From: Gina Miller (nanogirl@halcyon.com)
Date: Thu Aug 21 2003 - 14:41:49 MDT
The Nanogirl News
August 21, 2003
Nanoparticles Keep Brain Cells Alive. Nanoparticles originally developed for
industry have an unexpected effect: They triple or even quadruple the life
of rat brain cells, suggesting that they could help extend human lifespan
and decrease age-related health problems. (Betterhumans 8/15/03)
http://www.betterhumans.com/News/news.aspx?articleID=2003-08-15-5
See Also: http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_340534,00040007.htm
Nanomaterial Overcomes Weather Woes in Bid to Save Scorched Land. A
nanomaterial-based compound designed to reclaim land lost to forest fires is
getting its first major workout in challenging weather. "We're dodging
thunderstorms every day," said Richard Maile, president of Sequoia Pacific
Research Co. LLC, speaking on a mobile phone in the mountains near Taos,
N.M., last week. "That presents a certain obstacle but other than that, it's
going pretty much as planned."
(SmallTimes 8/21/03)
http://www.smalltimes.com/document_display.cfm?document_id=6540
Activists pounce on nanotech scare. Being an activist means always having to
find something new to complain about...A recent 72-page report from
Greenpeace warns of the dangers of nanotechnology. An introduction from
Greenpeace's Doug Parr sets the tone for the piece, claiming that
nanotechnology-created "materials should be considered hazardous until shown
otherwise." Huh? Abandoning technologies that can protect the environment is
hardly the most logical stance for a pro-environment group to take. The U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, for instance, is already looking into and
funding the development of nanomaterials that can reduce harmful emissions,
aid recycling and filter gaseous pollutants...Greenpeace goes on to invoke
the tired rhetoric of class struggle, arguing: "Is the future of
nanotechnology then a plaything of the already-rich? Will the much talked
about 'digital divide' be built upon, exacerbating the inequities present in
current society through a 'nano-divide?'" In reality, all new
inventions--from air conditioning to clothes dryers to
automobiles--initially are the playthings of the wealthy. Then, as
production costs fall over time and economies of scale take over, those
products become available to more and more people. Still, Greenpeace seems
almost reasonable when compared to organizations such as the Canadian
environmentalists at the ETC Group, which published a communique that calls
for an "immediate moratorium on commercial production of new nanomaterials."
(ZDnet 8/11/03)
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1107_2-5061966.html
Support Growing for Federal Push Toward Nanotech Energy solutions. In
Washington, they liken it to the Manhattan Project. In Houston, they prefer
an Apollo Program metaphor. But the strategists behind two movements to make
energy a priority agree on the need for an all-out commitment akin to
efforts to build an atomic bomb during World War II and the space race that
followed. Both the research branch of the Department of Energy and a
consortium of scientists, industry leaders and policy-makers attending a
summit at Rice University identified nanotechnology as a keystone to clean,
efficient and affordable energy. (Small Times 8/13/03)
http://www.smalltimes.com/document_display.cfm?document_id=6493
Purdue researchers expose 'docking bay' for viral attack. Imagine a virus
and its cellular target as two spacecraft - the virus sporting a tiny
docking bay that allows it to invade its victim. Purdue University
researchers have taken a close-up picture of one virus' docking bay, work
that could have implications for both medicine and nanotechnology.
(Purdue News 8/18/03)
http://news.uns.purdue.edu/html4ever/030818.Rossmann.baseplate.html
UNT, TI team on nanotechnology. Researchers at Texas Instruments and the
University of North Texas in Denton received $2.2 million this summer to
find a way to build computer chips half the size of those currently in use.
The new chips would be about 500 atoms across, said Phillip Matz, a TI
researcher working on the project. By comparison, a human hair is about
100,000 atoms across. The goal is smaller, more powerful chips. About half
the money is a National Science Foundation grant. The other half comes from
contributed services from TI and UNT. Most of the grant money will go to
support the graduate students who will work on the project. The grant is
part of a nationwide push to help scientists deliver on the promise of
nanotechnology, an emerging discipline geared toward making smaller and
smaller devices.
(Star Telegram 8/10/03)
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/6503939.htm
Microscope sketches quantum circuits. Physicists at Cambridge University in
the UK have developed a new way to make quantum electronic devices using an
atomic force microscope. The technique, known as erasable electrostatic
lithography, allows researchers to create and change quantum devices and
circuits during an experiment - a feat that was hitherto impossible.
(Physics Web 8/14/03)
http://physicsweb.org/article/news/7/8/9
(VIDEO-RealPlayer) InformationWeek Tech Talk - Phillip Bond, Dept. of
Commerce. Start preparing for the incredible shrinking computer: Uncle Sam
is spending hundreds of millions of research dollars on nanotechnology.
Commerce Under Secretary Phil Bond and InformationWeek's Stephanie Stahl
discuss the phenomena of nano-science.
(ABC news)
http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/business/BusinessNow/BusinessNow.html#
Science Transforms the Battlefield. Advances in materials technology provide
troops with ever-improving combat capabilities and levels of protection.
Comic-book authors a turning green with envy. For years, superheroes and
their futuristic special powers were exclusively the stuff of fantasy. But
now, science and technology are beginning to enable ordinary humans to
acquire some of the abilities of fictional superheroes. Once make-believe,
these special powers are being conferred by advanced materials specially
designed for military applications. (C&E 8/11/03)
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/coverstory/8132/8132science.html
Europe announces more nano creations. As discussions regarding the potential
applications of nanotechnology become more frequent, research results from
around Europe are bringing some of these possibilities to life. German
researchers have announced their development of a nanofilter capable of
removing toxins from blood, while a UK-Italian partnership has succeeded in
building the first nanomotor. The nanofilter, made from hollow fibre
membranes, removes specific toxins from blood quickly. The pores in the
walls of the hollow fibres, themselves only nanometres thick, allow only
contaminated blood plasma through. A consortium involving the company Gambro
Dialysatoren, the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft and the University of Stuttgart is
preparing to conduct the first clinical trials using the new filter. (CORDIS
8/14/03)
http://dbs.cordis.lu/cgi-bin/srchidadb?CALLER=NHP_EN_NEWS&ACTION=D&SESSIONoy
RCN=EN_RCN_ID:20725
Nanolitho effort harnesses self-assembly. Nanoscale patterning of silicon
substrates with regular, repeatable, atomically perfect application-
specific templates could enable manufacturable nanoscale chips within the
decade, according to scientists at the University of Wisconsin's Materials
Research Science and Engineering Center (Madison). The work "has the
potential to become an inexpensive and routine step for semiconductor
manufacturers," said team leader Paul Nealey. "Now we hope that
semiconductor manufacturers will adopt our techniques to build real
nanoscale chips." (EETimes 8/5/03)
http://www.eet.com/at/n/news/OEG20030805S0035
Roboblood...Back in June 1996, Chris Phoenix, a former student of nano-guru
Eric Drexler's at Stanford University, posted a question on the Foresight
Institute message boards: "What about replacing blood with a complex robot?"
This innocent inquiry led to a lengthy collaboration with Robert Freitas
Jr., author of Nanomedicine, the first book-length technical discussion of
the medical application of nanotechnology and nanorobotics. (Volume II is
coming out in hardcover next month.) The result was a 100-page paper in 2002
on what the duo termed a "vasculoid"-essentially a nanomachine that would
replace the human blood supply. Instead of having red and white blood cells
floating through your veins, some 500 trillion (it's not often I get to type
the word "trillion" when it's not in the same sentence as "national debt")
nanobots would fill the entire vasculature of the body, some lining the
blood vessels and some swarming through them. (USA news 8/8/03)
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/nycu/tech/nextnews/archive/next030808.htm?track
=rss
(Part 1) The mind of an American specialist in nanotechnology. The word
"nanogram" means one billionth of a gram. Nanotechnology penetrates within
nanograms, and rearranges atoms. If the atoms in coal are rearranged, it
becomes diamond (a mediaeval alchemist's dream). Such are its civilian uses.
As for its military uses, Mark Gubrud of the University of Maryland has
posted on a website his 18-page paper, "Nanotechnology and International
Security," for the Fifth Foresight Conference on Molecular Nanotechnology.
At the beginning of his paper (p. 2) Dr. Gubrud says: "Indeed, it is
plausible that a nation which gained a sufficient lead in molecular
nanotechnology would at some point be in a position to simply disarm any
potential competitors." (August 1,03) http://216.26.163.62/2003/lev8_01.html
(Part 2) On 8/7 I spoke on "The Bert Lee [Radio] Show" in Arizona about the
expected ability of nanotechnology, developed in China since 1986, along
with at least six other post-nuclear fields, to destroy the Western means of
nuclear retaliation and thus to eliminate Mutual Assured Destruction, that
is, to disarm the West. (World Tribune 8/15/03)
http://216.26.163.62/2003/lev8_15.html
Small matter, big impact. In this little town, in the basement of a house at
the end of a dirt road, sits a large laser that will make really tiny
bubbles, that might just be the next big thing. The house, laser and patent
on the process to make the bubbles all belong to Mark LeClair, founder of
NanoSpire. His company is one of a few in Maine playing in the world of
nanotechnology, a field that involves building or manipulating matter on the
scale of anything smaller than one micron - one-millionth of a meter, the
thickness of a typical bacteria. LeClair, a Scarborough native, has theories
on how to work with matter at the atomic level that have drawn interest from
some big names in the world of super-small technology. If LeClair's theories
hold - and he'll be testing them out using the laser over the next few
weeks - he'll have created a platform technology, a device with which new
technologies can be created and traditional industries can be advanced.
(Pressherald 8/15/03)
http://www.pressherald.com/business/entrepreneur/030815nanospire.shtml
Big questions for tiny particles. From clear sunscreen to self-cleaning
cars, nanotechnology seeps into daily life and starts to raise tough ethical
issues. In the days when the Beach Boys ruled the radio and bikinis were the
rave, beaches were populated by noses: big and slathered white with zinc
oxide to avoid sunburn. Today the big white noses are gone. Instead of
relying on thick goo, many manufacturers now use titanium-dioxide particles
so small the sunscreen looks invisible but still reflects away ultraviolet
light. Chalk it up to an early use of nanotechnology, where "big" is defined
as 1/1000th the width of a human hair and the possibilities look potentially
limitless. Yet even as nanotech goes commercial, environmental groups worry
about its effect on health and safety. Long term, analysts say, society will
have to confront a broad set of ethical and social issues as it deals with
humanity's growing ability to manipulate atoms, molecules, and biology's
genetic code. The real crunch may come if researchers manage to merge
nanotechnology and biotechnology. (csmonitor 8/15/03)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0814/p11s02-stss.htm
Researcher attempts to become a cyborg. Imagine a world where people make
lunch plans via telepathy, acquire genius-level mathematical skills in an
instant, and learn to golf by downloading the neural impulses of Tiger
Woods. According to Kevin Warwick, professor of cybernetics and researcher
at England's University of Reading, all of these things might be possible.
And that's why the 47-year-old researcher has chosen to become a cyborg:
part human, part machine. (The News Sentinel/Fortwayne 8/15/03)
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/6541921.htm
Tiny nanotubes set new record. A team of scientists claims to have produced
the smallest free-standing single-walled carbon nanotube to date. The
researchers, from Shinshu University and CNRI Corporation, Japan, and
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US, made a tube around 0.43 nm in
diameter using an improved floating-reactant method. (nanotechweb 8/7/03)
http://nanotechweb.org/articles/news/2/8/5/1
Leaders to Discuss Trillion-Dollar Nanotechnology Market at NASA Ames to
discuss the trillion-dollar nanotechnology market that experts believe will
be born from research at the molecular scale, 250 leaders from industry,
academia and government will converge Aug. 19 at NASA Research Park at NASA
Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley. NASA is co-hosting the
Bay Area Nanotechnology Forum with U.S. Rep. Mike Honda, co-sponsor of the
Boehlert-Honda Nanotechnology Bill, H.R. 766. During comments at the forum,
he will describe the current outlook for national competition for federal R
& D dollars and the international competition for nanotechnology leadership.
(SpaceRef 8/16/03)
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=12340
3-D Printing's Great Leap Forward. Rapid prototyping is a concept straight
out of Star Trek. Feed an RP machine a 3-D blueprint of an object and it
will carve a model of that object out of metal, paper, plastic or starch,
just like the replicator aboard the USS Enterprise. Now, these RP devices,
also known as 3-D printers, are about to get even better. Engineers are
giving the machines the ability to build moving parts, not just block
models.
(Wired 8/11/03) http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,59648,00.html
Scientists tout the potentials of nanoscience. Some scientists think the
world will be fundamentally altered within 20 years. To get to that new
world, they'll need powerful microscopes. Nanoscience - the study of the
infinitesimally tiny - incorporates chemistry, biology, physics, materials
science, engineering, ecology and national security. And it's poised to
change the way we conduct our lives. From preventing stains from sinking
into our pants to making sports equipment lighter and more durable to giving
our computers more oomph, nanoscience is already out there...And the federal
government will spend close to a billion dollars during fiscal year 2004 to
ensure its progress. (Aberdeen News 8/18/03)
http://www.aberdeennews.com/mld/aberdeennews/news/nation/6559281.htm
Sandia researchers create nanocrystals nature's way. Diatoms, seashells
provide lessons for development of complex nanomaterials. Sandia researchers
are developing complex nanomaterials that look strikingly similar to the
microstructures of diatoms and seashells. The materials may have potential
for a wide range of applications. (EurekAlert 8/18/03)
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-08/dnl-src081803.php
Techsploitation: Nanophobia. Ever since I read Greg Bear's weird-ass book
Blood Music back in the early 1990s, I've been pretty excited about
nanotechnology. Bear imagines a future in which nanobots take over the world
by rebuilding humans on a molecular level and turning them into raw
materials for their bizarre, mystical new society, the noosphere...Luddite
pundit Bill McKibben seems to have bought into Bear's vision. In April he
published a nonfiction book called Enough, in which he argues (among other
things) that nanotechnology threatens us with dissolution as a species...ETC
etc. (AlterNet 8/20/03)
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=16629
Breakthrough: Nanotechnology. The Fantastic Use of Atoms, One at a Time. Ah,
the last doesn't seem so extraordinary. But they're all built on the new
nanotechnology that is using microscopic inventions to interact with the
human body, to transmit information in and out, to give it strength or
comfort. Ian Hunter and Lynette Jones, scientists at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, who are also husband and wife, work in
nanotechnology. Nano is Greek for dwarf. This "molecular manufacturing"
involves the manipulation of individual atoms. Small is not only sometimes
better, it is extraordinary. Hunter runs the Bioinstrumentation Lab at MIT
which builds scientific instruments and nanorobots required to generate
objects that are even smaller. (The American Reporter 8/21/03)
http://www.american-reporter.com/2164/6.html
Giant helium molecules, containing only two atoms but assuming a size as
large as a small virus, have been created by researchers at the École
Normale Supérieure in Paris. At sizes ranging from 10 to 100 nanometers,
these helium molecules are the largest diatomic (two-atom) molecules ever
created by a factor of 5 (and comparable to the size of viruses, which vary
in length from 5-300 nm). What's more, helium is an inert gas that does not
normally form molecules. (Physics News Update 8/20/03)
http://www.aip.org/enews/physnews/2003/split/650-1.html
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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