From: Gina Miller (nanogirl@halcyon.com)
Date: Thu Jul 31 2003 - 16:21:08 MDT
The Nanogirl News
July 31, 2003
Cutting-Edge Science Creates Stain-Free Pants. Scientists are wrestling with
individual atoms to develop molecule-sized computers, tiny cancer-fighting
robots that travel the bloodstream ... and stain-resistant trousers.
Nanotechnology -- the science of manipulating materials billionths of a
meter (meter) wide -- has emerged as a promising new field that could lead
to stunning advances in years to come. Boosters claim that nanotech-derived
products may some day cure disease, slow the aging process and eliminate
pollution. But for now, the human race will have to settle for tennis balls
that keep their bounce longer, flat-panel displays that shine brighter and
wrinkle-free khaki slacks that resist coffee stains. "People are saying,
'Geez, this isn't Star Trek yet; this is just pants that don't stain,' but
you've got to start somewhere," said Howard Lovy, news editor of the
nanotech industry journal Small Times. "I'm wearing nano-pants as we speak."
(CNET 7/23/03)
http://news.cnet.com/investor/news/newsitem/0-9900-1028-21342462-0.html
Manufacturing technique offers possibilities for electronics industry.
Manufacturing the minute may have gotten cheaper and more exact, thanks to a
new technique developed by an international team of researchers. The
technique, described in the July 24 issue of the journal Nature, marries two
approaches to lower the cost and improve the control of producing materials
at the molecular level. This hybrid approach, say the researchers, could
lead to computers, personal data assistants and cell phones that offer the
densest data capacity stored in the tiniest packages. (University of
Wisconsin 7/23/03)
http://www.news.wisc.edu/view.html?get=8777
(Event) The Accelerating Change Conference will be a forum to explore the
paradise of resources, as well as the risks and responsibilities,
represented by cascading breakthroughs in computational technologies.
Accelerating change is a fact; what to do? - Ray Kurzweil, K. Eric Drexler,
Steve Jurvetson, Tim O'Reilly, William H. Calvin, Howard Bloom, Robert
Wright, and 17 other world-class minds will present to 300 attendees,
focusing on the profound opportunities and risks of business and society's
accelerating pace of change.- Special early bird extension: Save $100 (25%)
on conference admission until August 4th. - For More info:
http://www.accelerating.org/acc2003/press.htm
For Registration: http://www.accelerating.org/acc2003/registration.htm
Physicists Build World's Smallest Motor Using Nanotubes And Etched Silicon.
Only 15 years after University of California, Berkeley, engineers built the
first micro-scale motor, a UC Berkeley physicist has created the first
nano-scale motor - a gold rotor on a nanotube shaft that could ride on the
back of a virus. "It's the smallest synthetic motor that's ever been made,"
said Alex Zettl, professor of physics at UC Berkeley and faculty scientist
at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. "Nature is still a little bit
ahead of us - there are biological motors that are equal or slightly smaller
in size - but we are catching up."
(ScienceDaily 7/24/03)
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/07/030724084133.htm
Image Downloads: http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/download/
Greenpeace issues major report on nanotechnology. It was reported today
[Greenpeace Wades Into Nano Debate With Report That Calls For Caution, by
Douglas Brown, Small Times Correspondent] that Greenpeace issued a 72-page
report, published in the magazine New Scientist, calling on government and
industry to do much more to stay on top of the environmental, medical and
ethical challenges posed by nanotechnology. The report does not appear to be
available on the New Scientist web site as of this writing, but it has
already drawn comments as described in the Small Times article and in the
following submissions from two Nanodot readers. (Nanodot 7/24/03)
http://nanodot.org/article.pl?sid=03/07/24/2226229
Also see- The Center for Responsible Nanotechnology today announced its
conditional support of the Greenpeace report, "Future technologies, today's
choices", about the risks, benefits, and current status of nanotechnology.
"We've heard from extremists on both sides," said Mike Treder, Executive
Director of CRN. "Now it's time for sober discussion and serious research.
This report clearly is a step forward." (CRN 7/30/03)
http://crnano.org/PR-Greenpeace.htm
Starpharma: Human Trials of Anti-HIV Product. Starpharma gets clearance from
the US FDA for human clinical trials of a new dendrimer
nano-drug.-PDF-(Starpharma 7/30/03)
http://www.starpharma.com/docs/030731_IND_Success.pdf
Device Measures Femtometers. Nanoscale sensor couples transistor with
crystal to approach quantum limit. A new sensor can measure femtometer-sized
movements of a single-crystal oscillator, increasing sensitivity about
10-fold over previous nanoscale devices [Nature, 424, 291 (2003)]. The
apparatus, developed by scientists at the University of California, Santa
Barbara, couples a single-electron transistor to a vibrating, 250-nm-wide
beam of GaAs. (C&E 7/21/02)
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/topstory/8129/8129notw5.html
(Video 1min. 35 secs.Quicktime or Realmedia) Shirts That Stop Bullets. What
if you could wear lightweight armor that kept you warm-and let you phone
home? As this ScienCentral News video reports, nanotechnologists have come
up with a super strong, flexible fiber that can conduct heat and
electricity. It could be light as a cotton shirt, but bulletproof.
(ScienCentral 7/24/03)
http://www.sciencentral.com/articles/view.php3?language=english&type=articlefal@
&article_id=218392016
Burns Doane Lands Legal Nanotechnology Pioneer. Just weeks after launching a
new nanotechnology practice group, Burns, Doane, Swecker & Mathis, LLP has
successfully recruited a nanotechnology legal pioneer, Kitu Bindra. Mr.
Bindra joins Burns Doane as counsel, coming from the law firm of Oppenheimer
Wolff & Donnelly. Mr. Bindra has helped develop nanotechnology companies,
including spin-offs from NASA, and works closely with leading industry
organizations like the Girvan Institute. (Yahoo Finance 7/24/03)
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/030724/245692_1.html
Renaissance potters were nanotechnologists. Artisans glazing pots in
fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Umbria were practicing an early form of
nanotechnology. Italian researchers have now revealed the full
sophistication of this process.
(Nature Science Update 6/30/03)
http://www.nature.com/nsu/030623/030623-17.html
Titania nanotubes make supersensitive hydrogen sensors. Titania nanotubes
are 1,500 times better than the next best material for sensing hydrogen and
may be one of the first examples of materials properties changing
dramatically when crossing the border between real world sizes and
nanoscopic dimensions, according to a Penn State materials scientist.
''Historically, we have viewed sensor technology and enhancements from the
point of view of surface area,'' says Craig A. Grimes, associate professor
of electrical engineering and materials science and engineering. ''The
principle in play in titania nanotubes is not surface area, but connectivity
of the tiny tubes and we see an incredible change in electric resistance.''
(PennState 7/29/03)
http://www.engr.psu.edu/NewsEvents/newsdetail.asp?NewsDate=7/29/2003
(life extension) Fancy living another 100 years, or more? Some experts said
on Saturday that scientific advances will one day enable humans to last
decades beyond what is now seen as the natural limit of the human life span.
"I think we are knocking at the door of immortality," said Michael Zey, a
Montclair State University business professor and author of two books on the
future. "I think by 2075 we will see it and that's a conservative estimate."
Zey spoke on the sidelines of the annual conference of the World Future
Society, a group that ponders how the future will look across many different
aspects of society.
(Wired 7/20/03)
http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,59697,00.html
Howard Lovy's NanoBot. Nanotechnology information and commentary from the
news editor at Small Times Media. Don't hate me because I'm nano-beautiful.
This recent New York Post story had me thinking about beauty. Small Times
reported last year that nanomaterials had been used in cosmetics for years
(L'Oreal has had them in products since 1995, despite the Post's assertion
that, "Even big names like L'Oreal are getting into the act."). So now, with
renewed debate surrounding what is not known about nanoparticles, the fact
that nanoscale zinc oxide and titanium dioxide are used in some brands of
cosmetics and sunscreen are continuously juxtaposed with news reports about
the controversy.
(Nanobot.blogspot 7/31/03)
http://nanobot.blogspot.com/
Ninth- and Tenth-Grade L.A. Science Teachers Come to UCLA to Learn to Teach
Nanoscience, New Experiments in Their Classrooms. Two dozen ninth- and
tenth-grade science teachers from low-income schools in Los Angeles have
come to UCLA to learn how to invigorate their classes by teaching the new
field of nanoscience - the science of the tiniest particles that will lead
to extraordinary advances in medicine and many other fields and will improve
profoundly the quality of our lives. (UCLA News 7/22/03)
http://newsroom.ucla.edu/page.asp?id=4390
Rice's chemical 'scissors' yield short carbon nanotubes. Chemists at Rice
University have identified a chemical process for cutting carbon nanotubes
that yields short tube segments that are suited to a variety of
applications, including biomedical sensors small enough to migrate through
cells without triggering immune reactions. The 'chemical scissors' process
involves fluorinating nanotubes and then heating them to about 1,000 Celsius
in an argon atmosphere. The heating drives off the fluorine and cuts the
nanotubes into segments ranging from 20-300 nanometers. (EurekAlert 7/22/03)
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-07/ru-rc072203.php
(Interview) Vinod Khosla Out Loud. AlwaysOn talks to Sun founder and venture
capital veteran Vinod Khosla of VC powerhouse Kleiner Perkins Caufield &
Byers, to find out how he looks at companies, why he loves nano, and whether
Google is hot. (Always On - The insiders network 7/28/03)
http://www.alwayson-network.com/comments.php?id=684_0_1_0_C
Science of the small poses big dilemma. Campaigners on both sides of the
nanotechology divide are calling for more dialogue about the benefits and
risks of a field that is beginning to revolutionize science. Nanotechnology
is the manipulation of particles at the nanoscale - one-millionth of a
millimetre. Supporters in Switzerland say the discipline has the potential
to create huge benefits in areas such as medicine, electronics, chemistry
and computing. Critics say we need to understand whether it raises new
ethical, health and safety or social issues before we go any further. (NZZ
7/28/03)
http://nzz.ch/2003/07/28/english/page-synd3994671.html
Nanoparticles spy on molecular binding. Scientists at Ludwig-Maximilians
University and Roche Diagnostics in Germany say they have created the first
single metal nanoparticle sensor based on light-scattering spectroscopy.
They demonstrated the technique using a gold nanoparticle functionalized
with biotin to detect the presence of the protein streptavidin.
(Nanotechweb.org 7/29/03)
http://nanotechweb.org/articles/news/2/7/14/1
Inside the Movement for Posthuman Rights. Cyborg Liberation Front. By Erik
Baard. This article examines the challenges and opportunities facing the
transhumanist movement with respect to communicating with other groups,
potential friends and potential foes. (The Village Voice 7/30/03)
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0331/baard.php
Nanotech moves the future to a new level. Fear of the science of the small
'is focused on the wrong things'. Nanotechnology, which is predicted to grow
into a $1 trillion industry within a decade, could like GM food technology
become a political battleground, an economic and social research council
report published today says. Nanotechnology is the science of manipulating
material at the atomic scale, to make tools measured in billionths of a
metre. The report, by three Sheffield University academics, says the debate
on its implication has become polarised between visions of utopia and
planetary catastrophe. (EducationGuardian 7/28/03)
http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/sciences/story/0,12243,1007223,00.htm
l
More on the report at SpaceDaily:
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/nanotech-03zl.html
Nano threats and challenges. Worries in the science community about a public
backlash against nanotechnology have been growing in recent months.
Currently, public fears range from the reasonable, such as the unknown
effects of nanoparticles on health and the environment, to what scientists
consider to be the ridiculous - a world overrun by plagues of
self-replicating nanorobots. This is the "grey goo" scenario that looms
large in Prey, the recent novel by Michael Crichton that seems to have
kick-started this current bout of nano-angst. The nightmare scenario for
scientists is that the public - egged on by various pressure groups - will
reject nanotechnology in the same way that the UK and other countries have
rejected genetically modified (GM) food. (PhysicsWeb July, 2003)
http://www.physicsweb.org/article/world/16/7/1
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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