Aharia Nair brings to our attention the new term Nubot, for Nucleic Acid Robots. Wikipedia explains: Nubot is an abbreviation for “Nucleic Acid Robots.” Nubots are synthetic robotics devices at the nanoscale. Representative nubots include the several DNA walkers reported by Ned Seeman’s group at NYU, Niles Pierce’s group at Caltech, John Reif’s group at… Continue reading Meet the Nubot: DNA nanotechnology robots
Here’s a cheery note to end our week on: There’s been lots of coverage of recent work by Northwestern’s Prof. Samuel Stupp’s work using today’s nanotechnology materials to tackle paralysis. An excerpt from NanoTechWire.com: In a dramatic demonstration of what nanotechnology might achieve in regenerative medicine, paralyzed lab mice with spinal cord injuries have regained… Continue reading Nanotechnology to fight paralysis
Here on Nanodot we mentioned earlier a nanotechnology survey article titled Synthetic Molecular Motors and Mechanical Machines by Euan Kay, David Leigh, and Francesco Zerbetto. I have a paper copy now and have to admit that it is indeed worth $25, but that the 24-hour online access offered by the publisher at that price would… Continue reading Massive nanotechnology review resolves hard/soft dispute
For many years we’ve been asked, “How will molecular machines be controlled inside the body?” In a nanotechnology advance that is getting wide attention, University of Tokyo researchers have found a way to build molecular-scale scissors — only 3 nanometers long — and control them with light. As explained at Physorg.com: Researchers in Japan have… Continue reading Controlling nanotechnology scissors for medical uses
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
Richard Jones and commenters bring our attention to a number of enticing research papers on the use of catalysis and molecular motors to produce movement. One paper mentioned sounds particularly useful: an overview of progress on Synthetic Molecular Motors and Mechanical Machines. From the abstract: The widespread use of controlled molecular-level motion in key natural… Continue reading Nanotechnology leading to molecular machines
The ever-vigilant Physorg.com brings us news of a one-atom thick freestanding (i.e., unattached) graphene carbon film: Physicists pioneer new super-thin technology Physicists at The University of Manchester and The Max-Planck Institute in Germany have created a new kind of a membrane that is only one atom thick. It’s believed this super-small structure can be used… Continue reading One-atom thick carbon gauze via nanotechnology
One advanced tool for nanotechnology that has been proposed is the disassembler, a molecular machine system that could take apart objects atom-by-atom and record their structure to that level of precision. Sarah Fister Gale at Small Times brings us news of a macroscale tool that claims to be able to do something quite similar: The… Continue reading Nanotechnology tool takes things apart atom by atom
Those of you who have tracked nanotechnology for a long time know that Sun Microsystems was one of the first corporations to take an interest in the field, e.g., sponsoring the Foresight Conferences over the years, and more recently helping to fund the Technology Roadmap for Productive Nanosystems. Now that foresight, combined with their compatibility… Continue reading Sun's nanotechnology vision paying off
Speigel Online reports that nanotechnology work at the University of Texas is leading toward a nanotech “exoskeleton” for military use: Now the superpower’s military is hoping to profit from the findings of nanotechnologist Ray Baughman from the University of Texas. He has managed to develop chemically grown nanotubes, which are like tiny muscles. The microscopically… Continue reading Nanotube yarn targeted for nanotechnology exoskeleton
