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Gaming the Future: The Book!

Category: Research

Scottish researchers find natural enzyme that forms carbon-fluorine bonds

from the put-THAT-in-the-toolbox dept.
According to a press release (21 March 2002), researchers at the University of St Andrews in Scotland have discovered a natural fluorinase enzyme, a biological catalyst which bonds carbon to fluorine. The discovery was published in the 21 March 2002 issue of Nature. An understanding of how natural enzymes handle a highly-reactive element such as fluorine would have important implications for the development of artificial molecular machines systems.

Researchers demonstrate brain-machine control interface

According to a press release (13 March 2002), researchers at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island have demonstrated direct, real-time brain control of the movement of the cursor in a computer display. Their report appears in the March 14 issue of Nature.

Read more for details and links to additional coverage of the intriguing research.

Brookhaven Lab launches nanomaterials research effort

The Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, N.Y. on Long Island, formally launched its $55 million new Center for Functional Nanomaterials on 8 March 2002. Research at the Center will focus on collaborative projects with industry and academic researchers to better understand the physical, chemical and magnetic properties of materials at the nanoscale, as well as determine what applications these nanomaterials can provide. Coverage of the new Brookhaven initiative is available on the web:

Although the Brookhaven nanomaterials research center is new, the lab has been involved in studies aimed at understanding the nanoscale properties of catalysts and how electric charges move at the nanoscale (see Nanodot post from 12 July 2001).

Confocal microscope allows imaging 3D imaging of cellular structures

Gina Miller writes "Luke P. Lee, assistant professor of bioengineering at UC Berkeley, and his doctoral student Sunghoon Kwon have developed a miniature microlens and scanner that can see inside of a cell. "You could put this device on the tip of an endoscope that could be guided inside a cancer patient," said Lee. "Doctors could then see how tumor cells behave in vivo. It would also be feasible to deliver drugs directly to the tumor cell, and then view how the cell responds to the drugs." See the Berkeley Campus news site (3/13/02): http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2002/0 3/13_micro.html"

eru writes "[The] press release from UC Berkeley details a proof-of-concept experiment wherein UC Berkeley professor Luke Lee successfully imaged (in 2-D) a lily's cell wall using a combination microlens and scanner, two devices which Lee has stated that he plans to incorporate into a fully miniaturized 3-D microscope in the future."

And Mr_Farlops points to additonal coverage in which "Science Daily reports that researchers at UC Berkeley have built a working array of confocal optical scanners, each one millimeter in size, built with photolithography methods. They plan to build even smaller devices and imagine uses in materials science, microscopic medical robots, cytology and microbiological research. Obviously such devices acting as the eyes of microscopic medical robots will revolutionize medicine even before nanoscopic cell repair robots arrive. I also personally find it significant that the article notes that this development is funded by, in part, by DARPA."

Read more for a longer post in this item from Brian Wang.

Self-assembling nanotubes may form scaffold for nano-scale systems

Gina Miller writes "Purdue University researcher Hicham Fenniri uses Rosette nanotubes as a frame to direct a target that can change depending on the chemical used. Fenniri believes his self assembling system could be used as a diagnostic tool and for the treatment of disease. See the Purdue News article (March 11, 02) http://news.uns.purdue.edu/UNS/html4ever/020311.Fenniri.scaffold.html"

According to a press release (8 March 2002), Purdue University researcher Hicham Fenniri has developed a method to create self-assembling nanotubes that can be easily manipulated with specific dimensions or chemical properties. The nanotubes can be used as a frame on which various objects additonal molecules or metal ions can be added to give the structure a specific property or direct it toward a selected target, Fenniri says. Fenniri speculates that tailoring structures this way may allow development of high performance materials or new tools to diagnose and treat disease, or they could be used as a scaffold to custom-build molecular wires and other components for use in nanometer-sized electronic devices, including some that could be inserted into the body. A graphic image of one such structure showing a group of nanotubes linked to form a rosette-shaped ring is also available (Note: this is a rather large JPEG image).

Similar work by Fenniri using DNA as the nanoscale scaffold molecule was reported here on Nanodot on 17 April 2001.

Seoul researchers report buckytube

An article on the Small Times website ("South Koreans create building blocks for tiny, tailor-made nano-tranistors", by Peg Brickley, 27 February 2002) describes work by South Korean scientists at Seoul National University who packed nanotubes with tiny spherical fullerene molecules to create regions of varying semiconducting properties within each tube. The result is a hollow structure containing the equivalent of a series of tiny transistors far smaller than any now in existence, according to their research report that appeared in the 28 February 2002 issue of Nature.

This work takes a quick step toward practical application of results reported on 3 January 2002 by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Pennsylvania who discovered that carbon nanotubes packed with fullerene spheres, like so many peas in a pod, have tunable electronic properties.

More on oscillating nanotubes

An article in Technology Research News ("Nudged nested nanotubes may oscillate", by Eric Smalley, 6 February 2002) provides additional details on the work by researchers who calculate that a group of concentric nanotubes nested inside an outer set of tubes can slide back and forth a billion times every second, as noted here on Nanodot on 22 January 2002. Such a gigahertz oscillator could be a major advance in nanotechnology that would enable applications such as ultra-fast optical filters and nano-antennae.

More on functional nanowire composites

More coverage of the work to create cylinder-shaped nanoscopic nanowire bundles that interweave substances with different compositions and properties (see Nanodot post from 2 February 2002). As a result, well-defined junctions and interfaces with potentially important functionalities were incorporated within individual nanowires. The alternating bands of different semiconductor materials in the super-thin wires serve as the electron and photon manipulators.

Spectrum article on modular reconfigurable robots

While itís not nanotechnology, an article in the February 2002 issue of the IEEE Spectrum deals with research into robotics that may eventually be useful in designing swarms of nano-scale robots. "Modular Robots", by Mark Yim, Ying Zhang and David Duff from the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) describe the challenges of designing robots capable of operating outdoors, away from civilization, where both mission and geography are unpredictable. "Here," they authors maintain, "robots with the ability to change their shape could be of great value, since they could adapt to constantly varying tasks and environments. Modular reconfigurable robots — experimental systems made by interconnecting multiple, simple, similar units–can perform such shape shifting."
The article deals mainly with their own work on PolyBot, a modular robot being developed at Xerox PARC, but makes brief mention of work at other labs as well.

ACS reports advances in nanowire production methods

According to a press release (1 February 2002) from the American Chemical Society (ACS), two independent groups have published reports in Nano Letters, an ACS publication, on methods for making lattices that they say will enable nanowires to be constructed with otherwise incompatible materials. Such mixed bundles may be useful in making electronics and other devices on an increasingly smaller scale:

In both cases, manufacture is relatively straightforward and results in stable nanowires that can operate at room temperature, Yang reports. Based on the findings of both research groups, tiny components known as nanowires that meld together a variety of materials could soon be routinely and cheaply built using little more than a special mixture of gases deposited on a foundation material.

Additional information on the Berkeley teamís work can be found in this press release (31 January 2002) issued by Nanosys, Inc. Yang is a cofounder of Nanosys, a company focused on the development of nanotechnology-enabled systems. These systems incorporate novel and patent-protected zero and one-dimensional nanometer-scale materials such as nanowires, nanotubes and nanodots (quantum dots) as their principal active elements. Another cofounder of Nanosys is Charles Lieber, a Harvard chemistry professor and winner of the 2001 Foresight Feynman Prize for Experimental work. Lieber has also been conducting significant research into the production and properties of nanowires and other nano-scale materials.

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