~Nanogirl News~
Weekend 12/13/99
*Maskless process creates submicron pillars. "'We discovered the effect
totally accidentally, when we were trying to stamp out nanostructures with
my imprinting technique." Imprinting, which Chou also invented, stamps out
tiny nanomachine parts from partially cooled liquid polymers with a
template. Tiny machine parts, with features as small as six nanometers —
only a few dozen atoms wide — have been successfully stamped out with Chou's
nanoimprinting technique. The only other way to create such small machine
parts is with X-ray lithography, a much more complex process. (EETimes
12/6/99) http://www.eetimes.com/story/technology/OEG19991206S0042
*Download Sept 99 pdf 2.1mb National Science and Technology Council (NSTC)
Committee on Technology The Interagency Working Group on Nanoscience,
Engineering and Technology (IWGN) "Nanotechnology Shaping the World Atom by
Atom" http://itri.loyola.edu/nano/IWGN.Public.Brochure/
*In the Dec 99 Physics Today there is an article: Nanoscale Fluctuations at
Solid Surfaces. Before you build things in the nanoworld, you’d better make
sure you know how atomic fluctuations affect your structure’s size and
shape. --Zoltán Toroczkai and Ellen D. Williams (only a mention of the
article/not full)
http://www.aip.org/pt/current.htm
*Scientists look for molecular 'meaning of life' Scientists are close to
finding the essence of life - at least on a genetic level - and it comes
down to about 300 genes. US researchers think this is the minimum set of
molecular instructions required to build a living organism. (BBC Dec 10,99)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_556000/556984.stm
*Secrets Of DNA Transcription Laid Bare In 3-D. Scientists at the University
of California, Berkeley, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL)
have obtained the first good picture of a major chunk of the machinery that
turns genes on and off.With the help of electron microscopy and a relatively
new technique called single particle image analysis, the researchers
reconstructed a three-dimensional picture of the heart of the machine -- the
part that binds to DNA.
http://unisci.com/stories/19994/1210991.htm
Or: http://news.excite.com/news/uw/991208/tech-246
*The Association for the Advancement of Science Annual Meeting in Washington
D.C. will occur Feb. 17-22 2000, lest I point out that there will be six
speakers on nanotechnology in the 21rst Century. Jeff Brinker, Jim
Gimzewski, Jene Golovchenko, Thomas S. Picraux, M.C. Roco, and Thomas Theis.
(url includes further links to Synopses, there are also further links to
meetings on their site)
http://www.aaas.org/meetings/2000/speakers.htm
*Nucleus Is Larger than Life. A typical atomic nucleus is just 10-14 m
across, but sometimes its influence can extend far beyond its size. Using a
beam of ultracold neutrons to probe the gadolinium nucleus, a team has
measured the largest nuclear "cross section" ever observed: The nucleus
swallowed up any neutrons approaching within a distance 10,000 times its
diameter. (Physical Review Focus 12/9/99)
http://focus.aps.org/v4/st29.html
*The internet on your wristwatch. Your wristwatch will soon do a lot more
than tell time. Hewlett-Packard and Swatch Group recently forged a
revolutionary technology partnership to build the world’s first wristwatch
that delivers on the promise of the Internet. "Hey Mr. do you know what
webpage, I mean what time it is?"
http://www.hpl.hp.com/news/swatch.html
Here's one already complete, although it is only PDA at 249 bones.
http://www.onhandpc.com/
*Designing a dilemma. Right across the US, IVF embryos are being tested for
genetic disorders in a bid to save the life of a sick sibling. Will the
technology be hijacked to make designer babies? (New Scientist 12/11/99)
http://www.newscientist.com/ns/19991211/newsstory7.html
*Smart Parking Lot. A team of sophomore engineering students at Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute has invented a "smart" parking lot system that tells
drivers where available spaces are, saving them time and fuel. (Rensselaer
12/6/99)
http://www.rpi.edu/dept/NewsComm/Renss_news/press_releases/ied99.html
*The eighth in the series of Foresight Conferences on Molecular
Nanotechnology will be held November 3-5, 2000; Bethesda, Maryland. Further
information at this newly added url, a few days old.
http://www.foresight.org/Conferences/MNT8/index.html
*Decembers Berkeley Lab Science Beat is up:
http://enews.lbl.gov/
*Copyright Decision Threatens Freedom to Link. In a ruling that could
undermine the freedom to create links on the Web, a federal judge in Utah
has temporarily barred two critics of the Mormon Church from posting on
their Web site the Internet addresses of other sites featuring pirated
copies of a Mormon text. (12/10/99 NY)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/12/cyber/cyberlaw/10law.html
*Intel process tweak pushes Pentium III past 800-MHz. Intel Corp. is
manufacturing Pentium III microprocessors with better than 800-MHz clock
frequencies by using a refinement of CMOS process technology described by
researchers at this week's International Electron Devices Meeting. (Notched
poly process) http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG19991209S0037
*Breakthrough To Turn Gene Code Into Affordable Medical Reality.
Technologies to speed and reduce the cost of developing revolutionary new
drugs to prevent and cure diseases like cancer, Alzheimers and AIDS were
revealed at a scientific seminar in London today. (Internet Wire 12/10/99)
http://www.iwire.com/content/09990602.dsl
*Announce: NanoSpace 2000 - The Third International Conference on Integrated
Nano/Microtechnology for Space Applications to be held January 23-28 of the
year 2000 in Houston, Texas. This NASA - sponsored conference will be
located at the South Shore Harbour Hotel. Over 100 papers have already been
submitted and dozens of organizations are participating in NanoSpace 2000
(called "NanoSpace Oh, Oh").
http://nanospace.systems.org/
*Deep thoughts draw crowd. Advancing technology may permit us increasingly
to gratify ourselves and free ourselves from pain, but the question must be
posed, says Laura Shannon, a bioethics philosopher: Do we have a right to
all that luxury? "Uh, I do!" (Edmund Journal Extra Dec 12, 99) Small
article. http://www.edmontonjournal.com/
*Molecular fats prevent nerve sheath abnormality. A study led by scientists
at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill points to a group of
lipids (fats) that are crucial to proper formation of the myelin sheath
surrounding nerve fibers. Although without direct clinical implications for
human disease, the new findings help solve a scientific puzzle while adding
important new knowledge to the molecular biology of myelin and diseases of
myelin loss, particularly multiple sclerosis. (Eurekalert 12/13)
http://www.eurekalert.org/releases/uncm-mfp120999.html
*Brown geologist finds evidence supporting ancient ocean on Mars. James
Head, a Brown University planetary geologist, is the lead investigator on a
team of scientists that has found evidence supporting the presence of an
ancient ocean on Mars. The team received topographical data from the
unmanned Mars Global Surveyor that they say is consistent with a former
ocean. (Brown U 12/9/99)
http://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/1999-00/99-060.html
*Y is it so? And will sex for fun survive? Fast-forward to 2099, and we may
be talking genetically enhanced IVF babies, sex between artificial minds,
"love" pills and sexual surrogates to help marriages survive. "Yeah, lets
fast forward!" Professor Savulescu says that gene deletions – which appear
to correlate with increasing male infertility – indicate the Y chromosome
"has a limited evolutionary lifetime that means the male is facing eventual
extinction. "Oops!" (Australian 12/13/99)
http://news.com.au/news_content/national_content/4158801.htm
*Getting heavy. Perhaps the newborn Universe wasn't just for lightweights.
Did the fireball early Universe cook up a much richer cocktail than anyone
realised? A German astrophysicist is challenging the idea that the early
Universe created only hydrogen, helium and lithium. He thinks it may also
have made heavier elements such as carbon. (New Scientist 12/11/99)
http://www.newscientist.com/ns/19991211/newsstory13.html
*Like a good marriage, the relationship between biology and computing is a
two-way street. While computing has become essential to biology, biology
helps computing in return. When it comes to decoding DNA, science pooling
its talents. A new skill combining biology and computing has exploded into
what is probably the hottest career opportunity for college graduates in the
coming decade. (Pioneer Planer 11/12/12/99)
http://www.pioneerplanet.com/seven-days/1/news/docs/006676.htm
*The Long Horizon of Gene Therapy. -snip- Over the next two or three years,
if we don't hit another brick wall, and several of these products get into
Phase 3 trials and things look encouraging, the business outlook for gene
therapy will brighten again and money will flow back into the field. (NY
Times 12/12/99)
http://www10.nytimes.com/library/financial/sunday/121299biz-questions.html
*Today (12/13/99) Nanovation was once again a feature of an article. On the
heels of the elusive all-optical circuit. Engineers and executives at
Nanovation Technologies Inc. (Miami, FL) believe they've found the Holy
Grail that will at last unleash the power of the all-optical network--the
photonic circuit.
http://lw.pennwellnet.com/home/articles.cfm?ARTICLE_ID=43358&PUBLICATION_ID
=13&VERSION_NUM=4&Section=Subscriber&LoginReq=No
*It's alive! (or might be) The science and ethics of creating. What if it
were possible to create life in a test tube? Would it be morally repugnant?
And what is "life," anyway? These were just two of the questions that
confronted scientists J. Craig Venter and Claire Fraser of the
Maryland-based Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) a couple of years ago.
Now..... (US News current issue)
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/991220/genes.htm
*Book: Includes a link to the first chapter of 'Absolute Zero and the
Conquest of Cold' by Tom ShacHtman, and viewpoint and review of the book
with recap of the history scientific cold and it's effects on scociety. (NY
Times 12/12/99)
http://www10.nytimes.com/books/99/12/12/reviews/991212.12singht.html
*Every December we choose ten trends that we think will be the most
important influences in the business of technology in the coming year. We
hope these trends will be what the rest of the press is writing about in
2000. (Red Herring Dec)
http://www.herring.com/mag/issue73/news-fea-trends-home.html
*Some cool stuff on HMS Beagle *make sure you have a password. Chromosomes
get a break Chromosomes break frequently, and cells rely on a repair
mechanism called "nonhomologous DNA end joining" to put them back together./
All tangled up A protein called p25 appears to initiate the formation of
neurofibrillary tangles, which are a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. / Down
at the cellular garage A protein that initiates autophagy may be important
in blocking the
development of some forms of cancer. http://www.biomednet.com/hmsbeagle/
*Terms of employment for research physicists are changing rapidly. Over the
last ten or fifteen years, basic research groups at, for example, AT&T, IBM,
and the petroleum companies have mostly been dismantled to be replaced by
more applied and directed efforts. Even product-related research groups have
often shrunk. Scientists at all levels have been replaced, retired,
terminated, moved, or fired—sometimes gracefully, sometimes not. (Physics
today Dec) http://www.aip.org/pt/kadanoff.htm
*The Architect of the Capitol has been hacked as of yesterday, and it's
oneliner of a comedic statement is still up on the original url. Perhaps the
gov will notice tomorrow.
http://www.aoc.gov/
*Cornell researchers unlock a mystery of plant reproduction by discovering
what causes pollen to be accepted or rejected. Over a century ago,
scientists discovered that some plants don't permit fertilization by their
own pollen. And for the past quarter-century, scientists have known that
cellular communication exists between the female stigma and the male gamete,
or pollen, it receives. But no one knew how the stigma could tell the
difference between the plant's own pollen and that from other plants. (Nov)
http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/Nov99/Pollenstigma.bpf.html
*This is a little older, middle of last month. UCSD SCIENTISTS USE LASER AND
X-RAY TECHNOLOGIES TO WATCH A DIFFERENT WAY OF 'MELTING' SEMICONDUCTING
MATERIAL. Take an ice cube, plop it into a glass of water and the cube will
slowly undergo the very ordinary melting transition from the solid to liquid
phase. Using ultrafast pulses of light and x-rays, an interdisciplinary
group at the University of California, San Diego has directly observed the
melting of material without taking the route of a typical melting process.
http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/newsrel/science/amelt.htm
*
GENE RESEARCHERS APOLOGIZE FOR LAPSES IN TEEN'S FATAL TREATMENT
from The Washington Post
*As the ongoing investigation into the death of a teenager taking part in a
University of Pennsylvania gene therapy experiment continues to turn up new
deficiencies in the teen's treatment, researchers yesterday apologized for
their lapses. Federal investigators revealed new evidence that Jesse
Gelsinger was too sick to have undergone the experimental treatment in
September. They also announced that the Penn researchers had changed the
rules for inclusion in the study without the approval of the Food and Drug
Administration. (Washington Post 12/12/99)
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-12/10/108l-121099-idx.html
*Download the next issue of Sima XI (pdf Adobe Acrobat Reader)
http://www.sigmaxi.org/news&events/SXToday/sxtoday.htm
*First detailed pictures to show human T cells locked on foreign substance.
The first detailed pictures of key immune system cells locked onto fragments
of a foreign substance -- published in the December 3 issue of Science --
provide new clues about how the immune system identifies enemy threats and
may even lead to a novel way of vaccinating people against diseases to which
they are genetically susceptible, scientists say. (Argonne, Ill. Dec. 3,
1999) with gifs.
http://www.anl.gov/OPA/news99/news991203.htm
Welp, I'm off like a dirty shirt!
P.S. I didn't say anything about porn, or put Extropian BeforE my
Nanoindustries title in the Wired article, I found the wording to be a bit
confusing, however a journalist has an element of control I suppose. (Glad
to see the extropian odyssey in print, Still smirking with guilt over my
categorization- what is my adoption mom going to say think about
nanorgasm?)
Gina "Nanogirl" Miller
Nanotechnology Industries
http://www.nanoindustries.com
Personal Web
http://www.homestead.com/nanotechind/nothingatall.html
E-mail: nanogirl@halcyon.com
"Nanotechnology: solutions for the future."