From: Party of Citizens (citizens@vcn.bc.ca)
Date: Mon May 12 2003 - 14:53:36 MDT
We are told so often about how strong ants are. Here is a problem for
nanotechnologists:
How many ants, harnessed by carbon nanofibres would it take to make the
equivalent of one horse power?
POC
On Sun, 11 May 2003, Gina Miller wrote:
> The Nanogirl News
> May 11, 2003
>
> U.S. House approves $2.4 billion for nanotech research. The U.S. House of
> Representatives gave a big boost to a tiny technology on Wednesday, voting
> to increase research funding that could lead to molecule-sized computers and
> medical robots that travel the human bloodstream. By a vote of 405-19, the
> House earmarked $2.36 billion over three years to fund research in
> nanotechnology, the science of manipulating individual atoms to create new
> materials. (Yahoo 5/8/03)
> http://in.tech.yahoo.com/030508/137/243bo.html
>
> Brave new world or miniature menace? Why Charles fears grey goo nightmare.
> Royal Society asked to look at risks of nanotechnology. The scenario is a
> familiar one: scientists open Pandora's box, awaken Frankenstein's monster,
> or maybe just play God. But this time the menace on the laboratory bench is
> undetectable with any conceivable optical microscope.
> It offers a nightmare vision straight out of science fiction - the
> destruction of the environment, perhaps even of the world, by robots smaller
> than viruses, able to share intelligence, replicate themselves and take
> command of the planet. That is the catch with nanotechnology: you cannot see
> it, so you cannot know how afraid you should be. But if Prince Charles is
> any guide, environmentalists should be very afraid indeed. (Guardian
> Unlimited 4/29/03)
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,945498,00.html
>
> How to Grab an Atom. Like a diner spearing a morsel of food with the tine of
> a fork, researchers have used the tip of a microscopic needle to lift a
> single atom from a surface and then replace it. The experiment, reported in
> the 2 May PRL, marks the first time single atoms have been manipulated using
> a purely mechanical technique, rather than one involving electric current.
> The new method could allow researchers to maneuver single atoms of
> nonconductive as well as conductive materials, perhaps for nanoscale
> circuits of the future. (Physical Review Focus 5/3/03)
> http://focus.aps.org/story/v11/st19
>
> Mighty Mini Motor (video). Nanotechnologists try to create new materials or
> incredibly tiny machines by manipulating atoms and molecules. One of
> nanotechnology's biggest dreams is biomedical devices that could travel
> anywhere inside your body and fix parts that need repair. Today, some
> scientists have already made a start on this dream. They're making
> incredibly tiny motors that could drive the world's smallest machines, and
> help keep us well...At Purdue University's School of Veterinary Medicine,
> molecular biologist Peixuan Guo thinks that RNA has enormous potential for
> nanotechnology because it is an extremely flexible molecule. "RNA is much
> easier to make than protein," Guo explains, "and compared to DNA, it comes
> in many more sizes and shapes. With DNA, we are limited to its double helix
> structure." Guo and his research team have discovered that RNA binds
> adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, the chemical fuel that proteins use in the
> body to allow muscles to move and nerves to function. "ATP works the way
> gasoline does in a car," says Guo. "You could not walk or talk or think
> without the chemical fuel of ATP." (ScienCenteral News 5/1/03)
> http://www.sciencentral.com/news/articles/view.php3?language=english&type=ar@s
> ticle&article_id=218391944
>
> Proteins produce nano-magnetic computer memory. Computer hard drive capacity
> could be increased a hundredfold by using a common protein to fabricate
> nano-scale magnetic particles, claims UK company Nanomagnetics. It uses the
> protein apoferritin, the main molecule in which iron is stored in the body,
> to create a material consisting of magnetic particles each just a few
> nanometres in diameter. Each particle can store a bit of information and
> together they can be packed onto a disk drive at much greater density than
> is possible using existing hard disk manufacturing methods. (New Scientist
> 4/27/03)
> http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993664
>
> Playing God. Through genetic engineering, you could give birth to an
> Olympian, a musical prodigy or a genius -- but should you? Bill McKibben is
> a man on the edge. He lives on the edge of the Adirondack wilderness in New
> York, where he writes books about the limits of technology. Fifteen years
> ago, he wrote "The End of Nature," in which he argued, with cogency and
> foresight, that human dependence on fossil fuels was endangering our
> relationship to the Earth itself. In his new book, "Enough," McKibben
> describes a new edge. We've come to a threshold with the emerging
> technologies of genetic engineering, robotics and nanotechnology, McKibben
> believes. One more step and we will "call into question our understanding of
> what it means to be a human being." (San Francisco Chronicle 4.27.03)
> http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2003/04/27/RV
> 183594.DTL&type=books
> (More) 'Please, sir, could I have less? 'Bill McKibben argues that our
> thirst for technological progress threatens the nature of humanity...Genetic
> engineering, nanotechnology, robotics, and other related technologies may,
> he writes, "alter our relationship not with the rest of nature but with
> ourselves." McKibben argues that this debate is too important to be left to
> scientists. "Must we forever grow in reach and power?" he asks. "Or can we,
> should we, ever say, 'Enough'?"
> (Christian Science Monitor 5/1/03)
> http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0501/p15s01-bogn.html
>
> PSU looks to future with nanotechnology. Proposed program would provide
> millions in research funds. Portland State University professor Jun Jiao
> addressed the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and
> Transportation last Thursday regarding the 21st Century Nanotechnology
> Research and Development Act. Nanotechnology is an emerging field in which
> matter is manipulated at the atomic level in order to build materials,
> machines, and devices. Advances in the fields of nanoscience and
> nanotechnology could lead to breakthroughs in areas such as materials and
> manufacturing, nanoelectronics, medicine and healthcare, environment,
> energy, chemicals, biotechnology, agriculture, information technology and
> national security. (Daily Vanguard 5/8/03)
> http://www.dailyvanguard.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2003/05/08/3eb9dc05bc25d
>
> Interested in finding out what happened at the Foresight Senior Associate
> Gathering? Read about it at Nanodot. (5/8/03)
> http://nanodot.org/article.pl?sid=03/05/09/0016206
>
> Nanoscale Networks: Superlong nanotubes can form a grid. For a decade,
> materials scientists have dreamed of using cylinders of carbon with walls
> just one atom thick as the building blocks for a new generation of sensors,
> transistors, and other tiny devices. Before that happens, however,
> researchers must find better ways to grow and align these carbon nanotubes.
> Jie Liu and his colleagues at Duke University in Durham, N.C., now report
> growing the longest individual carbon nanotubes ever and aligning them in a
> two-dimensional grid. (Sciencenews 5/3/03)
> http://www.sciencenews.org/20030503/fob2.asp
>
> Nanoprobe To Be Developed For A 'Fantastic Voyage' In The Human Body,
> Finding And Treating Deadly Tumors. A UC Irvine research team has received a
> five-year, $1.4 million National Institutes of Health grant to develop a
> microscopic probe for detecting and treating pre-cancerous and malignant
> tumors in humans. Similar to the miniaturized vessel that explores a human
> body in the science fiction movie "Fantastic Voyage," this nano-sized probe
> would be inserted into a patient and then guided through the esophagus,
> stomach and colon to determine if tumors are growing on the wall of the
> intestine. The probe would be remotely controlled by a surgeon operating a
> device called an endoscope. (ScienceDaily 5/9/03)
> http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/05/030509085108.htm
>
> Nanosys raises $30 million. Nanosys Inc., a maker of nanotechnology-enabled
> systems based in Palo Alto, pocketed $30 million in the first closing of its
> second round of financing. (bizjournals 4/24/03)
> http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2003/04/21/daily52.html
>
> On the tube. A new type of computer memory uses carbon, rather than
> silicon...Carbon comes in many forms. Diamonds and graphite are two of the
> most familiar ones. A less familiar variety is the nanotube, also known as a
> "buckytube" after Richard Buckminster Fuller, whose geodesic domes have a
> framework similar to the arrangement of the atoms in a nanotube. Nanotubes
> consist of a cylindrical array of carbon atoms whose diameter is only about
> 1 nanometre (a billionth of a metre). If Nantero, a firm based in Woburn,
> Massachusetts, proves correct, such tubes will soon be an integral part of
> computer memories. (The Economist 5/8/03)
> http://www.economist.com/science/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1763552
>
> Small is beautiful but is it dangerous too?...What does nano mean?...When
> did it start?...Is it dangerous?...Such as?...Is there a pay-off?...Are
> there environmental dangers?... (Guardian Unlimited 4/29/03)
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,945499,00.html
>
> IBM finds plenty of room at bottom. In an incredibly tiny development which
> marks a giant leap in nanotechnology - the science of working on the atomic
> and molecular scale - global computing giant IBM's research division has
> created the world's smallest solid-state light emitter. The breakthrough is
> a graphite nanotube - a sheet of graphite (a form of carbon) rolled into a
> tube - transformed into the world's first, electrically-controlled,
> single-molecule light emitter.
> (The Times of India 5/11/03)
> http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/xml/uncomp/articleshow?msid=46006
> 004
>
> Atoms Incognito. As with people, some atoms prefer to join in groups, while
> others insist on going it alone. But when prodded with laser light,
> inherently gregarious atoms known as bosons can act like loner atoms known
> as fermions, a duo of theoretical physicists predict in the 18 April PRL.
> The faux-loner atoms can even form tenuous pairs, much like the electrons in
> a superconductor, so that they resemble a long-sought new state of matter.
> (Physical Review Focus 4/18/03)
> http://focus.aps.org/story/v11/st16
>
> Skin-deep answer will put mobiles into the wrist business. Advances in
> nanotechnology mean that the lost or stolen mobile phone could become a
> thing of the past, according to technology research hothouse BTexact. Ian
> Pearson, Suffolk based BTexact's futurologist believes that the concept of
> 'active skin' - whereby incredibly small electronic circuits are inkjet
> printed onto the surface of the skin - could become a reality by 2010. This,
> he says, will open the way for the integration of electronic devices such as
> the mobile phones or televisions literally 'into' the human body. (Business
> Weekly 4/28/03)
> http://www.businessweekly.co.uk/news/view_article.asp?article_id=7598
>
> Nano and the Professor. In 1959, physicist Dr. Richard Feynman gave birth to
> the concept of nanotechnology. Feynman described the theoretical approaches
> to "manipulating and controlling things on a very small scale." For
> instance, he recognized that computers, then the size of buildings, would
> need to get continually smaller to become important to our lives. He also
> predicted advances in medicine and learning. Feynman's only real misjudgment
> was that he overestimated our ability to figure any of this out. "In the
> year 2000, when they look back at this age, they will wonder why it was not
> until the year 1960 that anybody began seriously to move in this direction."
> (The American Spectator 5/8/03)
> http://www.spectator.org/article.asp?art_id=2003_5_7_23_37_44
>
> Researchers see the light as they peel away space mystery. Tiny multilayered
> balls called "carbon onions," produced in laboratory studies, appear to have
> the same light-absorption characteristics as dust particles in the regions
> between the stars. "It's the strongest evidence yet that cosmic dust has a
> multilayered onionlike carbon structure," said Manish Chhowalla, assistant
> professor of ceramic and materials engineering at Rutgers, The State
> University of New Jersey. Chhowalla used transmission electron microscopes
> to study radiation absorption of the laboratory-produced onions and found
> characteristics virtually identical to those reported by astrophysicists
> studying dust in deep space. A carbon onion is a miniscule but intricate
> component of nanotechnology-the study of structures and devices on a scale
> that can approach one-millionth the width of a human hair. (ISA 4/30/03)
> http://www.isa.org/Template.cfm?Section=Professionals_and_Practitioners&temp
> late=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=26090
>
> Nanotech giving birth to a whole new revolution. Budding science will spur
> flurry of inventions. In the not-too-distant future, your house could be
> built with strong tiles that heat the rooms with solar power. Inside you
> could watch a smooth, flat-panel TV with electronic components built right
> into the glass instead of a web of wires at the back.
> Nanosys Inc., a small Palo Alto nanotechnology firm, plans to deliver these
> and other products within the next three years. Nanosys' inventions arose
> from the type of industry collaboration with academic labs that Congress has
> been trying to promote since 2000 through an escalating round of funding for
> nanotechnology research. (SFGate 5/8/03)
> http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/05/08/MN171263.DTL&typ"
> e=tech
> More news re: Nanosys - Nanosys raises $30 million. Nanosys Inc., a maker of
> nanotechnology-enabled systems based in Palo Alto, pocketed $30 million in
> the first closing of its second round of financing. (bizjournals 4/24/03)
> http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2003/04/21/daily52.html
>
> Nanotechnology Leaders to Gather in New York City Next Week for 2nd Annual
> NanoBusiness 2003 Conference. NanoBusiness 2003, produced by Penton Media
> (NYSE: PME, http://www.penton.com), will raise the curtain next week on its
> 2nd annual event focused on the emerging nanotechnology industry. Produced
> in association with the NanoBusiness Alliance (http://www.nanobusiness.org),
> the event will be held at the New York Marriott Financial Center in New York
> City, from May 11-13, and is designed to drive forward the emerging business
> of microsystems and nanotechnology. Complete information and online
> registration can be found at http://www.nanobusiness2003.com. (Stockhouse
> 5/8/03)
> http://www.stockhouse.com/news/news.asp?tick=PME&newsid=1674276
>
> Advances pave way for 'nanobots'. Despite tantalizing lab results, building
> robots on a molecular scale would seem to be a futuristic pipe dream. But a
> research report on robotic technology published by Business Communications
> Co. Inc. (Norwalk, Conn.) claims that nanobots are "on the cusp," thanks to
> robust research worldwide on the problem. (EETimes 4/28/03)
> http://www.eet.com/at/im/news/OEG20030428S0063
>
> Companies bring war to nanoscale to combat unseen bio/chem enemies. One of
> the many take-home lessons for the United States and its allies after the
> 1991 Persian Gulf War was a need for better protection against biological
> and chemical weapons. Years after the conflict, soldiers complained of
> ailments they believed resulted from exposure to the Iraqi regime's arsenal.
> More than a decade later, several companies are turning to nanotechnology to
> counter the threats of biological and chemical warfare. Their efforts range
> from gloves and gear that block out toxic chemicals and germs to fabrics and
> powders that deactivate and destroy the deadly agents. Military and
> university research labs also are developing protective skin creams,
> emulsions and even drugs to reduce the dangers. (Small Times 5/8/03)
> http://www.smalltimes.com/document_display.cfm?document_id=5957
>
> 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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