X-Message-Number: 21393 From: "Gina Miller" <> Subject: The Nanogirl News~ Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2003 03:38:25 -0800 The Nanogirl News March 12, 2003 Optical microscopy sets new records. Scientists in the US have produced the highest resolution optical image to date - showing details of structures that are less than 30 nm across. Lukas Novotny from the University of Rochester and colleagues from Portland State University and the University of Harvard used a technique known as "near-field Raman microscopy" to look at carbon nanotubes. (PhysicsWeb 3/7/03) http://physicsweb.org/article/news/7/3/4 Or at BBC-Zooming in on the nanoscale: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2822251.stm Navy grant launches minimally invasive surgical technologies institute at Cedars-Sinai Scientists in the newly formed Minimally Invasive Surgical Technology Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center are working to develop a new generation of advanced surgical tools and procedures. Minimally invasive technologies, robotic surgery, optical imaging and gene and cellular "nano" therapy are major points of focus for the Institute, which is funded by a $1 million grant from the U.S. Navy. (EurekAlert 3/5/03) http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-03/cmc-ngl030503.php A fold-your-own protein kit. The Critical Assessment of Structure Prediction is the Grand Prix of bioinformatics, where competitors start with gene sequences and try to determine the shape of unknown proteins. A new visualization tool called ProteinShop jump-starts the race with mathematical concepts that move chains of amino acids like a robot's very long arm. (Berkeley Lab 2/28/03) http://enews.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/CRD-proteinshop.html Shaken Not Stirred. The progression toward smaller and smaller electrical and mechanical components presents tremendous challenges to engineers and scientists as they strive to create devices on scales measured in microns and nanometers. One solution may be to develop materials that automatically arrange themselves in useful patterns. Now a collaboration of researchers (Igor Aronson, 630-252-9725) at Argonne National Laboratory and Institute of Physics for Microstructures of the Russian Academy of Sciences has developed a new method for encouraging microscopic particles to self assemble into desired complex patterns. (Physics News Update 2/26/03) http://www.aip.org/enews/physnews/2003/split/626-3.html Australian overturns 15 years of nano-science doctrine. An Australian mathematician has thrown 15 years of accepted scientific practice out the window by discovering a design flaw in a key component of the Atomic Force Microscope. His finding will force a rethink into the design and use of an instrument that has become a cornerstone of scientific measurement and analysis. Dr John Sader, at University of Melbourne's Department of Mathematics and Statistics, and Particulate Fluids Processing Centre, used established mechanical principles to prove that the popular V-shaped cantilever inadvertently degrades the performance of the instrument, and delivers none of its intended benefits. (EurekAlert 3/6/03) http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-03/uom-ao1030603.php Physicists at the University of Missouri-Rolla have published the first-ever three-dimensional images of atomic collision processes. The images, which promise to further understanding of theoretical physics, accompany a paper by the physicists in the March 6 issue of the British journal Nature. The paper, "Three-dimensional imaging of atomic four-body processes," by three UMR physicists and colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, Germany, has enormous implications to theoretical physics, the authors say, because it offers scientists a new look at how ions react when they collide with atoms. Previous studies have shown only two-dimensional images of the collisions, says Dr. Michael Schulz, professor of physics at UMR, and one of the authors. (Newswise 3/6/03) http://www.newswise.com/articles/2003/3/ATOMIC3D.UMR.html Interview with Christine Peterson. Questions by Sander Olson, NanoApex Corp...Christine Peterson has been investigating and promoting the concept of molecular nanotechnology for the past two decades. She wrote, along with Eric Drexler and Gayle Pergamit, Unbounding the Future in 1991. She is currently the President of the Foresight institute. (Interview at nanomagazine.com 3/2/03) http://www.nanomagazine.com/2003_03_02 The Greater Austin-San Antonio Corridor Council Launches Region's First Nanobiotechnology Summit. The Greater Austin-San Antonio Corridor Council announced a major economic development initiative today, bringing together area organizations to host a technology summit that will link together the mushrooming nanotech and infotech, and biomedical and biosciences sectors of the Greater Austin-San Antonio Corridor. Scheduled for March 20, 2003, on the campus of Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas, the event will serve as a catalyst for economic development along the I-35 corridor. (Hoovers Online 3/7/03) http://hoovnews.hoovers.com/fp.asp?layout=displaynews&doc_id=NR200303071680. 2_8047003677bc5980 Simple optoelectronic devices based on silver nanoclusters perform logic operations Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have demonstrated a new type of nanometer-scale optoelectronic device that performs addition and other complex logic operations, is simple to fabricate and produces optical output that can be read without electrical contacts. (Georgia Research News 3/7/03) http://www.gtresearchnews.gatech.edu/newsrelease/nanocomputing.htm Small is beautiful but only up to a point. Chris Benfield reports on new horizons in a microscopic world. The prophets of "nanotechnology" - the science of working in billionths of a metre, like Nature did when she created living things - say it could build ladders to the stars, cure all ills, make us richer than we ever dreamed, and record every move we ever make. Now a group of scientific heavyweights have published an essay warning that the whole booming business is heading for a row like the one about genetic modification, as soon as people realize what it is up to. The authors of the warning include Peter Singer, the former Oxford University scientist who predicted, in 1976, that animals' rights would be one of the issues of the coming decades. (Hoovers Online 3/5/03) http://hoovnews.hoovers.com/fp.asp?layout=displaynews&doc_id=NR20030305670.4 _aede001ec56e2f41 Nobel laureate Smalley urges engineering initiative. The United States needs a Sputnik-like event to revive interest in careers in engineering and the physical sciences, a Nobel Prize-winning engineer told a government science board on Monday (March 3). Richard Smalley, the Rice University professor and nano-technology pioneer, told the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology that such a galvanizing event exists: the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on the United States. (EETimes 3/4/03) http://www.eetimes.com/sys/news/OEG20030304S0014 Nanorelay race is on. Scientists at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden have theoretically modelled the properties of a nanorelay device. The nanorelay consisted of a conducting carbon nanotube beam, a stepped silicon substrate and three electrodes. "These results describe a basic idea, a way of building a nanoelectromechanical switch using small conducting cantilevers such as metallic nanotubes," researcher Jari Kinaret told nanotechweb.org. "The main aim with this first publication was to get the idea out in order to stimulate experimental work on nanorelays." (nanotechweb.org 3/6/03) http://nanotechweb.org/articles/news/2/3/4/1 Motorola shows 30-nm images with nano-imprint. Motorola Inc. here today disclosed new details about its internal nano-imprint lithography program, claiming it has demonstrated the ability to print feature sizes down to 30-nm with a tool from a U.S. startup. Douglas Resnick, a manager at Motorola Labs in Tempe, Ariz., said the lab is using a tool from startup Molecular Imprints Inc. (MII, Austin, Texas) to demonstrate the feasibility of nano-imprint lithography in future device production. (EETimes 2/25/03) http://www.eet.com/at/n/news/OEG20030225S0037 Amino groups link up with carbon nanotubes. A team of scientists from Rice University, US, have come up with a new technique for attaching amino groups to the sidewalls of single-walled carbon nanotubes. They produced the functionalized nanotubes by reacting fluoronanotubes with terminal diamines. (nanotechweb.org 3/3/03) http://nanotechweb.org/articles/news/2/3/1/1 (Essay by by Sharon Smith, Director, Technology, Systems Integration Business Area, Lockheed Martin Corporation) The Defense Industry's 'Fantastic Voyage' into the World of Nanotechnology...To meet the needs of its military customers, Lockheed Martin Corporation is dedicated to incorporating advanced, proven technologies into our defense systems, giving our armed forces the best technological advantage possible. Our current areas of focus include military space products, precision munitions, information superiority, air and missile defense products, and combat, air mobility, and special mission/reconnaissance aircraft. As part of our on-going efforts to keep our defense systems the best in the world, we are very interested in nanotechnology. (Eurekalert) http://www.eurekalert.org/context.php?context=nano&show=essays (Scroll to second story) The Next Big Thing. Small Minnesota town looks for state help to be on the leading edge of emerging technology. Suspend your beliefs about the workings of nearly every product you've ever known. Imagine instead prescription drugs treat-ing pain the moment they touch your mouth's membrane. Supercomputers functioning from a wristwatch. Airplanes becoming invisible by blending into their surroundings. Buildings and machines repairing themselves. And clothing alerting its wearer to environmental hazards. The technology for such advances - called nanotechnology - is not relegated to imagination. It's well on its way. And if a group of busi-ness people has its way, it's a science that will be partially funded by the state of Minnesota. A bill to fund the Rushford Institute for Technology, still on the drawing board, has been approved by one House committee. (Rushford.net March 03) http://www.rushford.net/rushford/myarticles.asp?P=622416&S=366&PubID=10717&E C=0 Green plans for tiny tech. Nanotechnologists take responsible approach to the environment. A US research centre is working to develop tiny technology in an environmentally friendly way, its director told this week's meeting of the American Physical Society in Austin, Texas. Rice University's Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology in Houston, Texas, is trying to identify the potential impacts of manipulating matter on the scale of atoms and molecules to make devices over a thousand times thinner than a human hair. (Nature 3/10/03) http://www.nature.com/nsu/030303/030303-12.html Smart Dust Senses Bioweapons. How can you protect yourself from biological and chemical weapons? Forget duct tape. The answer is blowing in the wind...To make the particles, which Sailor calls "smart dust," he first creates a filter for light in the surface of a silicon wafer about the size of a quarter. He places the wafer in a conductive solution, and then electrochemically corrodes it with an alternating current. Sailor says, "as [the corrosion] drills down into the silicon, it bottlenecks and opens up again, then bottlenecks and opens up again." The result is a delicately etched network of parallel pores about two nanometers in diameter. Using ultrasound vibrations, Sailor then crumbles the wafer into particles about the width of a hair. (Technology Review 3/12/03) http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/wo_harney031203.asp Breaking Glass under a Microscope. If you dropped a wineglass, you'd expect it to shatter, not skitter across the floor like a silver goblet would. But research published in the 21 February print issue of PRL suggests that glass does in fact break like a metal--at least at the nanometer scale. The research may help explain some of the fracture properties of glass, and may someday lead to stronger versions of the material. (Physical Review Focus 3/5/03) http://focus.aps.org/story/v11/st9 Indian scientist makes breakthrough in nanotechnology. It is a major step forward for nanotechnology--the science of manipulating individual molecules and atoms to build structures of complex atomic specifications. An Indian scientist and his team at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, have demonstrated that nanotubes--cylindrical carbon rolls no thicker than an atom -- may make good batteries for tiny devices or even power pacemakers, thereby dispensing with cumbersome power packs. (Economic Times/IndiaTimes 3/11/03) http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?artid=39 961572 Zyvex Introduces Innovative Business Partner Program. Zyvex Corporation, the first molecular nanotechnology company, today announced the introduction of the Zyvex Business Partner Program. This unique program enables inventors,university professors, and large or small firms to capitalize on Zyvex's leadership position in the nanotechnology business arena. "Because of Zyvex's established brand equity, technical expertise, and healthy financial situation, we're able to create win/win business partnerships to commercialize products or license technologies for those that don't possess the required resources to position themselves in the burgeoning nanotechnology marketplace," said Dr. Thomas A. Cellucci, Chief Operating Officer at Zyvex. Zyvex offers much more than a simple distribution relationship for finished products. They're prepared to provide partners with a comprehensive package of financial assistance, support, marketing prowess, and business advice. (biz ink 3/7/03) http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=SVBIZINK3.story&STORY=/www /story/03-07-2003/0001903891&EDATE=FRI+Mar+07+2003,+11:00+AM The Big Letdown. A thorough report on nanotechnology, The Big Down is required reading. But it completely misses the biggest threat to the future: Democratic rot. Nobody who calls themselves a Transhumanist, a futurist, a technophile or even an environmentalist could have missed the recent release of the The Big Down, the poetically named, stop-nanotechnology-now report from tiny, Monsanto-tormenting ETC Group. But how many of you actually read it? (Betterhumans 3/3/03) http://www.betterhumans.com/Features/Columns/Red_Hour_Orgy/column.aspx?artic leID=2003-03-02-4 Check out the new Nanomedicine Book Site maintained by the author Robert A. Freitas Jr. Find out about Nanomedicine Volume I , when you can get the upcoming Volume IIA and volumes to come. More than that, it's also a great site with lots of information. http://www.nanomedicine.com 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 "Nanotechnology: Solutions for the future." Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=21393