The Nanogirl News~

From: Gina Miller (nanogirl@halcyon.com)
Date: Thu Aug 21 2003 - 14:41:49 MDT

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    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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