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Gaming the Future: The Book!

Category: Research

Viral molecular motor is most powerful yet found

Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Minnesota have discovered a molecular motor that is capable of packing viral DNA into a protein shell at internal pressures of up to 60 atmospheres, making it the most powerful molecular motor discovered so far. The research was reported in the 18 October 2001 issue of Nature, where it was the cover article.

NSF seeks proposals for nanoscience and engineering program

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is still soliciting proposals for the FY 2002 grants process for its program on collaborative research and education in the area of nanoscale science and engineering. The program supports research science and engineering research and education in emerging areas of nanoscale science and technology, including: biosystems at the nanoscale; nanoscale structures, novel phenomena, and quantum control; device and system architecture; design tools and nanosystems specific software; nanoscale processes in the environment; multi-scale, multi-phenomena modeling and simulation at the nanoscale; manufacturing processes at the nanoscale; and studies on the societal implications of nanoscale science and engineering. This solicitation will provide support for: Nanoscale Interdisciplinary Research Teams (NIRT) and Nanoscale Exploratory Research (NER). Proposals are due by 19 December 2001. For details, visit the NSF website at http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2001/nsf01157/nsf01157.html.

Simulation hints at diamondoid nanotubes

Computer simulations on the structures of carbon nanotubes by researchers at Pennsylvania State University indicate it is possible to create carbon fibers with mechanical strength comparable to that of diamond. In a paper published in the 17 September 2001 issue of Physical Review Letters, a tema led by Vincent Crespi reports that they discovered incredibly strong and stiff carbon tubes about 0.4 nanometers in diameter. "Based on our calculations, these new nanotubes are about 40 percent stronger than the other nanotubes formed using the same number of atoms," said Crespi. "In fact, the nanotubes we simulated may well be the stiffest one-dimensional systems possible."

DARPA solicits proposals for molecular imaging research

from the sharper-image dept.
DARPA's Defense Sciences Office (DSO), part of the U.S. Department of Defense, is soliciting proposals for the development of imaging technologies for the characterization of molecules, nanostructures and exotic materials (e.g., nanotubes). The new technologies should provide real-time, 3D, static images of molecules and nanostructures with atomic level resolution, or dynamic images of complex biomaterials at room temperature in aqueous media. Deadline for applications is 25 October 2001. Additional details and contact information are available on the web.

DARPA funds collaborative quantum computing center

According to a press release on 10 September 2001, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), part of the U.S. Department of Defense, is funding a five-year project that will establish a Quantum Architecture Research Center between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the University of California campuses at UC Davis and UC Berkeley. The project will examine possible methods to build a super fast computer that uses the properties of quantum physics. Primary researchers include computer scientists Fred Chong of the University of California, Davis, Isaac Chuang at MIT and John Kubiatowicz at UC Berkeley. Additonal details can be found on the project website, hosted at MIT.

UC Davis researchers look at trust in data communications

According to a press release from 10 September 2001, computer security researchers at the University of California at Davis are studying a system that lets exposed, "untrusted" machines go on providing useful, accurate information, even though they might have been infiltrated and compromised. Their method invokes a digital signature from a "trusted" computer that can help verify the integrity of data received from an "untrusted" computer.

Spiral nanotubes create

While much recent research news about nanotubes has focused on their electronic properties, this report in Applied Physics Letters (3 September 2001), by researchers at the University of Idaho, describes helical nanotubes that act as springs. The nanosprings could serve as positioners, or even as tiny conventional springs, for nanomachines of the future.

UK, US researchers working on self-assembling solar cells

from the fun-in-the-sun dept.
Patrick Underwood writes: "Here is an article from newscientist.com on self-assembling solar cells ("Self-assembling solar cells developed", by Ian Sample, 9 August 2001). Reminds me of Unbounding the Future. This comes pretty close to the idea in that book of paving streets with solar collectors."

The New Scientist article describes solar cells that "self assemble" from a liquid developed by scientists at the University of Cambridge. The method could make it cheap and easy to cover large areas, like roofs, with efficient, ultra-thin solar cell coatings.
Related research is being conducted at the University of Arizona, as described in this detailed press release from 28 August 2001. UA researchers have received nearly US$ 1 million from two separate federal grants to develop organic molecules that "self assemble," or self-organize, from liquid into efficient solar cell coatings. Some of the UA researchers had previously collaborated with the U Cambridge team.

HP, MIT announce joint project for quantum computing

Hewlett-Packard Company and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) announced on 8 August 2001 the launch of a joint effort aimed at building quantum information systems. According to an HP press release, the project will receive $US 2.5 million in funding over a 4.5 year period. Researchers from HP Labs in Palo Alto and Bristol, U.K., will work with Professors Neil Gershenfeld and Issac L. Chuang the MIT Media Lab, as well as Dr. Seth Lloyd, an Associate Professor at MIT's Mechanical Engineering Department and a leading theorist of quantum computing. "With HP's success in molecular electronics research and MIT's expertise in quantum computing, we have a powerful one-two punch for the advancement of quantum information systems," said HP Fellow Stan Williams, director of quantum science research at HP Labs.

HP was granted another molecular electronics patent in July 2001.

Researchers measure electron waves in nanotubes

from the molectronics dept.
Using a scanning electron probe, a research team led by Cees Dekker of the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands has imaged the undulations of electron waves in carbon nanotubes. In addition to illuminating basic properties of electron conduction in nanotubes, their results also confirm theoretical predictions that electrons in metallic nanotubes moved along two different electron "bands" that can interfere with each other. A member of the research team said it may be possible to manipulate these electrons to make them interfere with each other and create a circuit. The work was reported in the 9 August 2001 issue of Nature.
Additional details are available on the Nature website, and from an article from the Nature Science Update website.

Dekker and his research team also reported in July 2001 that they had created a single-electron transistor (SET) made from a single carbon nanotube,

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