~Nanogirls Weekend Tidbits~
Nov. 27 99
[Not a lot of breakthrus since my last post on the 24th]
*Quantum fuel for future computers. Research suggests how software
marketplace might change. Imagine a world where software is computational
fuel — churned out by a processing plant and shipped down an optical-fiber
pipeline to your computer, where it’s consumed and destroyed. That just
might be the model for a future generation of quantum computers, new
research suggests. (MSNBC Nov. 25 99)
http://www.msnbc.com/news/339196.asp
**Nanovation Technologies in the Toronto Star. Shedding light on the
photonics era
THE UBIQUITOUS computer chip, based on silicon, has radically changed the
world in which we live. But as silicon approaches its physical limits in
miniaturization and speed, we are moving into a new world, based on the
properties of light, the world of photonics, which will herald the next $1
trillion industry.
http://www.thestar.com/thestar/back_issues/ED19991114/money/991114BUS01_FI-C
RANE14.html
*In this weeks issue (Nov 22, 99) There is an article "CARBON-BASED DEVICES:
11
Organic molecule acts as reversible switch, while nanotube kink controls
current flow."
You can go to the url, but need a password and ID. Or look in your paper
subscription.
http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/cenmaster.cgi?contents
There was also a small article in last weeks issue of C&E news (Nov 15, 99
volume 77, #46)
NANOSCALE DODECAHEDRON: Self-assembly produces largest-ever nonbiological
supramolecular complex. Same applies as with previous for url:
http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/cenmaster.cgi?back
*Muscle machine 'to build super-athletes'. A muscle-generating machine could
enable athletes to realise their maximum potential and help arthritis
sufferers combat disability, say its inventors.
The device, developed by UK scientists, uses electrical signals to generate
deep layers of muscle. (Nov. 24 99 BBC)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_533000/533359.stm
*Japan eyes wearable PC. Those tired of hauling around "portable" computers
may be able to wear a Pentium PC from next year. On Friday, Japanese
camera-maker Olympus and IBM Japan revealed a prototype of a wearable PC.
(BBC Nov 26 99)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_538000/538072.stm
*The World Changers ‘TR 100’ Pegs Young Innovators. Nov. 25 — To celebrate
its 100th anniversary, the MIT Technology Review, the oldest journal of
science and technology in the United States, has selected the TR 100 — 100
innovative technologists and scientists under the age of 35. Profiles of
selected members of the TR 100 will appear on ABCNEWS.com through Jan. 1,
2000. Here is this week’s installment.
http://abcnews.go.com/ABC2000/MITTechReview/mittechreview991125.html
*Or is Time Merely an Illusion? (The Edge on Nov, 25 99) Speculation about
the nature of time has long been the domain of philosphers: Physicists dared
not approach. Physicist Julian Barber suggests that time is an artifact of
the arrangement of matter. (long interview)
http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/barbour/barbour_index.html
*Turkey Day, Silicon Style. High-Tech Startup Will Be Buzzing This Weekend.
In San Francisco’s up-and-coming SoMa district, a group of engineers and
developers are huddled together this Thanksgiving in a second-floor loft,
working feverishly on a new project. And believe it or not, they’re pretty
thankful. Backflip.com, formerly known as the iTixs Project, is a “secret”
startup founded by a pair of Netscape Communications alumni.
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/tech/DailyNews/siliconturkey991125.html
*A Crystal with a Twist ( 24 Nov.99 PRF)
Doubly twisted. PET(R*)-9 is the first polymer crystal with twists along two
different axes, although only one of them is visible in this image. The
needle-like particles are not part of the polymer but were used to find the
polymer's orientation within the crystal. As in the famous line from the
1967 movie "The Graduate," the importance of polymers in modern life can be
expressed in one word: plastics. To develop new polymer-based materials for
the future, researchers want to understand and manipulate polymer structures
at the molecular level.
http://focus.aps.org/v4/st27.html
*Science: Story of the century. Science dominates the century's top 100 news
stories, according a poll of US journalists. Of the top 100 stories in the
survey conducted by the "Newseum", an American Online exhibition of news
journalism, 38 are science related. (Nov 26, 99 BBC)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_534000/534983.stm
*It's heresy, but time running backwards could explain dark matter. The
universe may contain regions where milk would stir itself out of coffee and
eggs would un-break, according to a physicist in New York state. The idea
that there may be regions where time runs backwards could explain invisible
dark matter. This kind of matter, invoked by cosmologists to explain the
movement of galaxies, could originate in a future contracting phase of the
Universe. (New scienctist Nov 27, 99)
http://www.newscientist.com/ns/19991127/newsstory3.html
*It's likely that quantum computing will, in the future, be a
reality.However, making algorithms for them is not going to be trivial as
they don't function at all like our traditional digital computers. To
facilitate this, Open Qubit wants to emulate them. The emulator won't run at
nearly the speed of a real quantum computer, but it should at least be
helpful for developing algorithms before we finish developing the computers.
(I read an interesting article about this in the current issue of 2600)
http://www.openqubit.org/
*In the last Nanogirl news I mentioned an article in Feed magaine about
nanotechnology called "Thinking Small". It seems MSNBC has some link to the
magazines authors and has a site up called Beyond Possibility: The Dream
Machines, with an article of their own, a list of 21st century inventions
and backlinks to Feed coverage. (Nov 24,99)
http://msnbc.com/news/338770.asp#BODY
*Molecule Identified That Blocks Nerve Reconnection. Nerve tissue
transplants are among the promising experimental therapies to restore
communication among cells in injured spinal cords, but scientists long have
wondered why the transplanted cells don't grow more vigorously, thereby
enhancing the level of recovery. (UniSci Nov 24,99)
http://unisci.com/stories/19994/1124994.htm
*(Ho! Ho! Ho! Hey, what did you call me?) Plugged-In Stocking Stuffers
Wired News makes a shopping list of the gadgets and gizmos making a hit with
kids this holiday season. Tech-loving adults might dig some of them, too. By
Katie Dean.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,32574,00.html
*The Unexpected Science to Come. The most important discoveries of the next
50 years
are likely to be ones of which we cannot now even conceive. (Scientific
American Dec 99)
http://www.sciam.com/1999/1299issue/1299maddox.html
*New insights into the mysteries of how memory works. (Christian Science
Monitor Nov 26,99)
In a major breakthrough in brain science, a team of Swiss researchers has
captured a picture of what goes on between brain cells when they form a
memory. Reconstructed from electron microscope data, the unprecedented
images are a mighty step in the field of neuroscience.
http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/1999/11/26/fp2s2-csm.shtml
*Vitro Diagnostics' Research is Featured in Industry Trade Journal. Vitro
Diagnostics Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: VODG) announced significant
developments in its ongoing research to immortalize human pituitary cells.
http://news.excite.com/news/pr/991123/co-vitro-diagnostics
*That heady feeling - could it be blood lust or love at first
sight?-covering my eyes. (SMH 27/11/99)London: Scientists at the Institute
of Psychiatry in London are trying to show the difference between love and
lust by using the latest scanning technology to measure blood
flow to the brain.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/9911/27/text/world17.html
*Brain cells involved in learning habits. (Deseret News) As rats learned
while running in a maze, there was a change in the firing pattern of certain
neurons in the brain — a new pattern that can mark the way habits are
acquired, according to a study appearing today in the journal Science..
In the study, Graybiel and colleagues implanted sensors into rats'
brains(Nov 26 99)
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,135007778,00.html?
*Lasers to test role of gravity in birth of universe. New technology to help
determine if Einstein theory is true. Scientists are poised to gain
important new insights into black holes, exploding stars and the birth of
the universe by studying the very same phenomenon responsible for the soup
stain in your lap: gravity. (Detroit news Nov 26, 99)
http://detnews.com/1999/nation/9911/26/11260061.htm
*Europe's suspicion leaves U.S. farmers in doubt. Planting of genetically
altered crops burdened with nettlesome drawbacks. Burlington County farmer
Larry Durr and retired French physics researcher Jacques Bullot have never
met or even heard of each other.They nevertheless are locked in a tug of war
over genetically modified food. (San jose Mercury News Nov. 27,99)
http://www7.mercurycenter.com/premium/nation/docs/seeds27.htm
*IBM uses quantum states to create software. Adding an interesting wrinkle
to the esoteric field of quantum computing, researchers have found a way to
use quantum states to create software applications.IBM Corp. had been
experimenting with creating algorithms out of quantum mechanical forces, but
a team at the company's Almaden Research Laboratory, working with Microsoft
Corp. scientists, has devised a way to create one-use-only software by
exploiting quantum states. (EE times 11/24/99)
http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG19991124S0047
*Senate Declares January 2000 National Biotechnology Month (INTERNET WIRE
11/24/99)
The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) applauds the U.S. Senate for
its adoption of a resolution designating January 2000 National Biotechnology
Month. Sen. Rod Grams (R-Minn.) introduced the measure and it was passed by
unanimous consent on the last day of the session Nov. 19.
http://www.internetwire.com/technews/me/me990492.dsl
*New Transistors, Copper Chips, Light-Emitting Plastics, Other Breakthroughs
Will Be Discussed At IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting -IEDM-
A new transistor structure that may push microprocessors to clock speeds of
more than 1 GHz. . . Bright color flat-panel displays made from
light-emitting plastic. . . Putting copper wires on computer chips by using
a new triple-damascene process. . . These are among the highlights of the
45th annual IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM), to be held
December 5 - 8, 1999 at the Washington Hilton and Towers.
http://www.ieee.org/organizations/society/eds/iedm.html
*(And this suppose to be a PROBlem?!)Falling into the Web of addiction. For
Arline Tripp, it all started with the death of a close friend. She began
staying home alone, spending hour after hour on the computer. She found
solace in chat rooms and entertainment on Web sites for her favourite
products and TV shows. It seemed harmless enough, but it gradually grew into
an obsession. (Nov 25)
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/
Or see the Cyberslacking epidemic article, that suggest recreational surfing
on the job is costing money. (Salon Nov 24 99)
http://www.salon.com/tech/log/1999/11/24/cyberslacking/index.html
*Scientist offers last minute Y2K quick fix. With time running out before
the dawn of the year 2000, a California company is offering what it calls a
quick and easy way to prevent some IBM computers from experiencing
Y2K-related problems. Bill Wattenburg, a former Lawrence Livermore National
Weapons Laboratory scientist who developed the software, says he has changed
the way IBM S/390s and similar computers do math.
http://www.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9911/27/y2k.simple.solution/index.html
*Radiation Shuts Down Galileo Cameras. NASA's Galileo spacecraft was unable
to record its closest encounter with Jupiter's moon Io after a blast of
radiation shut down its cameras and other instruments, the space agency said
Friday. (Discovery Nov 27,99)
http://www.discovery.com/news/briefs/brief1.html?ct=3840567f
*The digital century: Computing through the ages. 3000 B.C.E. to 17th
Century A.D. A time line thru history, interesting. (Nov 24,99 CNN)
http://www.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9911/24/digital.century5.idg/index.html
*Top 10 financial services online. To create our list of the key
financial-services companies on the Net, we looked for the category leaders
in specific areas such as online banking, brokerage and financial software;
for the innovators whose ideas were pushing others to act; and for the big
institutions that are defining the environment for everyone. (This article
includes a list and links)
http://www.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9911/26/top.financial.services.idg/index.h
tml
*Green glow of success. Genetically-modified insects with eyes that glow in
the dark have been created by German researchers. The ability to produce
such bright-eyed creatures could help scientists develop new ways to combat
diseases that are spread by insects, such as malaria, and control pests that
do damage to crops. (includes picture of fruitfly with green eye)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_535000/535240.stm
*Despite international protests, Ukraine restarts Chernobyl. (Gads!) The
Ukrainian authorities Friday restarted the last working nuclear reactor at
the Chernobyl power plant, ignoring strong international pressure to shut it
down. Reactor No. 3 was restarted at 5:30 a.m. Friday after almost five
months of repairs. (Nando Times Nov. 26, 99)
http://www.nandotimes.com/noframes/story/0,2107,500061725-500102010-50043710
7-0,00.html
*Apply Quantum Principle with Caution (19 November 1999 PRF)
Cold collisions. This simulation shows atoms in a two-component
Bose-Einstein condensate at a temperature near 1 nK, where Bohr's
formulation of the correspondence principle fails most dramatically. In the
early 20th century physicists realized that classical physics fails to
explain atoms, even though it works well for baseballs and planets. Part of
the early atomic theory relied on Niels Bohr's correspondence principle,
which states that the quantum theory must agree with the classical theory in
situations where the classical theory is accurate.
http://focus.aps.org/v4/st26.html
*R. Buckminster Fuller on PBS. (also with links, inventions and background
information of Fuller)
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/bucky.cgi/
You can order the video as well
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/bucky/film.html
*New tool for comparative gene studies. A great deal is known about how
model organisms such as fruit flies, nematodes and mice develop. But what
about beetles, frogs, and birds? Scientists who study gene function in
non-model organisms may get a boost from a new technique developed by Nipam
Patel, Ph.D., assistant professor of organismal biology & anatomy and Howard
Hughes Investigator at the University of Chicago.
http://www.uchospitals.edu/news/baculovirus.html
*Prehistoric Man To Debut on Web. Deep in a cave in southern Italy's
Altamura, a prehistoric man is about to enter the realm of technology and
come alive on computer screens. Web surfers will be able to remotely explore
the cave, hear its sounds, follow its narrow passages covered by animal
bones, and watch the Altamura man entombed in his stalagmites. (Discovery
Nov. 27, 99)
http://www.discovery.com/news/briefs/brief2.html
*DNA Damage Shatters Dreams of Mammoth Cloning. Fragments of DNA from
mammoths have been recovered and sequenced, but are too damaged to make
cloning the long-extinct creatures possible, an international team has
reported.
http://www.foxnews.com/js_index.sml?content=/scitech/112499/times_mammoth.sm
l
*World's largest scalable Linux testbed created by public-private joint
project. The Chiba City Project, conceived by Argonne's Mathematics and
Computer Science Division, will be Argonne's most powerful supercomputer.
The project will help advance the use of state-of-the-art Linux clusters
based on affordable industry standard components in high-performance
computing.
http://www.anl.gov/OPA/news99/news991115.htm
*There is a new NAS Computational Molecular Nanotechnology Group page at
NASA Ames
http://www.nas.nasa.gov/Groups/SciTech/nano/index.html
Their old site:
http://science.nas.nasa.gov/Groups/Nanotechnology/
*You are cordially invited to match wits with some of the best minds in IBM
Research.
Seems some of us can't see a problem without wanting to take a crack at
solving it. Does that sound like you? Good. Forge ahead and ponder this
month's problem.
http://www.research.ibm.com/features/ponder/
<<<>>>This page is printed on 100% post consumer recycled electrons<<<>>>
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."