the topic of an article at Power Electronics Technology dated March 1, 2002. Sam Davis, the Editor, invokes the $500 million National Nanotechnology Initiative and Pres. Bush's proposed increase in the program as evidence that nanotechnology should be taken seriously. Davis explains how re-arranging atoms could provide us with new semiconductors and improved integrated circuits. He cites the book Unbounding the Future: The Nanotechnology Revolution, by Drexler, Peterson, and Pergamit (1991) and quotes Ralph C. Merkle of the Zyvex Corp on what nanotechnology will mean. And last but not least he notes the problems nanotechnology could bring in the form of deliberate abuse or accidents, and the Foresight Institute's draft of guidelines for developing nanotechnology to minimize those problems. He summarizes by asking "Although nanotechnology products are years away, is this a good thing, or bad? Is it an ethical problem, similar to nuclear energy with its good and bad points? Is it a threat to power electronics engineering and manufacturing as we know it? Is the 'march of science' going too far?" Is he worried primarily about threats to the job security of power electronics engineers?"

        DNA Computer Solves Complex Problem

        Gina Miller writes "AScribe reports on March 14, 2002 Using 'Nature's Toolbox,' DNA Computer Solves Complex Problem; Molecular Technology May One Day Outstrip Computers. Leonard Adleman, computer science professor at USC famed for his 1994 demonstration that DNA could be used for computation, has now used a DNA based computer to solve a logic problem (a 20-variable instance of the NP-complete three-satisfiability (3-SAT) problem) that required an exhaustive search of more than a million possibilities. Unlike the simple problem solved by his 1994 demonstration, which could easily be solved by a human with pencil and paper, no human could solve this problem without the aide of a computer. Although the current massively parallel DNA computer could not match the performance of a modern electronic serial computer, it could have advantages in certain situations. "We've shown by these computations that biological molecules can be used for distinctly non-biological purposes," Adleman said. "They are miraculous little machines. They store energy and information, they cut, paste and copy." For another approach to computation with DNA, see the Nanodot post from 23 November 2001."

        Nanorods: Nanometer-sized crystalline oxide rods e

        Gina Miller writes "An article in the March 4, 2002 issue of Chemical & Engineering News ("Three-Element Nanorods: Nanometer-sized crystalline oxide rods exhibit useful properties" by Mitch Jacoby) reports that researchers at Harvard University, led by assistant chemistry professor Hongkun Park, have succeeded in using a solution chemistry procedure to prepare single-crystal nanorods composed of transition metal oxides. Specifically, they made nanorods of barium titanate (BaTiO3) and strontium titanate (SrTiO3) with diameters ranging from 5 to 60 nm and lengths exceeding 10 micrometers. These nanocrystals have interesting electrical and magnetic properties. "The group has demonstrated that the materials are promising candidates as media for high-density data storage. The new synthesis strategy may be extended to other classes of materials and provides new opportunities for investigations in piezo- and ferroelectricity, magnetoresistivity, and other areas." (For another recent breakthrough with inorganic nanorods possessing useful electrical properties, see this Nanodot post from 30 March 2002.)"

        U.S. House debates direction of national nanotech funding, policy

        from the budget-battles dept.
        An article in EE Times ("Science panel calls for balanced research spending", by George Leopold, 26 March 2002) reports on an increasing level of scrutiny of the Bush administrationís proposed funding priorities for science and technology spending in the U.S. national budget for FY2003, including nanotechnology. According to the article, "The House Science Committee is calling for increased federal funding in fiscal 2003 for technology research and development programs and for a balancing of funding for biomedical and physical science research."

        In its annual "views and estimates" of the federal budget request, the Republican-controlled science panel said the Bush administration's research budget request is skewed heavily in support of biomedical research, especially at the National Institutes of Health, which is slated to receive an annual budget increase larger than the entire $5.04 billion budget requested for the National Science Foundation [NSF]. The committee endorsed the Bush administration's "multi-agency R&D" priorities for network and information technology, nanotechnology and anti-terrorism programs. The White House requested a 3 percent increase in funding for networking and information technology research. It also proposed a 17 percent increase in funding next year for nanotechnology research. The committee said it might address nanotechnology research in legislation later this year.

        Additional coverage and analysis can be found on the American Institute of Physics (AIP) Science Policy website:

        Some insight into the high level of support for the NSF and for nanotechnology research in particular can be found in a speech delivered on 8 March 2002 by House Science Committee Chair Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) at a nanotechnology conference held at the Brookhaven National Laboratory to formally launched the Labís new $55 million Center for Functional Nanomaterials (see Nanodot post from 22 March 2002). Boehlert said, "I will do everything in my power to ensure that nanotechnology research gets the funding it deserves — not just in the Department of Energy [which operates the Brookhaven Lab] but throughout the federal government."
        [Some excerpts from the speech also appear on the AIP site.]

        Finally, for the minority Memberís views, see "An Analysis by the Minority Staff of the House Science Committee" from 5 February 2002.

        Debate over these issues is also likely to arise in the U.S. Senate if, as planned, a bill on nanotechnology research funding sponsored by Senator Joe Leiberman and others is submitted (see Nanodot post from 27 December 2001).

        Business Week takes a positive look at nanotech

        from the positively-breathless dept.
        A special edition of Business Week Magazine includes a number of items on nanotechnology, including an enthusiastic feature article ("The Tech Outlook: Nano Technology: No, its not all hype: these supertiny gizmos will transform our way of life", by Otis Port with Roger O. Crockett, 25 March 2002). The article notes the ongoing land-rush mentality of venture capitalists and large tech-oriented corporations into micro- and nano-scale technology R&D, as they are "pumping significant sums into nanotech research, as are governments around the world. A new study from CMP Cientifica [the Nanotechnology Opportunity Report], a market researcher in Madrid, says last year's worldwide government figure topped $1.2 billion (page 184). This year, the private and public sectors will probably spend $2 billion apiece on nano. . . . All told, venture capitalists and corporate funds will probably plow $1 billion into nano investments this year, twice what they invested in 2000, says S. Joshua Wolfe, a partner at New York's Lux Capital Group."

        The article surveys a limited range of recent research, mostly into carbon nanotubes and semiconductor nanowires, and notes the formation of the NanoBusiness Alliance last year, before concluding:

        The ultimate dream of nano engineers is an "assembler," which was first described in the writings of nanotech pioneer K. Eric Drexler, head of Foresight Institute in Palo Alto, Calif. It's a teensy robot that could be programmed to assemble atoms into gears and other components of nanomachines. That vision is still science fiction, says Raymond A. Kurzweil, author and president of Kurzweil Technologies Inc. But if assemblers can be developed, "they'll solve humanity's material needs," he adds. From molecules of dust and dirt, they would harvest the atoms needed to assemble computers, appliances, and other goods.

        New national center for micro, nanotech planned in UK

        from the World-Watch dept.
        According to an article in the Birmingham Post ("£80m bid for science center", by Richard Warburton, 18 March 2002), the West Midlands region of the UK is set to become the heart of Britain's science technology industry with a new £80 million (about U.S. $144 million) manufacturing complex that will create 10,000 jobs. The article says, "Plans have been drawn up for the world's largest centre for nanoscience to be based along the A38 technology corridor in Birmingham. . . . The city's universities, businesses and MPs [Members of Parliament] are pushing for the national centre for microsystems and nanotechnology which would draw on the region's international reputation for modern research and secure its place as the country's manufacturing hub."

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