Gazette.net reports that nanotechnology is bringing dramatic advances: Imagine not having to go to the doctor when you are sick. No medicine, no popping pills. Instead, tiny cell-like machines in your body would already be at work manufacturing medicine and delivering it exactly where it is needed. University of Maryland researchers say these ‘‘nanofactories” may… Continue reading Nanotechnology "nanofactories" may not be far away
Foresight members have long been interested in physical/mechanical control of the positions and reactivity of molecules, as a pathway to advanced molecular nanotechnology and atomically-precise contruction of large products. This connection is described on Wikipedia in the mechanochemistry entry. Now at team at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign led by chemistry prof Jeffrey Moore has… Continue reading Nanotechnology video: Forcing reactions mechanically
By now we’ve all seen AFM images of individual atoms — in black and white. Why only B&W? Why can’t the AFM show us the atoms in color, having each color indicate a different chemical element, as in our molecular modeling images? Now it can, and at room temperature, not only super-low temps as before.… Continue reading Nanotechnology probe 'sees' atoms by chemical type
In addition to the experimental project described here yesterday, there are now two more posted on the U.K. Software Control of Matter Ideas Factory blog which are very likely to be funded — the first experimental, the second theoretical: Directed Reconfigurable Nanomachines We propose a scheme to revolutionise the synthesis of nanodevices, nanomachines, and, ultimately,… Continue reading U.K. nanotechnology project causing U.S. nanoenvy
The FIRST organization — inspired by inventor Dean Kamen — and the Lego Group are sponsoring the 2006 Nano Quest Challenge, and sadly for the rest of us, it seems to be limited to kids 9-14 years old, plus 6 to 9-year-olds in the junior league in US and Canada. But wait — all the… Continue reading Nanotechnology: Check out the 2006 Nano Quest Challenge
From the Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Awards for 2006, MIT’s Angela Belcher and colleagues are using viruses to build at the molecular level: VIRAL MANUFACTURING Innovators: Angela Belcher, Yet-Ming Chiang, Paula Hammond MIT scientists reached a major nanotech milestone: re-engineering a virus to create a self-assembling product. THE GOAL OF nanofabrication is to make tiny machines… Continue reading Viruses begin to do nanotechnology construction at MIT
Probably because I’m an IEEE member — see their Nanotechnology Council and journal — I’ve just received the nanotechnology book catalog from Wiley. This 16-page catalog shows that Wiley, long a leader in high-quality technical publishing, is probably the dominant force in nanotech books today. To save 20% on orders through October 31, 2006, use… Continue reading Now's the time to expand your nanotechnology library
As has been pointed out repeatedly here, the term nanotechnology is very broadly defined, and the various “nanotechnology indexes” that try to track nanotech stocks have a tough job, to put it mildly. To complicate matters, nanotech watchers distinguish at least four, and maybe five, different generations of nano, from passive materials to highly advanced… Continue reading Nanotechnology investing: the multi-decade roller coaster
John Brandon at PC Magazine does a close-up on the NanoRobotics Laboratory at Carnegie Mellon: Tiny robots will someday crawl up your spine—literally. These microscopic critters, currently in a development phase at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, are biomimetic (that is, based on biological principles), have bacteria motors attached to their near-invisible bodies, and can… Continue reading Carnegie Mellon pursues top-down path to nanorobots
The term “bottom-up” was originally used to refer to molecule-by-molecule assembly of atomically-precise products. But more recently we’ve seen the term used to describe processes that produce products which are not atomically precise. The following Azonano item is an example of this usage. However, it seems likely that this kind of research — which does… Continue reading DNA-directed self-assembly of nanowires
