From: Gina Miller (nanogirl@halcyon.com)
Date: Wed Mar 12 2003 - 04:38:25 MST
The Nanogirl News
March 12, 2003
Optical microscopy sets new records. Scientists in the US have produced the
highest resolution optical image to date - showing details of structures
that are less than 30 nm across. Lukas Novotny from the University of
Rochester and colleagues from Portland State University and the University
of Harvard used a technique known as "near-field Raman microscopy" to look
at carbon nanotubes. (PhysicsWeb 3/7/03)
http://physicsweb.org/article/news/7/3/4
Or at BBC-Zooming in on the nanoscale:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2822251.stm
Navy grant launches minimally invasive surgical technologies institute at
Cedars-Sinai Scientists in the newly formed Minimally Invasive Surgical
Technology Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center are working to develop a
new generation of advanced surgical tools and procedures. Minimally invasive
technologies, robotic surgery, optical imaging and gene and cellular "nano"
therapy are major points of focus for the Institute, which is funded by a $1
million grant from the U.S. Navy.
(EurekAlert 3/5/03)
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-03/cmc-ngl030503.php
A fold-your-own protein kit. The Critical Assessment of Structure Prediction
is the Grand Prix of bioinformatics, where competitors start with gene
sequences and try to determine the shape of unknown proteins. A new
visualization tool called ProteinShop jump-starts the race with mathematical
concepts that move chains of amino acids like a robot's very long arm.
(Berkeley Lab 2/28/03)
http://enews.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/CRD-proteinshop.html
Shaken Not Stirred. The progression toward smaller and smaller electrical
and mechanical components presents tremendous challenges to engineers and
scientists as they strive to create devices on scales measured in microns
and nanometers. One solution may be to develop materials that automatically
arrange themselves in useful patterns. Now a collaboration of researchers
(Igor Aronson, 630-252-9725) at Argonne National Laboratory and Institute of
Physics for Microstructures of the Russian Academy of Sciences has developed
a new method for encouraging microscopic particles to self assemble into
desired complex patterns.
(Physics News Update 2/26/03)
http://www.aip.org/enews/physnews/2003/split/626-3.html
Australian overturns 15 years of nano-science doctrine. An Australian
mathematician has thrown 15 years of accepted scientific practice out the
window by discovering a design flaw in a key component of the Atomic Force
Microscope. His finding will force a rethink into the design and use of an
instrument that has become a cornerstone of scientific measurement and
analysis. Dr John Sader, at University of Melbourne's Department of
Mathematics and Statistics, and Particulate Fluids Processing Centre, used
established mechanical principles to prove that the popular V-shaped
cantilever inadvertently degrades the performance of the instrument, and
delivers none of its intended benefits. (EurekAlert 3/6/03)
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-03/uom-ao1030603.php
Physicists at the University of Missouri-Rolla have published the first-ever
three-dimensional images of atomic collision processes. The images, which
promise to further understanding of theoretical physics, accompany a paper
by the physicists in the March 6 issue of the British journal Nature. The
paper, "Three-dimensional imaging of atomic four-body processes," by three
UMR physicists and colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear
Physics in Heidelberg, Germany, has enormous implications to theoretical
physics, the authors say, because it offers scientists a new look at how
ions react when they collide with atoms. Previous studies have shown only
two-dimensional images of the collisions, says Dr. Michael Schulz, professor
of physics at UMR, and one of the authors. (Newswise 3/6/03)
http://www.newswise.com/articles/2003/3/ATOMIC3D.UMR.html
Interview with Christine Peterson. Questions by Sander Olson, NanoApex
Corp...Christine Peterson has been investigating and promoting the concept
of molecular nanotechnology for the past two decades. She wrote, along with
Eric Drexler and Gayle Pergamit, Unbounding the Future in 1991. She is
currently the President of the Foresight institute. (Interview at
nanomagazine.com 3/2/03)
http://www.nanomagazine.com/2003_03_02
The Greater Austin-San Antonio Corridor Council Launches Region's First
Nanobiotechnology Summit. The Greater Austin-San Antonio Corridor Council
announced a major economic development initiative today, bringing together
area organizations to host a technology summit that will link together the
mushrooming nanotech and infotech, and biomedical and biosciences sectors of
the Greater Austin-San Antonio Corridor. Scheduled for March 20, 2003, on
the campus of Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas, the
event will serve as a catalyst for economic development along the I-35
corridor. (Hoovers Online 3/7/03)
http://hoovnews.hoovers.com/fp.asp?layout=displaynews&doc_id=NR200303071680
2_8047003677bc5980
Simple optoelectronic devices based on silver nanoclusters perform logic
operations Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have
demonstrated a new type of nanometer-scale optoelectronic device that
performs addition and other complex logic operations, is simple to fabricate
and produces optical output that can be read without electrical contacts.
(Georgia Research News 3/7/03)
http://www.gtresearchnews.gatech.edu/newsrelease/nanocomputing.htm
Small is beautiful but only up to a point. Chris Benfield reports on new
horizons in a microscopic world. The prophets of "nanotechnology" - the
science of working in billionths of a metre, like Nature did when she
created living things - say it could build ladders to the stars, cure all
ills, make us richer than we ever dreamed, and record every move we ever
make. Now a group of scientific heavyweights have published an essay warning
that the whole booming business is heading for a row like the one about
genetic modification, as soon as people realize what it is up to. The
authors of the warning include Peter Singer, the former Oxford University
scientist who predicted, in 1976, that animals' rights would be one of the
issues of the coming decades. (Hoovers Online 3/5/03)
http://hoovnews.hoovers.com/fp.asp?layout=displaynews&doc_id=NR20030305670.4
_aede001ec56e2f41
Nobel laureate Smalley urges engineering initiative. The United States needs
a Sputnik-like event to revive interest in careers in engineering and the
physical sciences, a Nobel Prize-winning engineer told a government science
board on Monday (March 3). Richard Smalley, the Rice University professor
and nano-technology pioneer, told the President's Council of Advisors on
Science and Technology that such a galvanizing event exists: the Sept. 11,
2001, terror attacks on the United States. (EETimes 3/4/03)
http://www.eetimes.com/sys/news/OEG20030304S0014
Nanorelay race is on. Scientists at Chalmers University of Technology in
Sweden have theoretically modelled the properties of a nanorelay device. The
nanorelay consisted of a conducting carbon nanotube beam, a stepped silicon
substrate and three electrodes. "These results describe a basic idea, a way
of building a nanoelectromechanical switch using small conducting
cantilevers such as metallic nanotubes," researcher Jari Kinaret told
nanotechweb.org. "The main aim with this first publication was to get the
idea out in order to stimulate experimental work on nanorelays."
(nanotechweb.org 3/6/03)
http://nanotechweb.org/articles/news/2/3/4/1
Motorola shows 30-nm images with nano-imprint. Motorola Inc. here today
disclosed new details about its internal nano-imprint lithography program,
claiming it has demonstrated the ability to print feature sizes down to
30-nm with a tool from a U.S. startup. Douglas Resnick, a manager at
Motorola Labs in Tempe, Ariz., said the lab is using a tool from startup
Molecular Imprints Inc. (MII, Austin, Texas) to demonstrate the feasibility
of nano-imprint lithography in future device production. (EETimes 2/25/03)
http://www.eet.com/at/n/news/OEG20030225S0037
Amino groups link up with carbon nanotubes. A team of scientists from Rice
University, US, have come up with a new technique for attaching amino groups
to the sidewalls of single-walled carbon nanotubes. They produced the
functionalized nanotubes by reacting fluoronanotubes with terminal diamines.
(nanotechweb.org 3/3/03)
http://nanotechweb.org/articles/news/2/3/1/1
(Essay by by Sharon Smith, Director, Technology, Systems Integration
Business Area, Lockheed Martin Corporation) The Defense Industry's
'Fantastic Voyage' into the World of Nanotechnology...To meet the needs of
its military customers, Lockheed Martin Corporation is dedicated to
incorporating advanced, proven technologies into our defense systems, giving
our armed forces the best technological advantage possible. Our current
areas of focus include military space products, precision munitions,
information superiority, air and missile defense products, and combat, air
mobility, and special mission/reconnaissance aircraft. As part of our
on-going efforts to keep our defense systems the best in the world, we are
very interested in nanotechnology. (Eurekalert)
http://www.eurekalert.org/context.php?context=nano&show=essays
(Scroll to second story) The Next Big Thing. Small Minnesota town looks for
state help to be on the leading edge of emerging technology. Suspend your
beliefs about the workings of nearly every product you've ever known.
Imagine instead prescription drugs treat-ing pain the moment they touch your
mouth's membrane. Supercomputers functioning from a wristwatch. Airplanes
becoming invisible by blending into their surroundings. Buildings and
machines repairing themselves. And clothing alerting its wearer to
environmental hazards. The technology for such advances - called
nanotechnology - is not relegated to imagination. It's well on its way. And
if a group of busi-ness people has its way, it's a science that will be
partially funded by the state of Minnesota. A bill to fund the Rushford
Institute for Technology, still on the drawing board, has been approved by
one House committee. (Rushford.net March 03)
http://www.rushford.net/rushford/myarticles.asp?P=622416&S=366&PubID=10717&E˜Õ
C=0
Green plans for tiny tech. Nanotechnologists take responsible approach to
the environment. A US research centre is working to develop tiny technology
in an environmentally friendly way, its director told this week's meeting of
the American Physical Society in Austin, Texas. Rice University's Center for
Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology in Houston, Texas, is trying to
identify the potential impacts of manipulating matter on the scale of atoms
and molecules to make devices over a thousand times thinner than a human
hair. (Nature 3/10/03)
http://www.nature.com/nsu/030303/030303-12.html
Smart Dust Senses Bioweapons. How can you protect yourself from biological
and chemical weapons? Forget duct tape. The answer is blowing in the
wind...To make the particles, which Sailor calls "smart dust," he first
creates a filter for light in the surface of a silicon wafer about the size
of a quarter. He places the wafer in a conductive solution, and then
electrochemically corrodes it with an alternating current. Sailor says, "as
[the corrosion] drills down into the silicon, it bottlenecks and opens up
again, then bottlenecks and opens up again." The result is a delicately
etched network of parallel pores about two nanometers in diameter. Using
ultrasound vibrations, Sailor then crumbles the wafer into particles about
the width of a hair.
(Technology Review 3/12/03)
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/wo_harney031203.asp
Breaking Glass under a Microscope. If you dropped a wineglass, you'd expect
it to shatter, not skitter across the floor like a silver goblet would. But
research published in the 21 February print issue of PRL suggests that glass
does in fact break like a metal--at least at the nanometer scale. The
research may help explain some of the fracture properties of glass, and may
someday lead to stronger versions of the material. (Physical Review Focus
3/5/03)
http://focus.aps.org/story/v11/st9
Indian scientist makes breakthrough in nanotechnology. It is a major step
forward for nanotechnology--the science of manipulating individual molecules
and atoms to build structures of complex atomic specifications. An Indian
scientist and his team at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore,
have demonstrated that nanotubes--cylindrical carbon rolls no thicker than
an atom -- may make good batteries for tiny devices or even power
pacemakers, thereby dispensing with cumbersome power packs. (Economic
Times/IndiaTimes 3/11/03)
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?artid=39
961572
Zyvex Introduces Innovative Business Partner Program. Zyvex Corporation, the
first molecular nanotechnology company, today announced the introduction of
the Zyvex Business Partner Program. This unique program enables
inventors,university professors, and large or small firms to capitalize on
Zyvex's leadership position in the nanotechnology business arena.
"Because of Zyvex's established brand equity, technical expertise, and
healthy financial situation, we're able to create win/win business
partnerships to commercialize products or license technologies for those
that don't possess the required resources to position themselves in the
burgeoning nanotechnology marketplace," said Dr. Thomas A. Cellucci, Chief
Operating Officer at Zyvex. Zyvex offers much more than a simple
distribution relationship for finished products. They're prepared to
provide partners with a comprehensive package of financial assistance,
support, marketing prowess, and business advice.
(biz ink 3/7/03)
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=SVBIZINK3.story&STORY=/www
/story/03-07-2003/0001903891&EDATE=FRI+Mar+07+2003,+11:00+AM
The Big Letdown. A thorough report on nanotechnology, The Big Down is
required reading. But it completely misses the biggest threat to the future:
Democratic rot. Nobody who calls themselves a Transhumanist, a futurist, a
technophile or even an environmentalist could have missed the recent release
of the The Big Down, the poetically named, stop-nanotechnology-now report
from tiny, Monsanto-tormenting ETC Group. But how many of you actually read
it?
(Betterhumans 3/3/03)
http://www.betterhumans.com/Features/Columns/Red_Hour_Orgy/column.aspx?artic
leID=2003-03-02-4
Check out the new Nanomedicine Book Site maintained by the author Robert A.
Freitas Jr. Find out about Nanomedicine Volume I , when you can get the
upcoming Volume IIA and volumes to come. More than that, it's also a great
site with lots of information. http://www.nanomedicine.com
Gina "Nanogirl" Miller
Nanotechnology Industries
http://www.nanoindustries.com
Personal: http://www.nanogirl.com
Foresight Senior Associate http://www.foresight.org
Extropy member http://www.extropy.org
nanogirl@halcyon.com
"Nanotechnology: Solutions for the future."
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