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Gaming the Future: The Book!

Category: Research

Prototype molecular RAM cell reported

from the molectronics dept.
A team led by Mark Reed of Yale University and James Tour of Rice University have developed a prototype random access computer memory cell in which information is recorded, read and erased by molecular switches. The prototype system uses molecular switches consisting of rod-like organic molecules that carry a current between two gold electrodes.

According to their report, the electrodes make contact over a roughly circular area 30ñ50 millionths of a millimeter wide, which contains about a thousand molecules. All of the molecules are switched together by the voltage pulses applied to the electrodes. So each bit of information is stored in a thousand molecules. The researchers say that if molecules could be wired up individually each molecule encodes a bit. The research was reported in the 4 June 2001 issue of Applied Physics Letters.

James Tour described some aspects of this work at the Eighth Foresight Conference in November 2000.

UC Berkeley team creates nanoscale UV lasers

A research team at the University of California at Berkeley has created nanoscale lasers from pure crystals of zinc oxide. The crystals are grown from hot zinc oxide gas using a gold catalyst on sapphire. The process forms regularly spaced nanocrystals, which in turns spurred the growth of pure zinc oxide wires measuring only 20 to 150 nanometers in diameter. The lasers emit blue and ultraviolet light, and operate at room temperature. The team reports its development in the June 8 issue of Science. Additional information is available in this report from United Press International.

Molecular motor may harness Brownian motion

from the random-walk dept.
New research indicates motor proteins inside cells may be able to harness the energy of Brownian motions — random motions caused by thermal energy ñ to move enzymes and other molecules along microtubules inside cells. In a paper published in the May issue of the journal Physical Review E, Georgia Institute of Technology physicist Ronald Fox argues that what appears to be a walk along the microtubule is really random motion cleverly constrained by chemical switching carried out by ATP. Fox believes his work may offer a new mechanism for generating motion in future nanometer-scale machines, in which thermal motion can be harnessed to do useful work.

Note: Some work has already been done to develop nanodevices that take advantage of Brownian motion. See this article on the Scientific American website for details.

Overview of Swiss programs in nanoscience and technology

from the World-Watch dept.
Jeremy Tachau sent notice of an interesting overview of nanoscale science, research and technology development in Switzerland that can be found at the TOP NANO 21 Technology-Oriented Program web site, posted by the Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology. Two graphic charts, with links, (on the web here, and here) show how the program is classifying nanoscale science and research.

Paper Analyzes Human Extinction Scenarios

from the broad-scale-thinking dept.
Nick Bostrom writes "This is a beefed-up version of the presenation I gave in a SIG meeting at the recent Foresight gathering. Comments and suggestions would be welcome. Maybe it can develop into a FI white paper?

The aim is to try to get a better view of the threat picture of what I call "existential risks" – ways in which humankind could go extinct or have its potential permanently destroyed. The paper provides a classification of these risks and argues that they have a cluster of features that make ordinary risk management unworkable. It also argues that there is a substantial probability that we will fall victim to one of these risks. The point, of course, is not to welter in gloom and doom, but to understand where the pitfalls are so we can create better strategies for avoiding falling into them. The paper discusses several implications for policy and ethics, and the potential for destructive uses of nanotechnology is given particular attention.

The text is available in two formats: on the web and as an MS Word document. (Footnotes and formatting are nicer in the M$-version.)"

IR lasers spin microscopic objects

from the in-a-spin dept.
Both vik and Brian Wang noted the news that Researchers at St. Andrews University in Scotland have developed a technique using specialized lasers to spin microscopic objects, such as chromosomes, without making physical contact. They report that they have used infrared lasers to spin tiny glass spheres, a glass rod and even the chromosome from a hamster. The light pulls the objects around at speeds up to five revolutions a second, but is gentle enough not to damage delicate molecules. The work is a variation of the "optical tweezers" technique: as a beam of light bends around an object, the light exerts a force on it. At the microscopic level, the force of laser light bending around tiny objects is strong enough to trap them. By moving the beam, the trapped objects move as well, allowing optical tweezers to push and pull microscopic objects. In the new research, the researchers combine the light of two lasers to create a spiral interference pattern, a pinwheel-like pattern of bright and dark spots. Changing the optical path length causes this pattern, and thus the trapped objects, to rotate.

Brian Wang also noted "My observation is that this combined with Arryx (http://www.arryx.com/overview.html) Holographic Optical Trap ("HOT") technology for splitting one laser into thousands of manipulated lasers might scale into a massive photonic assembly system at the microscopic level."

The research report appeared in the 4 May 2001 issue of Science. Additional coverage can be found on the New York Times website.

UW, PNNL form academic/government partnership for NT research

from the Go,-Huskies! dept.
In an agreement signed 19 April 2001, the University of Washington (UW) in Seattle, and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, Washington announced they have formed the Joint Institute for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. The new institute is described in a UW press release. Additional details are available in an article from the Tri-City Herald.

The UW, home to the Center for Nanotechnology Research, of has established a strong presence in nanotechnology. Last summer, it became the first university in the nation to launch a doctoral degree program in the field. PNNL is located on what used to be known as the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in eastern Washington state. Both UW and PNNL will contribute $500,000 in the first year for administering the joint institute and setting up new programs.

"Together, we can leverage our research capabilities to assemble a stronger scientific team than either of us would have individually," said Bill Rogers, associate laboratory director of PNNL's Fundamental Science Division and director of its Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Initiative. "Nanoscience is an area that requires teams of scientists from various disciplines to work together to solve problems. PNNL excels at multidisciplinary research, and we're taking that teaming approach one step further by signing this agreement."

Nanomedicine author describes medical nanorobot to digest microbes

from the digest-and-discharge dept.
In a recent technical paper, Robert A. Freitas Jr., author of Nanomedicine and a research scientist at Zyvex, describes an artificial mechanical phagocyte called a microbivore — the nanorobotic equivalent of a major class of natural blood cells — the white cells. Major antimicrobial defenses include circulating white cells capable of phagocytosis (engulfing and digesting other cells).

In his paper, Freitas presents a theoretical nanorobot scaling study for artificial mechanical phagocytes of microscopic size, called "microbivores," whose primary function is to destroy microbiological pathogens found in the human bloodstream using a "digest and discharge protocol". Freitas concludes microbivores would be up to 1000 times faster-acting than either natural or antibiotic-assisted biological phagocytic defenses, and about 80 times more efficient as phagocytic agents than macrophages, the white blood cells that are the primary cell-digesting agents in humans. He also notes: "Besides intravenous bacterial scavenging, microbivores or related devices may also be used to help clear respiratory, urinary, or cerebrospinal bacterial infections; eliminate bacterial toxemias and biofilms; eradicate viral, fungal, and parasitic infections; disinfect surfaces, foodstuffs, or organic samples; and help clean up biohazards and toxic chemicals."

A brief summary of the paper was published by the Institute for Molecular Manufacturing in Foresight Update #44. For much, much more information on the potential medical applications of advanced nanotechnology, see the Nanomedicine pages on the Foresight website.

IBM announces array of nanotube transistors

from the molectronics dept.
According to an IBM press release, Philip G. Collins, Michael S. Arnold and Phaedon Avouris at the I.B.M. laboratory in Yorktown Heights, N.Y. have built the world's first array of transistors out of carbon nanotubes. The work is reported in the 27 April 2001 issue of Science. The breakthrough is a new batch process for forming large numbers of nanotube transistors. Until now, nanotubes had to be positioned one at a time or by random chance — which while fine for scientific experiments is impossibly slow and tedious for mass production. The IBM press site contains links to graphics that show how the process works.

In the same report, the IBM scientists show how electrical breakdown can be used to remove individual carbon shells of a multi-walled nanotube one-by-one, allowing the scientists to fabricate carbon nanotubes with the precise electrical properties desired. The report also shows how the scientists fabricate field-effect transistors from carbon nanotubes with any variable band-gap desired.

Read more for links to the Science article and press coverage.

Nanostructured diamond films for efficient solar cells

from the the-diamond-age dept.
An article on Space Daily.com reports researchers at Vanderbilt University have created a prototype diamond-based thermionic solar cell that is potentially 3 to 4 times more efficient than conventional silicon-based cells. The operation of the diamond cells depends on their nanoscale properties.

The cells use diamond films covered with millions of microscopic pyramids: about 10 million per square centimeter. When heated, the tips of these pyramids, which are only a few atoms across, emit streams of high-energy electrons. At the nanoscale, the laws of physics favor the efficient production of high-energy electrons. "It is this nanoscale physics that makes the device work," says Vanderbilt Prof. Timothy S. Fisher, who led the research. He collaborated with Weng Poo Kang, an associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science. The bottom of the diamond film is laminated to a metal sheet that acts as a cathode. When heated, the tips of the tiny pyramids emit streams of electrons that flow across the intervening vacuum to the anode, creating an electric current.

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