X-Message-Number: 19029 From: "Gina Miller" <> References: <> Subject: Nanogirl News Date: Tue, 7 May 2002 00:49:42 -0700 Nanogirl News May 6, 2002 *We Have Ignition! Carbon Nanotubes Ignite When Exposed to Flash. Researchers at Rensselaer have discovered a surprising new property of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCN). When exposed to a conventional photographic flash, the nanotubes emit a loud pop and then ignite.This discovery, reported in the April 26 issue of the journal Science, could mean that SWCNs might be used in light sensors or to remotely trigger explosives and combustion reactions, although researchers say that more testing needs to be done to realize these possibilities. (Rensselaer press release 5/02) http://www.rpi.edu/web/News/press_releases/2002/flash.html *Viruses enlisted as nano-builders. If you want to build a molecular-scale computer chip, or a minuscule sensor that detects the slightest whiff of an airborne toxin, you're going to need some tiny builders to help put these gadgets together. In Friday's issue of the journal Science, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, researchers in Texas show how they hired a virus as their nano-construction worker. (MSNBC 5/2/02) http://www.msnbc.com/news/745696.asp *One of my roles at the Foresight Institute annual "senior associates" meeting is to take up the far-left point on the intelligence bell curve of people in the room. This is another way of saying that the gathering typically includes some of the smartest people I ever encounter. Foresight, as its name suggests, looks into the future. Its main thrust is promoting nanotechnology, the science of making and manipulating very small things - down to the molecular and atomic level in its purest definition. (Small Times 5/6/02) http://www.smalltimes.com/document_display.cfm?document_id=3693 Another article by Dan Gillmor about Foresight from Dan Gillmor's eJournal entitled: Foresight of Thought is located at: http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/business/columnists/dan _gillmor/ejournal/3151407.htm *STAR Inc., a startup at the State University of New York, Stony Brook, is adapting a 19th century technology to create surgical material for the 21st. STAR's nanofiber membrane is a mesh of polymers designed to prevent body tissues from sticking together as they heal. It also breaks down in the body over time like biodegradable sutures. (Small Times 5/1/02) http://www.smalltimes.com/document_display.cfm?section_id=45,51&docume nt_id=3658 *Mutant Viruses Order Quantum Dots. A three dimensional grid of quantum dots created and held together by genetically-engineered viruses could enable a new generation of computer displays, memories and even nanoscale computer chips.-Includes a Flash animation- (New Scientist 5/6/02) http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992248 *Mirror Fibers. MIT researchers have created high-performance mirrors in the shape of hair-like flexible fibers that could be woven into cloth or incorporated in paper. Applications include fabrics with embedded "bar codes" that identify the wearer, potentially useful in the battle suits of future soldiers, or a lightweight cloth that reflects radiation, protecting from blasts of heat. (MIT 5/02) http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/rd/2002/may.html *Nanotechnolgy: the small science set. Ever-smaller microprocessors, stain-resistant clothing, anti-cancer drugs, even sunscreen; you may not have heard of "nanotechnology", but experts say it could revolutionise the way we live and work. Born in the 1960s in the research laboratories of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States, nanotechnology is science on a small scale, described by one sector watcher as "atomic lego". (Independent Online 5/6/02) http://www.itechnology.co.za/index.php?click_id=31&art_id=qw1020678660 535B216&set_id=1 *Photons Crowd Each Other Out. Technologies of the future like quantum computers will need to manipulate single electrons, atoms, or photons. Researchers can already control single electrons, but photons are trickier, since they have no charge. In the 6 May print issue of PRL, a team shows a new way in which individual photons might be coaxed to stop and go, by using microscopic pinholes as temporary photon "holding pens." (Physical Review Focus 5/6/02) http://focus.aps.org/v9/st24.html *The Shape of Computer Chips to Come. In the future, there will be hundreds of billions of embedded chips and sensing devices integrated into everything, from key chains and swimming pools to your apartment's walls and even your skin. All of these devices will be able to compute, sense and communicate with each other. (Newsfactor 5/1/02) http://sci.newsfactor.com/perl/story/17522.html *Nanotubes at Great Length. Rensselaer researchers, and collaborators at Tsinghua University in Beijing, have found a simple way to create hair-like strands of carbon nanotubes, up to eight inches long. The discovery was reported in the May 3 edition of Science and is a first step towards making microcables for electrical devices, or tiny actuators for artificial muscle.(Rensselaer 5/2/02) http://www.rpi.edu/web/News/press_releases/2002/ajayan2.html *Check out the online clothing store Eddie Bauer to purchase your pair of Nano-Care Plain-front Chinos. Stain resistant and wrinkle proof technofabrics forge into the closets. http://www.eddiebauer.com/eb/product.asp?product_id=20811&nv=2|11|44&l view=3&cm_cg=C11&tid=&c=&sc= *Molecules take electronics for a spin. Magnetism controls new single-molecule electronic device. Researchers eager to use individual molecules as the components of ultra-small electronic circuits and computers have put a new spin on their ambitious goal. They take advantage of a hitherto unexploited property of electric currents, called spin, to make molecular devices that operate under new rules. (Nature 4/23/02) http://www.nature.com/nsu/020415/020415-13.html *Nanosys, the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company that develops nanotechnology-enabled systems, announced earlier this week that it obtained exclusive rights from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to intellectual property (IP) developed in the laboratory of Professor James Heath. Heath is currently serving as the Acting Director of the California NanoSystems Institute. (Nanotech-Planet 5/3/02) http://www.nanotech-planet.com/briefs/article/0,4028,6551_1037701,00.html *Entropy Helps Big Molecules Get Out Of Small Spaces. A new understanding of how large biological molecules behave in tiny spaces could lead to a method for separating DNA strands by length. It also could throw light on the way molecules move in living cells. (UniSci 5/6/02) http://unisci.com/stories/20022/0506026.htm *Focus: Serving International Industry, Feature Article. High-Tech Gumbo The Technical Sessions. Take generous portions of analytical techniques, biotechnology, nanotechnology, and antiterrorism devices, and place into one extra-large convention center. Mix well. (Todays Chemist At Work 4/02) http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/tcaw/11/i04/html/04mcguire.html *Explorers in nanospace. While astrophysicists are figuring out the challenges of travel through outer space, CSIRO materials researchers are tackling a problem at the opposite end of the size scale - moving molecules through nanospace. A team of Australian and US scientists today announced a world advance in the use of membrane technology to filter and separate various gases and vapours. The breakthrough has implications for many activities, ranging from water purification and environmental cleanup, to better fuels and petrochemicals, purer medicines and desalination of seawater for drinking. (CSIRO 4/23/02) http://www.csiro.au/index.asp?type=mediaRelease&id=Nanospace *Mechanical engineer developing device for possible use in telesurgery. In the science of the small, precision and accuracy really count. Won-jong Kim, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Texas A&M University, is developing a device that can be used to precisely position objects in nanotechnology and even telesurgery. Nanotechnology is the building of things one atom at a time with miniaturized robotics. Positioning devices, such as the one Kim is developing, are used in nanotechnology to move an object being studied or worked on into the precise position needed for study. (Texas A&M Engineering News 4/23/02) http://teesem.tamu.edu/tcd/archive/fy2002/2002.1005.shtml *-Review-Meddling with Human Nature. In The End of History and the Last Man, Francis Fukuyama argued that history was over because the world was converging toward societies of democratic capitalism. The book's thesis, much disputed when it was first published as an article in 1989, seems all the more dubious in the wake of September 11. Now, in Our Posthuman Future, a volume likely to be similarly contested, he claims that biotechnology has brought about "the recommencement of history." (Scientific American 5/02) http://www.sciam.com/2002/0502issue/0502reviews1.html *Big prospects for nanotech Street Talk: Columnist Steven Milunovich on the emerging field of nanotechnology. Some historians have labeled the past 100 years the Century of Physics. Now that the first draft of the human genome is mapped and a blossoming of new research tools are finding their way into common use, there's good reason to believe that the next 100 years may become known as the Century of Biology. And it isn't just biotechnology that will help establish this designation; nanotechnology will also play a big part. (Red Herring 5/3/02) http://www.redherring.com/insider/2002/0503/2659.html *Small tech could change our lives in a nanosecond But we need more funding to help Canadian research. My previous column talked about making technology slower. In this one, let's explore making it smaller.First of all, we will start with thinking about really tiny things. How tiny? As diminutive as most investors' Incredible Shrinking Tech Portfolios? Smaller. More minuscule than the credibility of tech analysts who keep calling the bottom? Much smaller. As infinitesimal as John Roth's reputation with Canadian investors? Well ... not quite that small. (National Post 4/26/02) http://www.nationalpost.com/tech/story.html?f=/stories/20020426/38126.html *Nanotechnology expected to be huge. Nanotechnology one day will change the world as we know it, say leading scientists and entrepreneurs who are hard at work testing, developing and marketing this relatively new and still-emerging field, which focuses on minute quantities of matter. Some have referred to it as the next industrial revolution. (The Washington Times 5/2/06) http://www.washtimes.com/metro/20020502-91611140.htm *-Conference-Registration is now open for NanoBusiness Spring 2002, May 19-21, The Roosevelt Hotel, New York City. www.nanobusiness-spring.com Space is limited. http://www.nanobusiness-spring.com/ *(on another note:) Here come the ratbots. Electrodes implanted in rats' brains can make them follow instructions and some day they could be used to rescue earthquake victims. (BBC 5/1/02) http://news6.thdo.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1961000/1961798.stm <Big Sig as follows> Gina "Nanogirl" Miller Nanotechnology Industries http://www.nanoindustries.com A Visual Tour of the Future: (new) http://www.nanogirl.com/ArtisticLicense.html Personal: http://www.nanogirl.com Foresight Senior Associate Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=19029