Nano-article links
- Civilisation safe as nanobot threat fades (June 9, 2004)
- Nanotech guru turns back on 'goo'
- Received E-mail with following link
- Nano-technology takes weather warfare into a new dimension
-
http://www.indiadaily.com/editorial/6571.asp
- The weather warfare has taken new dimensions. Now the military
scientists all over the world are secretly working on applying
nano-technologies to weather manipulation to produce devastating effects
on adversaries like never before.
Methods of artificial weather control are a potential weapon of war.
Methods like Cloud-top seeding can confuse you and make you believe that
such techniques are primitive. But such methods when integrated with
nano-bacteria technologies can produce devastating effects.
Tiny particles linked to a number of painful and sometimes deadly
diseases may spread across the globe by hitching a ride in clouds, claim
researchers in a recent issue of the Journal of Proteome Research. But
cloud steams across the globe can also be controlled by artificial
means. This means artificial clouds with nano-bacteria can be created
and spread in a specific region by covert human hands.
Counter nono-weather actions are also in effect. Classified and secret
projects are in place to counter this new devastating technologies. Many
coutries wary about artificial weather control by their potential
adversaries are busy looking into all possibilities which can make their
skies, air, soil and water dangerously polluted,
compromised, biologically affected and vulnerable.
- Fraud is alleged in use of 'nano' label
-
http://www.iht.com/articles/514458.html
- What exactly is nanotechnology? The definition is no
longer academic as more investors become attracted to anything that
carries a nanotech label.
Last week an investment firm known as Asensio faxed a letter to the
New York State attorney general, Eliot Spitzer, charging that misuse of
"nano" has become a favorite tactic for fraudulent stock promotion.
Asensio asked Spitzer to investigate Merrill Lynch for including many
companies that have little or nothing to do with nanotechnology in an
index of 25 publicly traded nanotechnology companies that Merrill
introduced on April 1.
"Investors are being harmed on a daily basis," said Manuel
Asensio, chief executive of the investment firm, which is based in New
York.
- A tale of two cultures by Peter Dobson
-
http://www.materialstoday.com/nanotoday/opinion.pdf
- The recent ‘discovery’ that material can be manipulated at the atomic scale
must fill many scientists and engineers with despair. I know, I am one of them!
Here we are, working away at a subject we have loved for the past 40 years and
along comes a new generation all hyped up on the mission statements of the
new nanotechnology revolution. What’s more, these ‘usurpers’ apply for and win
large grants to buy the latest toys to shuffle around atoms and create pretty
computer-generated pictures. Where is it all going?
- Pinheads: Bursting the nanotech bubble
-
http://www.johnshirley.net/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=123
- The nanotech in Diamond Age made for a ripping yarn, and it played a
crucial role in the plot of Virtual Light. Now lately, nanotech's gone
mainstream. USA Today and Newsweek write about it. Venture capital
companies invest in it. Pundits mouth off about the wonderful future
that's in store. It's the Next Big Thing.
Or not.
For those who came late to the show, let me summarize it for you. At
some point some person with lots of degrees got it in his head that
molecule size robots were going to clean out the cholesterol from your
USDA Choice-ridden innards, lower your taxes by reducing the cost of
space exploration, and restore the polluted environment so we could
pollute it with impunity. A bunch of people got interested, they held
conferences, the military funded some stuff, and the thing went
basically nowhere.
Then, the Internet bubble burst in April 2000. Investors got depressed
and hid under the covers for a year. When they emerged, they didn't like
what they saw. Blue chip telecom companies teetering. No Hollywood
movies over broadband. No trillion dollars in e-commerce.
There was no Next Big Thing so they manufactured one. They did it by
co-opting the word the futurist visionaries had coined, not having day
jobs some of them--nanotechnology. As of now, the Official Future
consists of nanotechnology-enabled sensors, batteries, solar cells, and
anything else they have to say to get you to buy into the idea.
The same mentality that fueled the Internet bubble is fueling the
nanotechnology bubble. The same "greater fool theory", as in "I may be a
fool to invest in XXX but there's a greater fool somewhere who'll buy it
from me for more than I paid." History shows that, yes there is always a
greater fool, until the day there isn't anymore.
Another mentality we're seeing again from back then--it is so 90s--is
the "moving the goalposts" theory. Namely, when something flops you
don't say it flops, you say that the segment as a whole is a tremendous
success--so when mobile Web browsing is choked to death by everyone
concerned, and you're stuck there with a bunch of loser investments, you
brag about haw many jillions of teenagers are sending text messages to
each other. (Regrettably, however, teenage allowances aren't enough to
rescue the telephone industry.)
LIkewise when the nanorobots aren't showing up in your arteries, you
stand there with a straight face and say that nanotechnology is going
gangbusters. Stuff that didn't used to be nanotech suddently becomes
nanotech--like cosmetics. Overnight, Revlon became the world's leader in
nanotechnology (their milling processes yields particles sized in the
right range to be called "nanotechnology"--a few tens of billionths of
an inch).
Remember Buckyballs, those molecules of carbon shaped like a geodesic
dome? You might have read about them in the 1980s. Yep, they're called
nanotechnology now. No robot surgeons, no restoring the environment...in
fact, some are worried that geodesic-inspired carbon molecules are
themselves a health and environmental hazard. If you liked asbestos,
you'll love carbon fiber nanotubes in your lungs.
And since carbon fiber nanotubes might prove useful in making fuel
cells--which are supposed to eventually replace the batteries in your
cell phone and notebook PC, etc, promising dozens of hours of use before
recharging--suddenly nanotech will enable cell phones to rely on
portable fuel cells (which themselves look like another bubble ready to
burst, or at least explode...if you like carrying around live hand
grenades, you'll love keeping a fuel cell in your pocket).
And since some companies are improving their lithium-ion batteries and
calling +those+ fuel cells...and obviously, since batteries are made of
molecules, and molecules are nano-sized, voila! Next year, expect
batteries that are 10% better than this years', and expect them to be
hailed as a nanotechnology breakthrough. Any molecules in car paint?
Dental fillings? Don't thank me, thank nanotech.
Borges tells a story (originally by Kierkegaard?) of certain Danish
clergymen who preach that a trek to the arctic will revive their
parishoners' spiritual well-being. Later, realizing that not everyone is
capable of travelling in the arctic, they announce that some other cold
weather expedition will suffice. And eventually, they decree that any
journey--a Sunday ride in a horse-and-buggy, perhaps--qualifies as the
spiritual equivalent to travelling in the arctic.
If you don't get the point of that little homily...I have a hot tip on a
nanotech investment for you.
- Nano Startup Success Factors
- Nanotechnology business directory Nanovip.com: Products and applications
- Nanotech frauds imminent, warns VC
- Nanotechnology: the next revolution
- Ultrananocrystalline Diamond Films
-
http://nanodot.org/article.pl?sid=00/09/22/0025250
- "Preliminary tests show that ultrananodiamonds are 1,000 more
wear-resistant than silicon, and 1 million times denser than
conventional crystals. This makes them a practical base material for
micromachines and other devices that had only been theoretically
possible before. Maybe this will mark the real beginning of Neal
Stephenson's The Diamond Age."
- E-mail comment received on the above:
- "We're not worthy! The Dr Evil nanoeconomics pictures are fantastic!
Thought you may like this one. Remember ultrananocrystalline diamonds (now
called ultrananodiamonds)? This is presumably what all self-assembling
nanobots will be made of, since if nanobots are ~nm scale, they can either
only be made out of particles as big as themselves or smaller. Anyway,
interesting stuff, and a lot harder than other abrasives. So we have a
better sandpaper. But according to the originator of this article
ultrananodiamonds are 1 million times denser than conventional crystals!
This corresponds to the density of a white dwarf. This would mean that
nanobots would cause massive gravitational anomalies and rather than being
undetectable will be very readily detectable by conventional instruments;
e.g. by triangulation with gravimeters.
One can only imagine the earthquakes that may be set off by these superdense
nanobots crawling through the ground. However, thoughts of nanoflying bots,
such as envisioned by Freitas, now seem well clear of the mark. Presumably
we are well on the way to building our own nano-neutron stars or even
nano-black holes. This seems worrying that nanoethicists have not picked up
this potential hazard of nanotech."
- Nanomedicine Taxonomy
- US Government's National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI)
- Trouble in nanoland
- It’s time to expose the nanotechnology hype
- The First Church of the Grey Goo
- 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act
- Overused, misused nano- becoming pervasive prefix
- Nanohouse Brings Nanotechnology Home
- The Dark Secret of Hendrik Schön - transcript
-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2004/hendrikshontrans.shtml
- RAY KURZWEIL: One nanobot doesn’t do much, you need
trillions of them, how do you get trillions of them? Well you need them
to self replicate, you need one nanobot to turn in to two, to four, to
eight, and scale itself up to trillions.
NARRATOR: Ray Kurzweil is one of those who believe that in the future
huge numbers of these self-replicating machines could be programmed to
target every diseased cell in our body.
RAY KURZWEIL : Our immune system of course keeps us alive but they’re
very slow, I actually watched my white blood cells destroy a bacteria
and it took like an hour and a half. A nanorobot can do the job in
seconds. It would be far more powerful like destroying pathogens in
cancer cells.
NARRATOR: Trillions of these tiny machines could even be swallowed in
pill form. Their tiny onboard computers controlled perhaps by tiny
molecular transistors will direct them through even the smallest blood
vessels to destroy any infection they come across. And though the
technical know-how may be decades in the future one has even been given
a name, a respiracyte. Respiracytes could be injected in to the victims
of drowning. Once in the blood stream these nanobots would break down
the excess molecules of carbon dioxide, and release oxygen in to the
blood. They could mean the difference between life and death.
RAY KURZWEIL Ultimately we’re not going to go to doctors that have
visits in the way that we do today, we’re going to have systems in our
body that are continually monitoring our body, detecting problems and
fixing them immediately.
NARRATOR: This then is one vision of what the brave new world could be
like for our children. A vision where all diseases could be fought.
Their lives could be extended by decades. All because of
nanotechnology. But there could be another use for nanotechnology.
Doctor John Alexander advises the Commander of US Special Operations.
He believes that in decades to come war would be fought using nanobots.
- Results of inquiry into the validity of certain physics research papers from Bell Labs
- The Dark Secret of Hendrik Schön - transcript
- USC lab launches project to create nanobot swarms for ocean research
-
http://nanodot.org/article.pl?sid=02/01/10/1743228
- According to a press release (9 January 2002), the
Laboratory for Molecular Robotics (LMR) at the University of Southern
California School of Engineering has received $1.5 million research
grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) to create swarms
of microscopic robots. The application envisioned for such a system is
to monitor potentially dangerous microorganisms in the ocean.
According to Ari Requicha, a USC professor of computer science and the
project's principal investigator, the project spans the fields of
nanotechnology, robotics, computer science and marine biology, but is
centered on the development of the ultra-small robotic sensors and
software systems to control them. Requicha said it will be possible to
build nanoscale devices with electrical and mechanical components so
that the devices could propel themselves, send electronic signals and
even compute. While individual nanoscale devices would have limited
computing power and capability, the plan is to have vast numbers of
them operating in concert.
Requicha said that nanotechnology today is at the same stage of
development as the Internet was in the late 1960's. "The idea that
we'll have swarms of nanorobots in the ocean is no more far-fetched
than the idea of connecting millions of computers was then," he said.
"I don't think these robots will be confined to the ocean. We will
eventually make robots to hunt down pathogens or repair cells in the
human body."
- David Caron, professor of biological sciences and a co-
investigator on the project, said ocean robots needn't be terribly
complicated or powerful to be useful. A single robot might sense only
whether the water is fresh or saline and communicate by a faint radio
signal only with other robots closest to it, which would then relay the
information to other robots in the network linked to the Internet by
still more robots. In the next year, Caron hopes to attach an antibody
to a [scanning] microscope tip. He recently created an antibody that
binds to the toxic algae known as Brown Tide. "That test takes a day in
the lab, which is an improvement over current testing, but it's still
not fast enough," said Caron. The microscope should detect the algae
the instant a microorganism binds to the antibody on its tip.
Requicha estimates that it will be a decade before the researchers can
build and deploy nanoscale robots in the ocean capable of the kind of
instant and specific test like Caron's for Brown Tide. Along the way,
he hopes the project will spin off technology in marine biology and
other areas. The end goal of the project will be to create robots that
are as small as the microorganisms that they seek to monitor
"Today, we commonly do experiments with five or ten robots," said
Gaurav Sukhatme, USC assistant professor of computer science and a
co-investigator on the project. "But we'll need algorithms to
coordinate a million or more robots. That is a daunting problem, and we
must start laying out the foundations for large numbers of robots long
before they are a reality."
- Nanohouse Brings Nanotechnology Home
- Nano-tool box
- Shape-Shifting Robot Nanotech Swarms on Mars: NASA Astronaut Journal, Mars, 2034:
- Nanotechnology - The Science Behind Better Supplements: A
technological revolution that will irreversibly alter the way people
live and work.
- Nanotechnology Initiative National Nanotechnology Initiative Overview - Research Directions II - September 8, 2004
-
http://www.nsf.gov/crssprgm/nano/reports/nni_overview_rdii.pdf
- "Estimation on revenues from nanotechnology: Reaching $1trillion in
2015 worldwide, and the estimations moving closer because of accelerated
development; growth >25% per year. "
- "US has about 2/3 of world NT [Nano Technology] Patents (USPTO
database) using "Title-claims" and "Full-text" search for nanotechnology
by keywords (using intelligent search engine, after J. Nanoparticle
Research, 2004, Vol. 6, Issue 4)"
- Nanotechnology: The Promise of the Future or Pandora’s Box?
-
http://www.sagecrossroads.net/Default.aspx?tabid=55
- TREDER: It’s unfortunate, in fact, that they—if you put it “the
self-replicating nanobot” it’s an attention-grabber. It has gotten into
science fiction novels and movies and television shows. It’s
stimulating. But the problem is it sort of diverts attention from the
more serious and more likely implications of the technology. Even
though, as you said, the potential for self-replicating nanobots may be
far in the future. It may not even be necessary. The person who
essentially founded the interest in nanotechnology, Eric Drexler, who is
the author of Engines of Creation back in 1986, and then a textbook on
nanosystems in 1992, recently published a paper co-written with the
director of research of my organization, Chris Phoenix, in which they
examine that whole issue about self-replicating nanobots. They
determined that there is really no reason for them, because everything
that can be done or will want to be done with molecular manufacturing
can be done without self replication of little tiny nanobots. So there
really isn’t that risk that was originally imagined. But the attention
paid to that takes away from the attention that needs to be paid to the
other-the other economic implications and military applications of the
technology.
- IndiaNano: Accelerating Innovation
- Center for Electron Transport in Molecular Nanostructures
- Dream big: Figure 2.: (Exploring the Molecular World: ASSEMBLER WITH FACTORY ON CHIP)
- Nanotechnology researcher claims "Nanotechnology is Here!" :
But there are good reasons to be skeptical of these premature proclamations
-
http://www.geek.com/news/geeknews/2003Jun/bch20030630020616.htm
- A number of nanotechnology conferences and forums have sprung up
during the past several years. These forums, such as the Nanoengineering
World Forum, have been spreading the gospel that nanotechnology is
already here. These conferences are attended by electrical engineers,
biologists, chemists, and venture capitalists, all hoping to profit from
what many see as a potentially revolutionary technology. Stephen Fonash
of the Penn State Nanofabrication Facility claims that "nanotechnology
is here today." These scientists are not talking about the radical
vision of molecular assemblers and nanobots that the Foresight Institute
endorses. Rather, these individuals have generally adopted the somewhat
misleading description of nanotechnology as anything less than 100
nanometers. Such a broad and arbitrary terminology allows all manner of
researchers, businesspeople, corporations, and institutions to maintain
that they are doing work in nanotechnology. Intel, for instance, claims
that it is already using nanotechnology because it is making
microprocessors with 90 nanometer transistors. Venture capitalists are
now funding companies with "nano" in the name almost as readily as they
were funding "dot.com" companies in the 1990s. The same is true for
government funding of nanotechnology, which is growing rapidly.
Similarly, researchers increasingly believe that they need to describe
their work as nanotechnology-related in order to maintain or increase
funding. As a result, many of the claims of nanotechnology research are
inaccurate and often misleading. A company doing work on actuators added
the "nano" prefix to its name specifically in order to get funding. The
tactic was effective and the company received funding, despite the fact
that the actuator technology does not and cannot operate at the
nanoscale.
- I can just see it now:
The NASDAQ will be up over 5000 within 6 months, only to be followed by an 18 month decline, to bottom out at 1200 or so.
Lets try to be realistic this time around, people, so we don't end up detonating an economic "nanobomb."
- Marketing creeps destroying the language (10:27am EST Mon Jun 30 2003)
Through the lands, there are men, hollow shells of men, who think of
nothing but how they can gain, how they can win. They will stop at
nothing, except getting caught, to further their mission to increase
their wealth at anyone else's expense.
This is known as "Marketing" and no one excels at it like the U.S. The
best in the world in style over substance, they will twist and corrupt
the language in order to dazzle you and bamboozle you into forking it
over.
They are lairs. Big reeking piles of lairs.
- yeah, hype... (8:49am EST Tue Jul 01 2003)
Yes. Hype. I work at a Tier-I research university, and although there
are plenty of good things going on here, a significant fraction of the
labs prefer to stretch the truth. I've seen NASA do it too. Their
product is actually what they can put in Powerpoint, not what is
reality. Sad truth is, it works. There are enough people out there to
buy it to make it a successful short term strategy. If your reading it
in the popular press, I would give it a 50/50 for being worth a damn.
- Nano World: Dealing With Too Much Hype
-
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/nanotech-04zzzp.html
- You have to control the hyperbole and the
exaggeration or it could fuel a backlash or a boycott, David Berube,
associate director for nanoscience and technology studies at the
University of South Carolina in Columbia, told UPI's Nano World.
Berube will talk about nano-hype at a Foresight Institute conference on advanced nanotechnology Sunday in Arlington, Va.
There is no doubt nanotechnology promises dramatic advances in
everything from electronics to medicine. Governments, corporations and
venture capitalists will spend more than $8.6 billion on nanotech
research and development worldwide in 2004 alone, according to nanotech
firm Lux Capital in New York. That level is expected to rise in coming
years.
Everyone with a chance to gain from nanotech - from businesses
to academia to the media, the government and non-profits - has an
incentive to cash in. The prefix nano has become a buzzword for
bringing in the money.
Josh Wolfe, co-founder and managing partner of Lux Capital,
urges caution. For years, he has lambasted companies that appear to use
the nano prefix to pump up their stock prices, such as NanoPierce
Technologies, which he noted was previously called Sunlight Systems and
Mendell-Denver.
They've got nothing to do with nanotechnology, he noted in a report.
Some businesses that had nothing to do with nanotechnology did
quite well when (President) Bush signed the 21st Century Nanotechnology
Research and Development Act, Berube said.
The act, signed Dec. 3, 2003, authorizes $3.4 billion in federal nanotech spending over fiscal years 2004 through 2008.
What ended up happening was companies that had nano as a prefix,
their stock values went up, he said. It's gotten so bad that the
investment firm Asensio filed a complaint with Eliot Spitzer, the
attorney general in New York, to investigate some of the investment
houses promoting a nano-index, claiming it was a scam.
- The Next Big Thing Is Really Small
-
http://www.pcauthority.com.au/review.aspx?CIaRID=1474&CatID=61
- The Next Big Thing is Really Small, by Uldrich and Newberry, is a
strange beast. Hyping the upcoming "nanotechnology age" and how
businesses should prepare, the book is part nanotechnology primer, part
prophetic tome, part educational text and 100% nanotech hype. Suffering
from more than a bit of 'isn't nanotechnology great!' which particularly
pervades the early chapters, the authors have their work cut out for
them as nanotech has yet to really manifest.
Yet, as they point out, large companies (American, mainly) are already
embracing nanotechnology and integrating processes into their
manufacturing. While big business is already there, the goal of the book
is to give a heads-up on the coming nanotechnology wave for the rest of
us. The overriding message is simple: when the nanotechnology age
arrives, businesses savvy in the new tech will prosper, unprepared
companies will suffer.
It's pure hype, but hyped well, with some impressively large figures and
statistics bandied about, and although it's a simple read that's light
on the science this reader can't help but wonder if the message is
premature
- Trauma and Transcendence: Psychosocial Impacts of Cybernetics and Nanotechnology
- A Tentative Probe into the Nano-Selenium Rich Tea for Assistance to Aids Succor Net for Aids
-
http://www.369.com.cn/En/ATentative.htm
- Succor
Net for Aids was founded by Qu Shaozhong, deputy fellow researcher, in
2001 and obtained congratulatory symptoms of trend after three years'
assistance work, with the job summarized as follows:
- Recipients
All the recipients are help seekers on the Internet, among whom
75 are females, 24 females with a total number of 99. The age range is
from 7-51, with 36 cases feverish, 38 diarrheas, 12 liver and spleen
tumescent, 9 stomatic respiratory infection, 47 weight loss and 17
lymph tumescent.
- Succor method
With the treatment method corresponding to the symptoms, 5
varieties of nano-teas manufactured by Qinhuangdao Taiji Ring Product
Company Limited are adopted, among which dark-green tea, white tea and
green tea are made from the selenium rich tea unique to Enshi of Hubei,
China . The average size of nano-teas is 100nm, distributed between
10-200nm for above 95% ( of which some tea particles are very close to
viruses in size, and others are so tiny that they can penetrate
viruses). Based on the major symptoms described by the help seekers,
different varieties of nano-teas are used, with the table shown as
follows:
- Suitable quantities for intake of Nano-Selenium Rich Tea:
wall-breaking, steaming, condensing and drying nano ballmilling methods
are adopted for this group of case and 10-100nm nano particles are
obtained with
selenium content exceeding 25ppm, i.e. each gram of tea contains
25micrograms of selenium. Shishu nano-selenium rich tea. When taken,
one should start from 1g of selenium rich tea two times a day and
selenium content in blood should
be measured when used, after which an increase of 0.5 g of selenium
rich tea should be implemented each time and selenium content in blood
is monitored with liver function indexes and body signs when increased
to 2.5g each time. If no response, an increase of quantity should be
effected continuously.
When increased to response of body signs such as flush face,
smell of metal or garlic in the mouth, slight falling-out of hair, rise
of GPT, restlessness in emotion, the quantity of intake should be
reduced to 1g if there is one of the above-mentioned signs. If
responses disappear, it proves to be the person's resistance to
selenium, i.e. it is the fatal dosage for viruses or cancerous cells
(hypodermic sarcoma). This is also the time when poisoning needs
watching closely so as to avoid abnormalities for individualities, and
timely treatment can be arranged thereinafter. The method of use should
be summed up as "increase incrementally on a trial basis and decrease
in case of response".
- Summary of succor
Tentative Summary for Treatment of Aids by Nano-Tea
- It can be seen from the table that nano-selenium rich tea
has received obvious results in relieving and removing major symptoms,
and the most congratulatory is that HIV turned negative for 5% of the
cases (not included in the table).
Discussion:
1 ) A relatively large of number of anti-virus and anti-cancer cases for
tea products (green tea in particular) have been reported at home and
abroad, which is mainly attributed to the chemical composition of tea
and the function of polyphenol in the tea. This website adopts the
absorbent physical effect of small particles and small-size surface to
absorb and eliminate viruses as well as the penetration effect (tunnel
effect) of nano particles to penetrate cell walls so that viruses can be
removed through penetration, which hasn't yet been read at home and
abroad. This has blazed a new road for defeat of Aids viruses in terms
of methodology
- Bell Labs president projects long-term nanotech
- Lachlan's Note: More Email received (2nd Oct 2005) with some very
world class "inspired" nanoshite (a potential rival to the 'vision' of
"intelligent yogurt" (yogurt made intelligent by the use of
nanotechnology - for human benefit), and the lesser 'vision' of
replacing people's DNA with 'more reliable' nanotechnology).
Comment from person: "I like the prediction that nontech will
bring us phones we don't need to speak to. I thought that was the
definition of a phone: for spoken communication. Perhaps nano can give
us food we don't need to eat, but only look at etc...":
Kudos to the person who passed this on. You know who you are, and I am
in awe of your olifactory abilities with respects the sniffing of new,
true nanoshite.
-
http://www.foresight.org/nanodot/?p=2033
- Phones that can smell, minus the breath mints:
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200509/13/200509132231215209900090609061.html
- "In the next five to 10 years, mobile phone users will be able to
detect changes in the facial expressions and even in the smell of the
person they are talking to, according to Jeong Kim, president of Bell
Labs, the research arm of the U.S. firm Lucent Technololgies.
"As part of a five-day business trip here, Mr. Kim met with reporters in
southern Seoul yesterday to introduce cutting-edge future technologies
and offer predictions on the world’s information-technology industry.
"Elaborating on the new cell phone technology developed by the
laboratory, Mr. Kim said that smell-transmitting sensors, lenses that
follow the movement of eyeballs and microphones as narrow as a human
hair already exist, and would be on sale within a decade.
"Mr. Kim said nanotechnology - techniques used to create structures as
small as one-millionth of a millimeter - had played a key role in the
development of the new technologies.
"Mr. Kim predicted that nanotechnology could bring huge changes to the
way humans live, citing the example of a new computer that will enable
simultaneous translation of telephone conversations.
"'If nanotechnology maintains its current pace of development, it will
give birth to a computer that has the information processing capacity
equivalent to every human brain combined by 2060,’ he said.
"Mr. Kim said that while communication technologies have so far mostly
focused on speed, future developments will look to improve their
convenience. Eventually, he added, phones will no longer need to be
touched or even spoken to, but will instead respond to mental commands."
- China develops superior nano ink
-
http://infotech.indiatimes.com/articleshow/876516.cms
- BEIJING: China has claimed to have developed a superior colour ink
using nano technology which is considered ideal for both black and
colour printing.
The nano ink's pigment particles have a maximum diameter of only 200
nanometres.
Pigment particle size is the key in producing ink for printers. The
particle diameter should be less than 500 nanometres for high quality
print.
However, traditional Chinese ink did not reach this requirement, China
Radio International reported.
After three years of research, Tsinghua University and the Chinese
Academy of Sciences here have co-developed this new ink by applying nano
technology.
The minimum diameter of the pigment particles is only 20 nanometres,
which is considered to be ideal for both black and colour printing.
- Nanotechnology
- December 1, 2003 - NANOTECHNOLOGY :
Drexler and Smalley make the case for and against 'molecular assemblers'
- R.E. Smalley
- Nano Apostacy - a review of this humble webpage
- Of Chemistry, Nanobots, and Policy
-
http://crnano.org/Debate.htm
- In September of 2001, Richard Smalley published an article in Scientific
American titled, Of Chemistry, Love and Nanobots," and subtitled, How
soon will we see the nanometer-scale robots envisaged by K. Eric Drexler
and other molecular nanotechnologists? The simple answer is never."
Smalley asserted that chemistry is not as simple as Drexler claims - that
atoms cannot simply be pushed together to make them react as desired,
but that their chemical environment must be controlled in great detail.
Smalley contrived a system that might do the job, a multitude of magic
fingers" inserted into the working area and manipulating individual
atoms. He then asserted that such fingers would be too fat to fit into
the required volume, and would also be too sticky to release atoms in
the desired location. He concluded that since his contrived method
couldn't work, the task was impossible in a mechanical system.
- Great scams of the academic community
-
http://www.hulver.com/scoop/story/2004/6/21/95856/7557
- What are the great scams that have been perpetrated by academics and
other 'pundits'? I'm not going to bother with non-sciences, or even the
soft sciences, where perpetrating a scam is about as interesting as
holding an obfuscated Perl competition. What about the 'harder' subjects
like engineering, computer science or physics? The big one at the moment
is nanotechnology.
- National Nanofabrication Users Network (NNUN)
- The Use of Nanofibers in Space Construction : The Highest Home: Super Colonies and the Ultimate Human Habitat
-
http://www.distant-star.com/issue13/jan_2001_nanofibers.htm
- It seems more sensible -- unless human beings abandon physical
organic life altogether for cybernetic life forms -- that future
civilization would try to develop technologies to produce large
contiguous habitats in space that duplicate the best and most
comfortable Earth-like environment possible, regardless of the natural
state of any particular location.
- Perspectives on the feasibility of an orbital tether have changed
dramatically in the past few years. Since the advent of nanofibers (also
called "Bucky Fibers") derived from the 60-carbon Fulerene molecule
(http://neon.mems.cmu.edu/bucky), more commentary on this subject has
been developed in the literature because the tensile strength of this
new material seems to meet the demands of a tether for a space tower.
Carbon-based nanofibers can have a tensile strength several hundred
times that of steel. There also now appears to be an emerging consensus
that mass production of nanofibers is possible. As a result, a space
tower may soon be feasible, even perhaps before the end of the 21st
century.
- Nanalyze
-
http://www.nanalyze.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1076ੱ
- It looks like yet another company may be attempting to use the word
"nano" to attract investors. Nano Superlattice Technology Inc., formerly
Wigwam Development Inc., is issuing quite a few "nano related"
announcements, yet they don't even have a website yet.
The below was taken from a Wigwam Development Inc. 10-Q filed on
February 2nd, 2004:
Our current cash balance is $22. Revenues were -0- for the quarter
ending December 31, 2003 and -0- for the same quarter ending 2002.
Operating Expenses were $1,686 for the three months ended December 31,
2003 and $2,186 for the same period in 2002. Wigwam Development, Inc. is
a development stage company involved in the business of providing
consulting and supporting services to individuals and companies that are
in the start-up phase of operations of restaurant establishments. The
Company plans to implement and offer its consulting services in all
specialized areas for the creation, development and ongoing management
of a restaurant establishment. This will include consulting in the areas
of concept development and design, menu and product development,
alcoholic beverage licensing, and manager training.
Eight month's later, the company makes the following claim regarding
their business focus:
Although our primary business focus is the superlattice nano-coating
industry, in order to facilitate, maintain and make viable our business
plan we have engaged in a number of sales activities in the role of a
trading company involving a variety of wire and cable products as well
as related manufacturing machinery. We conducted these business
activities to fund the continuation of our development process and
further the research and development of our core nano-coating technology
as well as to better achieve our Company's overall business objectives.
Is there any reason to believe this is anything but a scam?
- Anti-gravity and Nano-technology research in India provide medical breakthroughs
-
http://www.indiadaily.com/editorial/01-17-05.asp
- ndia is advancing very rapidly in applications of
Nano-technologies and anti-gravity techniques with some solid
breakthroughs in Healthcare fields.
Most of the research is still classified but indications coming out from sources close to the researchers are surprising.
Anti-gravity devices are nothing new. Most of the developed world has
implemented the same in some form to reduce or eliminate the effect of
gravity and hence create a weightless environment. Using the same
technology for genetic assembly, curing heart disease especially
noninvasive methods of cleaning the artery, alternative to bypass
surgery is new.
Nano-technology is also advanced in many countries including Germany, America and Japan.
The advanced implementation of nanosensors in bloodstreams to gather
medical information and monitor health is unheard before. In addition
research is being done to perform molecular-scale surgery with
nanorobots. Noano-technology is also being researched to cure type I
and II diabetes. These nanobots are used to manipulate other molecules,
destroying cholesterol molecules in arties, destroying cancer cells and
constructing nerve tissue atom by atom in order to end paralysis.
The biggest breakthrough expected in a few years from Indian
medical scientists is in the area of noninvasive body scanning to
detect cancer-forming cells at a very stage. This may even lead to
cancer cure and effective treatment of the same.
India’s advanced in anti-gravity and Nano-technologies in healthcare
applications are absolutely remarkable. India soon will be ready to tap
into $4 Billion emerging market of Healthcare. Medical devices,
advanced procedures, drugs and noninvasive advanced medical monitoring
systems can replace the current traditional medical systems.
Some of the drug manufacturing companies are implementing drug
development through nanoparticle formulation services. This is provide
early stage breakthrough in life saving and other critical drugs.
Things are becoming clear now why India agreed to WTO (World Trade
Organization) requirements of implementing Product patents. These new
products and procedures will push way ahead of other countries in
medical technologies.
- Committee Hearings - 106th Congress
- Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies (ISN)
- An Interview on Nanoweapons: A Glimpse Into China's Post-Nuclear Super-Weapons: Lev Navrozov Interviewed
by Ryan Mauro for www.worldthreats.com
-
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/9/25/210250.shtml
- I am thankful to Lev Navrozov, an expert in post-nuclear
superweapons, as he calls them, for granting this interview.
Ryan Mauro: Mr. Navrozov, your "nano weapons columns” on Newsmax.com and
WorldTribune.com are intriguing. What is nanotechnology and how can it
neutralize the U.S. means of nuclear retaliation?
Lev Navrozov: The word "nano” means "one billionth.” Nanotechnology is a
field of many fields, some of them civilian, dealing with such small
systems. What is of interest to us is tiny systems (they are called
"assemblers”) of molecular nanotechnology. Such assemblers can penetrate
molecules and transform or destroy them.
The world peace has been based on Mutual Assured Destruction. That is,
every nuclear power such as the United States, Russia, or China has had
means of nuclear retaliation, which an enemy nuclear attack cannot
destroy. Thus, nuclear weapons can destroy New York, Moscow, or Beijing,
but they cannot destroy submarines deep underwater, carrying nuclear
missiles, underground nuclear installations, or bombers on duty high in
the air carrying nuclear bombs. Nano assemblers are expected to be able
to find these means of retaliation and destroy them by penetrating in
between their atoms. Thus an attacked country can be destroyed safely by
nuclear weapons because it has no means of nuclear retaliation to
retaliate after the enemy nuclear attack and destroy the attacker by way
of Mutual Assured Destruction.
RM: If nanotechnology is to be used as a weapon, how does it work?
LN: Let me recall the description a nanotechnologist has e-mailed to me.
A molecular assembler I spoke about is a device capable of breaking and
creating the chemical bonds between atoms and molecules. Since a
molecular assembler is by definition able to self-replace, the first
could build a duplicate copy of itself. Those two then become four,
become eight, and so on. This compounding capital base could lead to a
massive and decisive force within days. As Eric Drexler described it in
his book – which he published in 1986! – "a state that makes the
assembler breakthrough could rapidly create a decisive military force –
if not literally overnight, then at least with unprecedented speed.”
Such a device is capable of rapidly manufacturing and deploying billions
of microscopic/macroscopic machines at relatively little cost. These
machines could comb the oceans for enemy submarines and quickly disable
the nuclear arsenals they carry. Similar acts of sabotage could be
carried out simultaneously against land-based nuclear facilities and
conventional military forces in a matter of hours, if not minutes.
The race to build a molecular assembler, if won by China, will result in
its worldwide nanotechnic dictatorship. We are certainly at a crucial
juncture in history, not unlike 1938 and its nuclear scientists who
foretold the atom bomb. This time, we cannot afford to be caught
sleeping
- RM: What do you believe are going to be China’s next steps in terms of acquiring territory?
LN: In contrast to Hitler, who stupidly grabbed the rump of
Czechoslovakia in 1939, China has been very cautious in its territorial
claims, since the position of China now is the best for the development
of "Superweapon No. 3,” such as the nano superweapon.
RM: Who does China see as allies and enemies?
LN: The worst enemy is the democratic West, whose very existence
produces Tiananmens able to destroy the Chinese dictatorship. The best
ally is the democratic West, supplying China with everything necessary
for the annihilation or subjugation of the democratic West.
RM: Are the other post-nuclear weapons being researched to this day? If
so, are they known? If not, can you enlighten us?
LN: Since the nano "Superweapon No. 3” is a hypothesis, and not an
absolute certainty, the Chinese Project 863 has been engaged in genetic
engineering and at least six or seven other fields.
RM: If China has or is close to, molecular nanotechnology to be used in
war, what is the purpose of having a large, advanced conventional army
and "traditional” nuclear weapons?
LN: Eric Drexler, the Newton of nanotechnology, alive and enriching us
with his wisdom, discusses the problem in his historic book of 1986
"Engines of Creation.” My assistant Isak Baldwin says that, according to
Drexler, "A nation armed with molecular nanotechnology-based weapons
would not require nuclear weapons to annihilate a civilization. In fact,
it seems that a rather surgical system of seeking and destroying enemy
human beings as cancerous polyps could be developed--leaving the
nation’s infrastructure intact to be repopulated.”
Nevertheless conventional weapons might be useful even on the "D-day,”
after nanotechnology has been successfully weaponized. Conventional
non-nuclear weapons have been useful even after 1945. Please recall that
two "atom bombs” were delivered in 1945 by conventional U.S. bombers
with conventional machine guns and all.
RM: What beliefs or desires are motivating the rulers of China? The
belief that Communism must triumph over Capitalism?
LN: A New York taxi robber risks his life, life imprisonment, or death
sentence to acquire the taxi driver’s $200. Hence the bulletproof
partitions in taxis. The dictators of China defend not $200, but their
power, which is worth trillions of dollars, apart from what cannot be
expressed in terms of money (royal grandeur, cult, and glorification).
Remember the French king who said, "The state – it is me”? Many
dictators have been saying and can always say:
"Communism/capitalism/democracy/freedom/socialism/national socialism/our
great country/the meaning of life/the goal of history – it is me."
RM: If the U.S. is the most technologically advanced country, does this
mean we have been surpassed?
LN: The "most technologically advanced country” is an ambiguous
generality. In the 1950s, Russia was still a technologically backward
country, with most of its population deprived of running water, to say
nothing of passenger cars. Yet it did not prevent Russia from
outstripping the United States in space rocketry, when the Soviet space
satellite was launched before its American counterpart. In its annual
"Soviet Military Power,” to which I subscribed, the Pentagon could not
help praising certain Soviet weapons as second to none in the world.
RM: What today is holding China back from becoming overtly aggressive
and reshaping the geopolitical world?
LN: The dictators of China are not insane! China’s government-controlled
"capitalist corporations” have been penetrating the entrails of the
Western economies, absorbing the latest science and technology – or
sometimes entire Western corporations, induced to operate in China on
cheap local labor.
To become "overtly aggressive”? What for? To invade Taiwan? To perish,
along with the West, in Mutually Assured Destruction? No, the dictators
of China are not insane! They are developing superweapons able to
annihilate the Western means of nuclear retaliation.
- Wednesday, 22 , 18:58 GMT: 'Bug-driven robots' to administer drugs
-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/1035344.stm
- Scientists are in a race to create the first microscopic "submarines" which can whizz through the bloodstream attacking disease.
Nanotechnology researchers in both Europe and the US have created
computer simulations of the mini subs and some believe prototypes are
less than a year away.
A team from Utah State University is examining the prospect of using
bacteria to propel small structures to deliver drugs to particular
parts of the body.
According to Eldrid Sequeira from the university's mechanical
engineering department, bacteria such as salmonella and E. coli may be
the perfect "motors" for the subs.
Tiny biomotors
As the bacteria swam through the bloodstream they could push or pull a tiny disc, sealed within a liquid-filled cylinder.
These discs could be drugs to treat tumours or break down the material lining blocked arteries.
Speaking at the Foresight conference on nanotechnology in
Maryland, he said: "Depending on the design we implement and with
recent advances in nanoscale fabrication techniques, we could
conceivably have micro-organisms power nanomachinery for extended
periods of time."
Eventually, the Utah team believe they could build biomotors
using only the flagella from the bacteria which would mean the
biomotors would be even smaller - around 100 nanometres (billionths of
a metre).
Various methods
The team hope that their current computer simulations will be
followed up with a prototype in a few months, probably using a wild
strain of the salmonella bacterium.
According to New Scientist magazine, commercial manufacturers are also working on similar technology.
US company Renaissance Technologies plans to start making
medical robots smaller than a millimetre in diameter within a year. And
a German firm, MicroTEC, is exploring the use of external magnetic
fields as a power source for microscopic motors to travel around the
body.
In the UK, one of the main areas of work is in seeking
effective systems that will target powerful drugs directly at tumours
without causing side effects throughout the body.
- Subject: How to fly (Using Nano)
- Formation of Si nanodot arrays on the oxidized Si(1 0 0) surface
-
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2004.09.063
"Self-organized formation of Si nanodot arrays on the oxidized Si(1 0 0)
surfaces has been studied using scanning tunneling microscopy. The
growth of the oxide layer and subsequent Si deposition have been
conducted under ultra-high vacuum conditions. Number density of the
grown Si nanodots was in the range from 3×1012 to 8×1012 cm-2 and their
average size varied from 3 to 5 nm. Effect of the SiO2 layer thickness
(0.2-2.2 nm), amount of deposited Si (0.5-7.5 ML) and growth temperature
(60-450 °C) on the Si nanodot number density and size distribution has
been determined. "
- Citation source for "quantum fortresses"
- Richard Feynman (1918 - 1988) quotes
- Nano Tsunami
- The Molecular Foundry at LBNL (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)
- interesting letter only vaguely connected to nano, but very anti-LBNL, Berkeley:
LETTER TO SENATOR DIANE FEINSTEIN CONCERNING THE MOLECULAR FOUNDARY PROJECT AT LBNL
- Re:Yet another article with no meaning whatsoever
-
http://nanodot.org/comments.pl?sid=04/09/17/0336218&cid=5
-
> Would it not be more efficient (for a 'command' economy')
> to say *this* is what we are going to focus on and excel at?
Centralized "command" economy may sound attractive to those who have
never lived in one, but I know from personal experience just how
inefficient it is. You see, the "command" principle never stays up at
the top tier for long. It always diffuses downward until "command"
supercedes all other considerations for everyone, and in that climate
creativity of any kind is quickly replaced by obedience. A scientist can
not obey and think simultaneously; he can either take his superiours or
nature as his authority, not both. If he chooses the former, he will be
forced to follow their plans, wrought by people who know nothing of
science. If he opts for the latter in defiance to authority, he will be
punished, either directly or through lack of funding.
The people in power seldom know anything about science. They rose to the
top by using very different skills of mooching, ass-kissing, and being
as uncontroversial as possible. How can we ask such people, be they in
China or in the US, to chart the course of scientific research?
Especially research in such a complicated field as nanotechnology (by
which I only mean MNT{[molecular nanotechnology]}, not nanomaterials),
where even the scientists themselves must posess an unprecedented
breadth of knowledge across many disciplines. Is it any wonder that the
only thing that is coming out of "nanotechnology" these days is new
surface coatings, which are about as revolutionary as paint?
> "We choose to go to the moon... Not because it is easy but because it is hard."
We chose to go to the moon to "prove" we are better than the Russians.
There was no other real reason, and that is why nobody ever went back.
"Going to the moon" was a prestige issue, something that people in power
understand very well, while MNT {[molecular nanotechnology]} has incredible
(literally) benefits that look like magic, with any steps in between
completely undefined. We can see the paradise over the chasm, but no way
to build the bridge.
> It leads one to question whether a "western" survival
> of the fittest paradigm will work within an environment of rapid change?
What rapid change? There is no real progress in MNT {[molecular
nanotechnology]} because nobody is working on it, except perhaps for
Zyvex who appears to be making those exponential assembly manipulators.
Everyone else either does nanomaterials (=chemistry with a fancy new
name) or nanotube architecture, which won't make you any assemblers
because a nanotube can't make a nanotube, and thus anything built from
nanotubes can not replicate any better than anything built from legos.
> It is however worth noting the awareness of the
> technologies at a commercial and governmental level.
Yes, isn't it? What exactly are they aware of? They think nanopants are
"nanotechnology". There are so many "nano-preachers" who cry out that
"nanotechnology" will solve all our problems, give everyone a house,
food, and a pony, and all of that for free. They forget though that
those benefits can only come from replicating assemblers, while their
"nanomaterials" can never get them there. And to preach "nanomaterials"
as the way of getting to the assemblers, is simply a vicious fraud.
- Nanotechnology May be Over-Hyped
-
http://www.you.com.au/news/1047.htm
- Nanotechnology will require sustained investment over
at least the next decade, as well as more commercial applications, if
it is to deliver on its initial promise.
Nanotechnology, which is the design and manufacture of extremely
small electronic circuits and mechanical devices built at the molecular
level of matter, has been touted as an emerging sector for some time
now, but a white paper published on Thursday has said that the
technology is over-hyped and a long way from delivering on its full
potential.
According to the report, which was published by investment firm
3i in association with the Economist Intelligence Unit and the UK-based
Institute of Nanotechnology, nanotechnology is at the heart of
applications that are making money, but it has not made the impact it
should have in areas such as pharmaceuticals, clothing and artificial
bone.
To remedy the situation, the report called for increased investment
in the technology over the next 10 to 20 years from governments. While
the report noted that governments in Japan, the US and Europe have
increased their financial commitments to the area, it said that more
money needed to be pumped into the sector, particularly in Europe.
- Renaissance Potters were Nanotechnologists
- Development of nanotechnologies by Ann P. Dowling
- (got sent the PDF - trying to find a direct link to it)
- This article summarizes the key findings and recommendations of the
Royal Society/Royal Academy of Engineering Report on Nanotechnology.
- Our future lies in nanotechnology
- Nano This and Nano That
-
http://www.nanotech-now.com/nano-this-nano-that.htm
- We've all seen articles, papers, and predictions based on Nanotubes
- they seem to be everywhere these days. Here is just one prediction:
"Nanofibers (nanotubes) may offer the potential for creating some
astoundingly large and strong space structures; they may make the
prospect of rotating orbital colonies feasible." See The Use of
Nanofibers in Space Construction for one speculative view.
- Nanocontainers: "Micellar nanocontainers" or "Micelles", these are
nanoscale polymeric containers that could be used to selectively deliver
hydrophobic drugs to specific sites within individual cells.
- UK orders another nanotech review
-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4294681.stm
- Tuning tubes
Carbon nanotubes are sheets of graphite (carbon) that are rolled up on themselves.
Just a few nanometres across, these ultra-strong cylinders can
make composite coatings for car bumpers that better hold their shape in
a crash.
The tubes can also absorb hydrogen, which should enable more efficient storage of future fuels.
- [click on top photo and scroll through images.]
Solar cells
Hydrogen Solar's Tandem Cell uses sunlight to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.
The cells have nanocrystalline metal particles on their surface, giving
them a vast surface area with which to collect the Sun's energy.
Currently, it converts just over 8% of the Sun's energy into pure hydrogen.
Hydrogen is potentially a clean source of fuel.
- [click on middle photo and scroll through images.]
Easy clean
Pilkington coats the surface of its Activ glass with titanium oxide nano-particles.
Sunshine on these special windows triggers a chemical reaction which breaks down dirt.
When water hits the glass, it spreads evenly over the surface, instead
of forming droplets, and runs off rapidly taking the dirt with it.
- [click on top photo and scroll through images.]
Strong screws
Nanotechnology has enabled the development of coatings that can make normal materials ultra-strong.
The steel screws holding this fractured bone together are coated with a
layer of nano-sized diamond crystals a 1000th of a millimetre thick.
Bodies are less likely to reject the screws because diamond is a pure form of carbon and so are our bodies.
- Produced by the Belize Development Trust
-
http://belize1.com/BzLibrary/trust318.html
- For example, let us consider the USA. With a growth rate last year
of 7.9% mostly in technically innovations and products, the USA is doing
very well indeed. But it takes heavy investment in 15,000 Universities,
GRANTS for researchers in basic sciences and other things to bring new
technologies to the forefront in a manufacturing climate to export to
other countries of the world. We can look at nano-technology for
instance. This is a new technology. Pretty soon in about ten years, you
are going to have a sheet of paper made of computerized nano machines
smaller than an atom. Those are the projections! You will talk to the
paper and it will pull from memory whatever subject you want from it's
encyclopedia and form the atoms in the paper to make the printing and
pictures of the information you asked for. It is already in the
labaratories. The President of the USA and his industrial advisors are
earmarking specialized increased research GRANTS in the hundreds of
millions, to bring these technologies along to the manufacturing stage.
The estimated time is 10 to 15 years.
- THRONG (The Heavenly Righteous Opposed to Nanotech Greed)
- Images of the desktop nanofactory are available for use
- Design of a Primitive Nanofactory (Journal of Evolution and Technology - Vol. 13 - October 2003)
- Bootstrapping a Nanofactory: From Fabricator to Finished Products
- Nanofactory Proliferation
-
http://crnano.typepad.com/crnblog/2004/07/nanofactory_pro.html
- Because of the largely unexpected transformational power of
molecular manufacturing, it is urgent to understand the issues raised.
To date, there has not been anything approaching an adequate study of
these issues.
CRN believes that at least thirty essential studies should be conducted
immediately. Today we will examine study #22: "How can proliferation and
use of nanofactories and their products be limited?"
Note: This is part of the third segment of studies, on "Policies and
Policymaking". Recommended studies in this section assume the existence
of a general-purpose molecular manufacturing system. All preliminary
answers are based on diamondoid nanofactory technology.
- Nanotubes crank out hydrogen
- Comment received: "i.e. a total efficiency of 0.325% of energy across the sun's spectrum.
Well done nanotech
-
http://www.trnmag.com/Stories/2005/020905/Nanotubes_crank_out_hydrogen_Brief_020905.html
- Pure hydrogen fuel is non-polluting. Current methods of extracting
hydrogen, however, use energy derived from sources that pollute. Finding
ways to use the sun's energy to split water to extract hydrogen would
make for a truly clean energy source.
Several research efforts are using materials engineered at the molecular
scale to tap the sun as an energy source to extract hydrogen from water.
Researchers from Pennsylvania State University have constructed a
material made from titanium dioxide nanotubes that is 97 percent
efficient at harvesting the ultraviolet portion of the sun's light and
6.8 percent efficient at extracting hydrogen from water.
The material is easy to make, inexpensive, and photochemically stable,
according to the researchers. The 97 percent efficiency is the highest
reported, according to the researchers. There is one catch -- only five
percent of the sun's energy is ultraviolet light.
The researchers are working to find a way to shift the response of the
nanotube arrays into the visible spectrum.
The key to making titanium dioxide nanotubes that efficiently harvest
the energy from light is controlling the thickness of the nanotube
walls, according to the researchers. Nanotubes 224 nanometers long with
34-nanometer-thick walls are three times more efficient than those that
are 120 nanometers long with 9-nanometer-thick walls.
The researchers made the titanium dioxide nanotube material by mixing
titanium with acid and electrifying the mixture, which caused the tiny
tubes to grow, then heating them to cause the material to crystallize.
The material could be ready for practical use in two to five years,
according to the researchers. The work appeared in the January 12, 2005
issue of Nano Letters.
- How Stuff Works: "How Nanotechnology Will Work"
-
http://science.howstuffworks.com/nanotechnology.htm
- In the early 20th century, Henry Ford built a car manufacturing
plant on a 2,000-acre tract of land along the Rouge River in Michigan.
Built to mass-produce automobiles more efficiently, the Rouge housed the
equipment for developing each phase of a car, including blast furnaces,
a steel mill and a glass plant. More than 90 miles of railroad track and
conveyor belts kept Ford's car assembly line running. The Rouge model
was lauded as the most efficient method of production at a time when
bigger meant better.
The size of Ford's assembly plant would look strange to those born and
raised in the 21st century. In the next 50 years, machines will get
increasingly smaller -- so small that thousands of these tiny machines
would fit into the period at the end of this sentence. Within a few
decades, we will use these nanomachines to manufacture consumer goods at
the molecular level, piecing together one atom or molecule at a time to
make baseballs, telephones and cars. This is the goal of nanotechnology.
As televisions, airplanes and computers revolutionized the world in the
last century, scientists claim that nanotechnology will have an even
more profound effect on the next century.
- How Stuff Works: "How Nanotechnology Will Work" - Building with Atoms :
http://science.howstuffworks.com/nanotechnology.htm
- How Stuff Works: "How Nanotechnology Will Work" - A New Industrial Revolution :
http://science.howstuffworks.com/nanotechnology.htm
- The promises of nanotechnology sound great, don't they? Maybe even
unbelievable? But researchers say that we will achieve these
capabilities within the next century. And if nanotechnology is, in fact,
realized, it might be the human race's greatest scientific achievement
yet, completely changing every aspect of the way we live.
- How Stuff Works: How Self-healing Spacecraft Will Work :
http://science.howstuffworks.com/self-healing-spacecraft.htm
- How Stuff Works: How DNA Computers Will Work :
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/dna-computer.htm
- FIGURE 11: IMMUNE MACHINES (with image)
-
http://www.foresight.org/UTF/Unbound_LBW/chapt_10.html
- Medical nanodevices could augment the immune system by finding and
disabling unwanted bacteria and viruses. The immune device in the
foreground has found a virus; the other has touched a red blood cell.
[image] Adapted from Scientific American, January 1988.
Here, it is useful to think in terms of medical nanomachines that
resemble small submarines, like the ones in Figure 11. Each of these is
large enough to carry a nanocomputer as powerful as a mid-1980s
mainframe, along with a huge database (a billion bytes), a complete set
of instruments for identifying biological surfaces, and tools for
clobbering viruses, bacteria, and other invaders. Immune cells, as we've
seen, travel through the bloodstream checking surfaces for foreignness
and—when working properly—attacking and eliminating what should not be
there. These immune machines would do both more and less. With their
onboard sensors and computers, they will be able to react to the same
molecular signals that the immune system does, but with greater
discrimination. Before being sent into the body on their
search-and-destroy mission, they could be programmed with a set of
characteristics that lets them clearly distinguish their targets from
everything else. The body's immune system can respond only to invading
organisms that had been encountered by that individual's body. Immune
machines, however, could be programmed to respond to anything that had
been encountered by world medicine.
- Military Uses of Nanotechnology - the coming scary cold war of Nano-bots and Nano-materials - the invisible deadly Nano-bombs
-
http://www.indiadaily.com/editorial/1732.asp
- Scientists
at the Indian Institute of Science as well as defense research
organizatrions are working on understanding the impacts of
Nano-technologies in military application in coming years. While
Nano-technologies can provide enormous benefits, it can also be used by
the militaries of the world in creating weapons of mass destruction
that we cannot even imagine with a conventional mind set.
Nanotechnology is the generic name given to the production or use
of very small, or "nano" particles. These are particles that are less
than 100 nanometers or about one-thousandth the width of a human hair.
A nanometer is 1 billionth of a meter.
Nanotechnology is likely to be extremely important in the
future as it allows materials to be built up atom by atom. This can
lead to the development of new materials that are better suited for
their purpose. There are several branches of nanotechnology, but most
of them are in an early stage with the only nanotechnologies that are
commercially available at present being ultra fine powders and
coatings. These are used in a variety of products including sunscreens
and self-cleaning glass, but the list of materials being developed
commercially using nanotechnology is likely to grow at a very fast
rate.
Other forms of nanotechnology being developed include tiny
sensors called nano-units, of which some simple types are available:
"smart materials" that change in response to light or heat; "nano-bots"
- tiny mobile robots that have yet to be developed but are
theoretically possible; and self-assembling nano-materials that can be
assembled into larger equipment.
Military use of Nano-technologies in immediate use can be
classified in three main ways. Militaries of many countries have
established weapons with Nano-techs.
First, nano-materials massively damage the lungs. Ultra fine
particles from diesel machines, power plants and incinerators can cause
considerable damage to human lungs. This is both because of their size
(as they can get deep into the lungs) and also because they carry other
chemicals including metals and hydrocarbons in with them.
Second, nano-particles can get into the body through the skin,
lungs and digestive system. This may help create free radicals that can
cause cell damage. There is also concern that once nano-particles are
in the bloodstream, they will be able to cross the blood-brain barrier.
Third, the human body has developed a tolerance to most
naturally occurring elements and molecules that it has contact with. It
has no natural immunity to new substances and is more likely to find
them toxic.
Fourth, the most dangerous Nano-application use for military
purposes is the Nano-bomb that contain engineered self multiplying
deadly viruses that can continue to wipe out a community, country or
even a civilization.
Militaries all around the world is about to embark upon the use
of Nano-materials, Nano-bots and Nano-technologies that will make
current Weapons of mass Destruction look miniscule.
Armies of enormous strengths can be wiped out slowly without
even fighting a single battle. The soldiers may never know that they
have been nano-poisoned.
- LotsO'Buckyballs
-
http://www.nanospace.org/new_page_83.htm
- LotsO’Buckyballs
The Scoop
In 2001, Mitsubishi Chemical (MUCCY) spun off Frontier Carbon to
manufacture fullerenes. Today, they have 350 Japanese customers and a
capacity of 40 metric tons per year. But, as they prepare to expand
capacity almost 40-fold, talk of environmental/health effects (and a
lack of demand) are worrisome.
The Sci/Tech Saga
Originally thought to be a medically useful free radical scavenger,
buckyballs, as it turns out, actually generate the reactive molecules in
the body. Whoops. With the debate over genetically modified (GM) food
freshly on their minds, the folks at Mitsubishi don’t want to be the
Monsanto of this decade.
The Invest/Biz Buzz
With $18B in ’04 sales, the company is no small fry. But the investment
to be the world’s largest producer of fullerenes could be a setback if
the customers don’t show up. On the other hand, Mitsubishi will be
lauded as visionaries if they do.
- Utility Fog: The Stuff that Dreams are Made Of
-
http://discuss.foresight.org/~josh/Ufog.html
- Nanotechnology is based on the concept of tiny,
self-replicating robots. The Utility Fog is a very simple extension of
the idea: Suppose, instead of building the object you want atom by
atom, the tiny robots linked their arms together to form a solid mass
in the shape of the object you wanted? Then, when you got tired of that
avant-garde coffeetable, the robots could simply shift around a little
and you'd have an elegant Queen Anne piece instead.
The color and reflectivity of an object are results of its
properties as an antenna in the micron wavelength region. Each robot
could have an "antenna arm" that it could manipulate to vary those
properties, and thus the surface of a Utility Fog object could look
just about however you wanted it to. A "thin film" of robots could act
as a video screen, varying their optical properties in real time.
Rather than paint the walls, coat them with Utility Fog and
they can be a different color every day, or act as a floor-to-ceiling
TV. Indeed, make the entire wall of the Fog and you can change the
floor plan of your house to suit the occasion. Make the floor of it and
never gets dirty, looks like hardwood but feels like foam rubber, and
extrudes furniture in any form you desire. Indeed, your whole domestic
environment can be constructed from Utility Fog; it can form any object
you want (except food) and whenever you don't want an object any more,
the robots that formed it spread out and form part of the floor again.
You may as well make your car of Utility Fog, too; then you can
have a "new" one every day. But better than that, the *interior* of the
car is filled with robots as well as its shell. You'll need to wear
holographic "eyephones" to see, but the Fog will hold them up in front
of your eyes and they'll feel and look as if they weren't there.
Although heavier than air, the Fog is programmed to simulate its
physical properties, so you can't feel it: when you move your arm, it
flows out of the way. Except when there's a crash! Then it forms an
instant form-fitting "seatbelt" protecting every inch of your body. You
can take a 100-mph impact without messing your hair.
But you'll never have a 100-mph impact, or any other kind.
Remember that each of these robots contains a fair-sized computer. They
already have to be able to talk to each other and coordinate actions in
a quite sophisticated way (even the original nano-assemblers have to,
to build any macroscopic object). You can simply cover the road with a
thick layer of robots. Then your car "calls ahead" and makes a
reservation for every position in time and space it will occupy during
the trip.
As long as you're covering the roads with Fog you may as well
make it thick enough to hold the cars up so they can cross
intersections at different levels. But now your car is no longer a
specific set of robots, but a *pattern* in the road robots that moves
along like a wave, just as a picture of a car moves across the pixels
of a video screen. The appearance of the car at this point is
completely arbitrary, and could even be dispensed with--all the road
Fog is transparent, and you appear to fly along unsupported.
If you filled your house in with Fog this way, furniture no
longer need be extruded from the floor; it can appear instantly as a
pattern formed out of the "air" robots. Non-Fog objects can float
around at will the way you did in your "car". But what's more, your
surroundings can take on the appearance, and feel, of any other
environment they can communicate with. Say you want to visit a friend;
you both set your houses to an identical pattern. Then a Fog replica of
him appears in your house, and one of you appears in his. The "air" fog
around you can measure your actions so your simulacrum copies them
exactly.
The pattern you both set your houses to could be anything,
including a computer-generated illusion. In this way, Utility Fog can
act as a transparent interface between "cyberspace" and physical
reality.
Tech Specs
Active, polymorphic material ("Utility Fog") can be designed as a
conglomeration of 100-micron robotic cells ("foglets"). Such robots
could be built with the techniques of molecular nanotechnology (see
Drexler, "Nanosystems", Wiley, 1992). Using designs from that source,
controllers with processing capabilities of 1000 MIPS per cubic micron,
and electric motors with power densities of one milliwatt per cubic
micron are assumed.
Each Foglet has twelve arms, arranged as the faces of a
dodecahedron. The central body of the foglet is roughly spherical, 10
microns in diameter. The arms are 5 microns in diameter and 50 microns
long. A convex hull of the foglet approximates a 100-micron sphere.
Each Foglet will weigh about 20 micrograms and contain about 5
quadrillion atoms. Its mechanical motions will have a precision of
about a micron.
The arms telescope rather than having joints. The arms swivel
on a universal joint at the base, and the gripper at the end can rotate
about the arm's axis. The gripper is a hexagonal structure with three
fingers, mounted on alternating faces of the hexagon. Two Foglets
"grasp hands" in an interleaved six-finger grip. Since the fingers are
designed to match the end of the other arm, this provides a relatively
rigid connection; forces are only transmitted axially through the grip.
When at rest, foglets form a lattice whose structure is that of a
face-centered cubic crystal (i.e. an octet truss).
For a mass of Utility Fog to flow from one shape to another, or
to exert dynamic forces (as in manipulating objects), a laminar flow
field for the deformation is calculated. The foglets in each lamina
remain attached to each other, but "walk" hand over hand across the
adjacent layers. Although each layer can only move at a speed
differential of 5 m/s with its neighbor, the cumulative shear rate in a
reasonable thickness of Fog is considerable, up to 500 m/s per
centimeter of thickness.
The atomically-precise crystals of the foglets' structural
members will have a tensile strength of at least 100,000 psi. As an
open lattice, the foglets occupy only about 3% of the volume they
encompass. When locked in place, the Fog has a more or less anisotropic
tensile strength of 1000 psi. In motion, this is reduced to about 500
if measured perpendicular to the shear plane. As a bulk material it has
a density of 0.2 g/cc.
Without altering the lattice connectivity, Fog can contract by
up to about 40% in any linear dimension, reducing its overall volume by
a factor of five. (This is done by retracting all arms simultaneously.)
Selective application of this technique allows Fog to simulate shapes
and flow fields to a precision considerably greater than 100 microns.
An appropriate mass of Utility Fog can be programmed to
simulate most of the physical properties of any macroscopic object
(including air and water), to roughly the same precision those
properties are measured by human senses. The major exceptions are
taste, smell, and transparency. The latter an be overcome with
holographic "eyephones" if a person is to be completely embedded in
Fog.
Consider the application of Utility Fog to a task such as telepresence.
The worksite is enclosed in a cloud of Fog, which simulates the hands of
the operators to assemble the parts and manipulate tools. The operator
is likewise completely embedded in Fog. Here, the Fog simulates the
objects that are at the worksite, and allows the operator to manipulate
them.
The Fog can also support the operator in such a way as to
simulate weightlessness, if desired. Alternatively, the Fog at the
worksite could simulate the effect of gravity on the objects there (in
any desired direction).
- 'Nano' Suddenly a Gigantic Label
-
http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,59181,00.html
- 02:00 AM Jun. 16, 2003 PT
Nanotechnology has become one of the hottest areas in scientific
research, pulling in billions of dollars in government, corporate and
foundation cash. But the scientist who coined the term "nanotechnology"
says a lot of what passes for nano is just plain ol' science, gussied
up with a fancy name to rake in the bucks.
"'Nanotechnology'" has now become little more than a marketing
term," said Eric Drexler, founder of the Foresight Institute, the
leading nanotech think tank. "Work that scientists have been doing for
decades is now being relabeled nanotechnology."
For good reason. Congress recently earmarked $2.4 billion for a
National Nanotechnology Initiative. In May, South Korea announced its
own $2 billion nanotechnology development program. The National Science
Foundation sees a $1 trillion nanotech market by 2015.
Little, if any, of this money is going to fund the kind of
projects Drexler envisioned when he came up with, and popularized, the
word "nanotechnology" in the '80s. Based on the theories of Nobel
Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman, nanotechnology was supposed to
be a discipline in which individual atoms and molecules are manipulated
to make ultrasmall machines. One day, Drexler and others speculated,
robots could swim in human bloodstreams to zap cancer cells, chew up
pollution and construct materials from the atom up.
Instead of that pursuit, scientists are doing small-size
chemistry, biology and materials science and "using the name 'nano' --
dressing (their research) up," said Mark Ratner, author of
Nanotechnology: A Gentle Introduction to the Next Big Idea.
It's not that the researchers are fibbing. "Nano" comes from
nanometer, a unit of measure one-billionth of a meter long. At that
scale, much of traditional, Newtonian physics falls apart, and key
properties of materials can suddenly change. But since many molecules
are that size, big chunks of chemistry, molecular biology, materials
science and other disciplines can be included under the "nano"
umbrella.
The National Science Foundation, which has a big say in where
the government invests science research dollars, seems to prefer the
broader definition.
Even studying the Earth can come under nano's wing. The
foundation has pledged nearly $1.7 million in nanotech research money
to University of California at Berkeley's Jillian Banfield, who is
looking at how microbes are affected by their geochemical surroundings.
Another $400,000 is earmarked for Texas Tech University geochemist
Moira Ridley, who is studying how minerals in the Earth's crust
interact with watery solutions.
National Science Foundation representatives were unavailable for comment.
Industry has been eager to hop on the nano train, too. CMP
Cientifica estimates $249 million in venture capital was invested in
nanotech startups in 2002. Advanced Nano Technologies is a
collaboration between Samsung Corning and Advanced Powder Technology of
Australia. But its only "nanotechnology" product so far is ZinClear, a
see-through sunblock based on tiny zinc particles.
The Army also is investing in nano, sinking $50 million into
MIT's Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies. At the opening of the
institute a few weeks ago, generals and scientists promised the press
that mite-size machines would one day imbue soldiers with superhuman
strength, heal their wounds and render them invisible to attackers. One
of the showcase examples, however, was Karen Gleason, a chemical
engineer at the institute who is figuring out how to keep soldiers from
getting wet by attaching tiny bits of Teflon to cotton fabrics.
"If research on waterproof fabric coatings is 'nanotechnology',
then the term has become almost meaningless," Drexler said in an e-mail
interview.
Gleason did not respond to requests for more comment on her research.
But many defended a broader interpretation of nanotech. Drexler's vision of tiny machines, they say, is pretty much impossible.
"Most people think this field is about nanobots. That's a big
myth," said Chad Mirkin, director of Northwestern University's $80
million Institute for Nanotechnology. "There's no real credible
research in nanobots. Zero."
He added, "It's not clear that you could ever make these structures. Most of the (science) in this area is snake oil."
But fascination with the itty-bitty is making research into
other fields possible. For example, Northwestern University
neurobiologist William Klein believes a neurotoxin, ADDL, causes
Alzheimer's disease. He thinks that by attaching a few molecules of the
ADDL antibody to a tiny dot of silver, he can devise a blood test for
the disease.
Until recently, Klein had "never even heard of nanotechnology,"
according to his colleague, Mirkin. But now, Klein is using National
Science Foundation money to help fund the development of the
Alzheimer's exam.
"What we're giving the nanotech people is a reality check," he said. "We're showing it's good for something important."
- Scholars Probe Nanotechnology's Promise and Its Potential Problems
-
http://www.physicstoday.org/vol-57/iss-6/p30.html
- With a revolution in everything from toys to tumors
on the horizon, scientists in the nanotechnology arena are working to
gain the public's trust.
Hoping to both anticipate pitfalls and head off a publicity fiasco,
policymakers and scientists are promoting research and public
discussion on environmental, ethical, economic, and other societal
implications of the burgeoning field of nanotechnology
Loosely defined as the purposeful creation of structures 100
nanometers in size or smaller, nanotechnology "is a real revolution
because it is changing in a fundamental way how we build things," says
Mihail Roco, who chairs the White House subcommittee that coordinates
the multiagency National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI). Scientists
predict that applications of nanotechnology will go far beyond their
current uses—in sunblock, stain-resistant clothing, and catalysts—to,
for example, environmental remediation, power transmission, and disease
diagnosis and treatment.
But realizing nanotechnology's potential requires public trust,
says Vicki Colvin, director of Rice University's Center for Biological
and Environmental Nanotechnology. The human genome project set a good
example, she says, with 3-5% of its federal funds earmarked for
studying implications of the research. That's in contrast to the
nuclear energy and genetically modified organism industries, which are
hobbled by bad public relations, she adds. "In GMO, they belittled the
concerns of the people, and didn't take the risks seriously. I'd like
nanotechnology to be a field that learns from the past."
To that end, some countries are beginning to invest in research
into the broader impact of nanotechnology. This year, investment in
nanotechnology by governments worldwide exceeds $3.5 billion, Roco
says. NNI's fiscal year 2004 budget is $961 million, of which 11% goes
to research on health and the environment; additional money is
allocated to other studies relating to societal implications. Scholars
in the humanities "were very encouraged by the language coming out of
the NNI asking for there to be examination of implications early on,"
says Davis Baird, a philosophy professor and associate director of the
University of South Carolina NanoCenter. "Roughly speaking, if you look
at a new technology after it's gotten rolling, it's much more expensive
to change things. At this stage, if you ask the right questions, you
have more chance of nudging the technology in the right direction."
Magical materials
When matter is manipulated on the atomic scale, optical, electrical,
magnetic, and other characteristics of materials change. "It's quantum
mechanical in nature, and quantum mechanics is magic," says Stanley
Williams, director of quantum science research at Hewlett-Packard Co in
Palo Alto, California. "The new properties come out and make themselves
available—and a lot of the time they are technologically useful. For
example, if you take a hard material, a clay or a ceramic, and powder it
down to the nanoscale, and mix it with a polymer, you wind up with a
nanocomposite that can have a combination of hardness and toughness
never seen in the natural world."
Other features that contribute to nanotechnology's promise are the
expectation of cheap, low-polluting mass manufacturing and the
possibility of making things, on the scale of biological building
blocks, that could imitate or augment living systems. So far, most
applications involve enhancements of preexisting materials, but new
developments are in the works. A sampling includes lighter, more
fuel-efficient cars, iron particles for immobilizing pollutants, and a
liquid slurry that, when painted onto a surface, would collect solar
energy.
Richard Smalley of Rice University, who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
for his role in discovering fullerenes, talks about using conducting
carbon nanotubes for efficient power transmission, and quantum dots and
other nano-sized probes for testing and localizing disease. "We are
imagining a time," he says, "maybe in just a decade or two, when the
average person can go to a clinic and get a scan that tells the state of
health in a noninvasive, low-cost way. This would have tremendous
impact." In the more distant future, computers might be connected
directly to the brain as a memory aid, he adds. "It would change what it
means to be human."
- The concern that has generated the most attention in the popular
press has been gray goo—self-replicating nanobots that could
hypothetically get out of control. Such a scenario is widely dismissed
by scientists as closer to science fiction than science fact. "No one
with half a brain takes that seriously," says Williams. Self-replicating
nanomachines can't be made, adds Smalley, whose debate on the matter
with Eric Drexler, author of Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of
Nanotechnology (Anchor Books, 1986), is available at
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/coverstory/8148/8148counterpoint.html.
For his part, Drexler, the most visible proponent of what he calls
"molecular assemblers," maintains that "nanoscale machinery that would
be more productive than macromachines and would have the ability to make
atomically precise products" can be manufactured. It's "possible but
will require the development of new tools" and, he says, would fulfill
the vision Richard Feynman famously described in 1959. The term
nanotechnology has steered off course to less exciting developments, he
adds. "Through the quirks of politics, the mainstream has rejected the
original goal. We are raising a generation of researchers who have been
told that molecular manufacturing will threaten their careers."
- Nobel Winner Smalley Responds to Drexler's Challenge
-
http://www.foresight.org/press.html#20031201
- Nobel Winner Smalley Responds to Drexler's Challenge:
Fails To Defend National Nanotech Policy
Palo Alto, CA – December 1, 2003 — Rice University Professor
Richard Smalley has responded to a longstanding challenge by Dr. Eric
Drexler to defend the controversial direction of U.S. policy in
nanotechnology. Drexler, Chairman of the Foresight Institute, authored
the books that defined the original goals for nanotechnology. Drexler
fears that national policy — which currently rejects those goals — is
hampering dialogue, increasing security risks, and failing to deliver
on revolutionary expectations. Smalley, a specialist in carbon
nanotubes and the leading advocate of national efforts in nanoscale
science and technology, has been the most vocal detractor of the
original goals. Their four-part exchange, sponsored by the American
Chemical Society, is today's Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN)
cover story. As described by Deputy Editor-in-Chief Rudy Baum, the
controversy centers on "a fundamental question that will dramatically
affect the future development of this field."
The controversy over the Feynman vision
In his famous 1959 speech, "There's Plenty of Room at the
Bottom," physicist Richard Feynman articulated a vision later called
'nanotechnology'. Feynman proposed that mechanical systems (now termed
molecular assemblers) could direct chemical reactions, building
atomically precise products. This molecular manufacturing process will
enable digital control of the structure of matter, revolutionizing
areas ranging from medical to military, from environmental to economic.
This vision of nanotechnology helped launch the current global surge in
research and spending, including the multi-billion dollar U.S. National
Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI). Molecular manufacturing has been the
focus of Drexler's work. However, as Baum points out, "Smalley has a
dramatically different conception of nanotechnology from Drexler, one
that doesn't include the concept of molecular assemblers."
Molecular manufacturing misrepresented
Contrary to Feynman, in a 2001 Scientific American article
Smalley claimed to prove the impossibility of molecular assemblers — a
claim used to defend the U.S. NNI leadership's rejection of the goal.
Smalley had incorrectly argued that molecular assembly requires tools
that will forever be impossible: "'There's plenty of room at the
bottom'," he wrote, "But there's not that much room," because "To put
every atom in its place... would require magic fingers."
In the current C&E News exchange, Smalley now agrees that
assemblers (without impossible "magic fingers") could use something
like enzymes or ribosomes as tools for doing precise chemistry. Yet
Smalley continues his vehement rejection. He now says that molecular
manufacturing will forever be severely limited — alleging that it must
use tools that closely resemble enzymes, and that enzymes can work
solely in water, making only materials like "the meat and bone of
biology." Besides misrepresenting molecular manufacturing, these
assertions reveal an understanding of enzymatic chemistry that is 19
years out of date: Scientific experiments since 1984 (A. Klibanov, MIT)
have proven that many enzymes function effectively in non-aqueous
environments. Smalley's alleged limits on molecular manufacturing
clearly do not apply.
Metaphors and empty arguments
Ralph Merkle, nanotechnology pioneer and Distinguished Professor
of Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology, identifies
additional failings: "Smalley hasn't acknowledged the extensive
scientific and technical literature on mechanosynthesis — a literature
which includes designs for molecular tools, ab initio quantum chemistry
calculations of specific tool-surface interactions, and implementation
strategies. My research colleagues and I have published many papers in
this new and exciting area, and this work sharply contradicts Smalley's
sweeping dismissal of the field. Smalley is just not addressing the
issues. Instead, he veers off into metaphors about boys and girls in
love. He describes mechanosynthesis as simply 'mushing two molecular
objects together' in 'a pretend world where atoms go where you want.'"
"Actually," Merkle says, "Ab initio quantum chemistry
calculations don't involve love, or mushing, or pretending. For
example, a carbon-deposition reaction which a colleague and I studied
using standard quantum chemistry methods moves a carbene tool along a
barrier-free path to insert a reactive carbon atom into a dimer on a
diamond (100) surface. The tool is then twisted 90 degrees, breaking an
internal pi bond, and pulled away to break the remaining sigma bond,
leaving a single carbon atom bonded to the dimer on the surface."
Merkle adds, "Further computational chemistry research into fundamental
mechanosynthetic reactions should be an integral component of any
national nanotechnology program. Smalley's metaphors merely cloud the
issues."
Baum further observes, "Smalley's objections to molecular assemblers go
beyond the scientific. He believes that speculation about the potential
dangers of nanotechnology threatens public support for it." Indeed, in
his closing remarks, Smalley laments danger scenarios that he says have
"scared our children." He urges others in the chemical community to join
him in dismissing these dangers by embracing his chain of reasoning.
Restoring the vision
Drexler concludes, "We now have publicly available, after months
of preparation, Smalley's defense of the U.S. NNI position on molecular
manufacturing. He offers vehement opinions and colorful metaphors but
no relevant, defensible scientific arguments, hence no basis for
crucial policy. Smalley has struggled for years to dispel public
concerns by issuing false denials of the capabilities of advanced
nanotechnologies. That campaign has failed. It should be abandoned."
Commenting on Smalley's position, Ray Kurzweil, recipient of
the 1999 U.S. National Medal of Technology, states "Denying the
feasibility of both the promise and the peril of molecular assembly
will ultimately backfire, and will also fail to guide research in the
constructive direction that is needed."
Regarding U.S. policy, Drexler warns, "In the global race
toward advanced nanotechnology, the U.S. NNI leadership has its eyes
closed, refusing to see where the race is headed. This creates growing
risks of a technological surprise by a strategic adversary, while
delaying medical, economic, and environmental benefits. It's time to
remove the blinders and move forward with public dialogue and vigorous
research, embracing the opportunities identified by Richard Feynman."
Why the general public should care
Last week, the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and
Development Act passed through Congress and is awaiting signature from
President Bush. The act authorizes $3.7 billion for research and
development programs coordinated among several federal agencies. The
legislation further provides funding for public hearings, expert
advisory panels and established an American Nanotechnology Preparedness
Center, which will study nanotechnology's potential societal and
ethical effects. This Act and the accompanying funds should be applied
to long-term research that will ensure that the U.S. is not left
behind, and that our society can enjoy the benefits more quickly. It is
crucial that molecular manufacturing be an integral component of these
nationally funded programs.
- National Nanotechnology Initiative in FY2001 Budget
Clinton Administration Requests $497 million for NT-Related R&D
- Nano-based products starting to have consumer impact
-
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/nano/2004-11-08-nano-on-the-move_x.htm
- Already, nanoscience has produced stain- and wrinkle-resistant
clothing, self-cleaning windows, glare-reducing and fog-resistant
coatings for eyeglasses and windshields, dramatically increased computer
memory, better sports equipment, improved cosmetics and sunscreens, and
lighter, stronger auto components.
What's next? More user-friendly cell phones, longer-lasting batteries,
lighter car tires that retain air longer, better imaging techniques for
diagnosing disease, drugs more precisely targeted to limit side effects,
faster consumer electronics, perhaps even cheaper beer made with "nano
yeast," experts say.
- Nanowater
-
http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/23534/
- Avoid "dead water," the website advises, or else risk cardiovascular
disease. According to Nanotechnology Limited, dead water is distilled or
purified water that lacks minerals the body needs. The Chinese company
claims that its product "nano water," currently available in Hong Kong
supermarkets, is not only pure but has enhanced properties that fight
inflammation, cancer and even aging itself. Thanks to a "nanometer
high-energy water activator," this superwater has smaller molecule
clusters that enable more direct absorption by the body.
- Scientists unveil 'clay' robots that will shape our world
-
http://news.scotsman.com/scitech.cfm?id=632012005
- TINY robots that can turn into any shape - from a replica human to a
banana to a mobile phone - are being developed by scientists in the
United States.
The new science of claytronics, which will use nanotechnology to create
tiny robots called catoms, should enable three-dimensional copies of
people to be "faxed" around the world for virtual meetings.
A doctor could also consult with a patient over the phone, even taking
their pulse by holding the wrist of the claytronic replica, reports New
Scientist.
And the nano "clay" could be carried around, shape-shifting into
virtually anything when required. Your claytronic mobile phone could
turn into a hammer for a spot of DIY and then a pair of shoes to go
jogging.
- Nanobeans
- Nanodrink
- Study: Nanotechnology in Food and Food Processing Industry
Worldwide: 2003-2006-2010-2015 - "Tomorrow we will design food by shaping molecules and atoms"
-
http://www.hkc22.com/nanofood.html
- Comment received (In an E-mail with the moderately emotional title of "f**k") : "...some highlights....."
- Keeping leadership in food and food processing industry, you have to work
with nanotechnology and nano-bio-info in the future.
- Tomorrow we will design food by shaping molecules and atoms. Nanoscale
biotech and nano-bio-info will have big impacts on the food and
food-processing industries.
- The nanofood market is expected to surge from 2.6 bn. US dollars today to
7.0 bn. US dollars in 2006 and to 20.4 bn. US dollars in 2010. More than 200
USA is the leader followed by Japan and China. By 2010 Asian with more than
50 percent of the worldpopulation will be the biggest market for Nanofood
with the leading of China.
- The number of the companies involved in this field will increase from 69 in
2002 to 2004 and to several thousands by 2010.
- February 2001, hkc22.com and btt.com (www.btt.com) published the first study
worldwide about convergence of
nanotechnololgy-biotechnology-information-neural technology. (Converging
nano-bio-info-neural-technologies 2015).
- Interview with John Robert Marlow on the Superswarm Option
-
http://www.nanotech-now.com/John-Marlow-Superswarm-interview-Feb04.htm
- Consider: China holds third place among nations for nanotech
patents. Consider also, from Gannett News Service (February 20, 2000):
"Chinese military specialists urge the development of 'magic weapons'
that would allow an 'inferior to defeat a superior enemy.' The report
quotes General Pan Jungfeng as calling the United States 'the enemy.' "
Draw your own conclusions.
- Space-walkers launch 'Nanosatellite'
- Nanotechnology holds key to longer life
- nanopyrexia
-
http://www.nanogloss.com/defi/nanopyr.htm
- nanopyrexia: In nanomedicine, refers to an abnornal raise of the body temperature
(fever) that could be caused by "the presence or activities of in vivo
medical nanorobots".
- Synthesis of Anthropomorphic Molecules: The NanoPutians
- "Scolding the Nanokids"
- Via:
http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/cen/82/i19/toc/toc_i19.html
- "As one who examines the development of humanoid and robotic behavior
in molecular systems, I call into question the description given to
efforts to create anthropomorphic molecules. The structures denoted in
your recent article (C&EN, April 5, page 71) and in the original
publication [J. Org. Chem., 68, 8750 (2003)] "cherry-pick" a
structural depiction of a class of polyacetylenes as given by the
artistic placement of bonds using conventional vector-based drawing
programs such as ChemDraw.
"While suggestive as drawn and even modeled, a significant portion of
the conformational space taken up by the molecules described as
"NanoKids" adopts conformations that are nothing like what the human
anatomy is capable of. Moreover, such structural assignments can be
confirmed using the appropriate chemical physics; such studies were
not presented.
"These self-termed "NanoKids" contain molecular arrangements defined by
their artistry but not by their chemical structure. The worst part of
this scheme stems from the fact that young minds are being led to
believe that such structures are correctly ascribed. If we are to use
popular vehicles to encourage interest in chemistry, should we not
require their structures to be properly depicted? Is that not one of
the primary roles of the chemist?"
- Intelligent yoghurt by 2025
-
http://www.softmachines.org/wordpress/index.php?p=120
- Yesterday's edition of the Observer contained the bizarre
claim that we’ll soon be able to enhance the intelligence of bacteria
by using molecular electronics. This came in an interview with Ian Pearson,
who is always described as the resident futurologist of the British
telecoms company BT. The claim is so odd that I wondered whether it was
a misunderstanding on the part of the journalist, but it seems clear
enough in this direct quote from Pearson:
“Whether we
should be allowed to modify bacteria to assemble electronic circuitry
and make themselves smart is already being researched.
‘We can already use DNA, for example, to make
electronic circuits so it’s possible to think of a smart yoghurt some
time after 2020 or 2025, where the yoghurt has got a whole stack of
electronics in every single bacterium. You could have a conversation
with your strawberry yogurt before you eat it.’ “
This is the kind of thing that puts satirists out of business.
- 1 Comment-
Let’s be careful here. "Some time after 2020 or 2025" is not the same as your headline, "by 2025".
- NaturalNano Inc
- A Self Assembled Steak Sandwich and an Intelligent Dessert in Every Home?
-
http://www.cientifica.com/blog/mt/
- We are rarely rendered speechless by an article, and we did indeed plan on saying a few words about intelligent yoghurt until we realoised that we had been beaten to the punch, and saw who leapt to its defence! And there we were thinking the newly reinvented and renamed treehugging Foresight people
were trying to ditch their image of mad eyed fanaticism by becoming the
technological equivalent of Bono with aq new mission of "Advancing
Beneficial Nanotechnology."
While this new direction shows some considerable ingenuity, it still begs the question over whether Foresight has abandoned the Drexlerian crede,
or whether the nanobot ate their homework. After all, wasn't molecular
manufacturing going to give the world unlimited resources anyway, at
least once someone had got it beyond the theoretical stage?
- Initial Decision of an SEC Administrative Law Judge - In the Matter of Nano World Projects Corporation
- Initial Decision of an SEC Administrative Law Judge - In the Matter of Nano World Projects Corporation
-
http://www.mary.cc/npct/
- Some information about the public company Nanopierce,
its CEO Paul Metzinger and stock promoters. The CEO has been sued by
the SEC twice for fraud. He was also sued over missing stock
certificates. He was not allowed to practice law in front of the SEC
for 36 months. He's never had a successful company. He went bankrupt.
The company stock promoters have been sued by the SEC for fraud in
relation to their promotion of npct and other companies. The company
stock promoters are currently being sued for fraud by an investor.
October 5, 2004 NPCT announces a deal to go into the business of
chicken feed additive with Xact Industries. I tried to check out this
PR and new business partner but so far it seems totally false and the
new biz partner is as scammy as Paul. The new guy was sued by the US
for making false statements.
- January 26, 2004 They admit they have no real
product or business but are interested in buying a nanotech business,
see PR. They are doing more toxic funding with an entity with a total
scam past.
- "Yet many companies would love some of that $35 billion.
Which might explain "nano" in the names of many firms. But just because
a company has thenano prefix does not mean it is really involved with
nanotechnology. TakeDenver-based NanoPierce Technologies. Formerly
known as Sunlight Systems, itstechnology creates connections between
microchips and other electronic parts atsizes about the nanoscale. "We
just use nano because it means small,"says CEO Paul Metzinger. Perhaps
the best-known nanotech company is NanophaseTechnologies, which makes
the metal-oxide particles found in sunscreens. Hardlythe stuff of
nanotechnology. "
- 3D Spam?
-
http://www.jrbtech.com/bio.php/bio/2005/03/30/3D_Spam_/
- Which made me think -- what happens when spam can be delivered not just as email, but as 3D objects?
When your home or office includes a desktop nanofactory as a standard
appliance, how easy will it be for hackers to steal (or buy) your
machine's unique address and send instructions to produce unwanted
physical products?! It could be something as "innocent" as a clever
marketing ploy to get you to try a new product. Or it could be
something as dangerous as a smart bomb designed to look like a toy or a
new electronic gadget.
Will such things happen? Almost certainly, unless we do something in advance to prevent them.
- 3D Spam?
-
http://crnano.typepad.com/crnblog/2005/03/3d_spam.html
- Imagine a future virus that infects nanofactories to periodically
make produce a wireless internet connection to download new spam
designs. You or your kids only need to fall for one "free trial!" scam,
and your nanofactory is permanently infected and open to 3D spammers.
Next imagine a "slow virus" - one that doesn't immediately affect the
nanofactory it invades. Instead, it waits several months. By the time it
takes effect, you have no idea where you contracted it, no idea how to
avoid getting it again even if you buy a fresh nanofactory.
Next imagine an airborne nanofactory virus. Sprayed from a passing
spammer's car or plane, it drifts into your house, gets sucked in by the
nanofactory's cooling fan, infecting it with instructions to make that
wireless internet connection. Now you don't even have to be careless to
get infected. Oh, and it produces and sprays out millions more of it's
kind, so soon your whole neighborhood is infected.
Next imagine a flea-sized flying device that deliberately seeks out
nanofactories to infect, with tools to drill through the nano-active
micro-pore air filters you installed to catch and destroy airborne
viruses. It also infects your whole neighborhood.
Then there's the tiny worm that tunnels through the power line
insulation, and eventually digs into your house wiring, finds where your
nanofactory is plugged in, and tunnels on into it. Millions of them then
tunnel back out to infect your neighbors.
- Really big diamonds!
-
http://nanodot.org/article.pl?sid=05/05/17/1350224&mode=nocomment&threshold
- It isn't nanoassembly but it is real diamond. ScienceBlog is
discussing how
the Carnegie Institution's Geophysical Laboratory can produce 10-carat
(half-inch thick) single-crystal diamonds using CVD.
Unlike previous work it appears that this is flawless & colorless
diamond. They believe the method may be adaptable to growing up to 300
carat (1") diamonds as well as diamonds with unique shapes.
While it isn't "diamondoid", one has to wonder, given the flexibility of
CVD, how far the method could be pushed towards "diamondoid". Certainly
multi-element crystals seem possible as would things like silicon on
diamond (for micro/nanochips with high heat removal capacity).
- Nanotech Toilets Take Off
-
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1820013,00.asp
- Luxury bidet seats can cost a consumer anywhere from $350 to $800 or
more, greater than the price of most toilets. While they are not yet as
popular in the U.S. as they are in Japan (where the market penetration
is greater than that of microwave ovens), another relatively new and
little publicized toilet innovation is emerging as a winner here. Yes,
it's the nanotech toilet. It turns out that nanotechnology can address
one of those "should do" but highly unpleasant tasks in life – cleaning
the toilet. For some of us, that's right up there with pulling weeds,
flossing teeth and taking out the garbage. Wouldn't it be great if there
were a self-cleaning toilet?
- The Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) images of conventional (left) vs.
SanaGloss glazed (right) surfaces. Smoothness on a nanometer scale helps
prevent debris from sticking. With nothing to cling to, particles,
molds, and bacteria can be washed away with every flush.
- Yet another example of researchers jumping on the "nano" bandwagon
-
http://www.newstarget.com/000457.html
- Wow, what an impressive way to include the word "nano" in a story
that has nothing whatsoever to do with
nanotechnology. This is
all part of today's nano-craze, where everybody doing anything at all on
a small scale attaches the word "nano" to their projects.
This article talks about nano-bumps. As in, little tiny bumps. Just like
the kind on your skin, or the kind you find in a rock, a tree, or a
concrete sidewalk. And, yes, metal can have nano-bumps, too.
This isn't nanotechnology, folks, it's just little tiny bumps. Get
yourself a big enough microscope and you'll see them. Hey, maybe you,
too, can be your own nanotechnology researcher and request billion
dollar grants from the federal government! Get a good enough microscope
and you'll discover that, wow, nanotechnology is all around us!
I'll give 'em one thing, however. There is something shrinking to
microscopic size that's worth mentioning: the brains of all the
researchers trying to jump on the
nanotech bandwagon.
By the way, wasn't it Robin Williams who first said, "Nano nano" anyway?
- I Built A Billion Nanotech Devices Yesterday, And So Did You
-
http://www.newstarget.com/000437.html
- I chose this article because it offers a well grounded summary of
the fundamental issues facing nanotechnology. As the article states, the
requirement for social acceptance of each new technology isn't that the
technology works, it's that the society believes in it.
Do people believe in nanotechnology? Primarily, yes. It's very
scientific sounding. Very precise. It requires all sorts of complex
engineering and lots of capital investment. But if this is so, why don't
people believe in the nanotechnology that already exists?
Huh? What do I mean? I'm talking about the microscopic devices already
present in the bodies of every human being. We have devices that repair
tissue, that diagnose and treat disease, that kill invaders and that
even "learn" what those invaders look like so they can capture them more
easily next time.
Every human being alive already has this nanotechnology: it's called the
immune system. And yet
few people actually "believe" in this form of nanotechnology. The immune
system is the great unsung hero of human health.
Through nanotechnology, doctors and scientists
are essentially trying to create a secondary immune system that can be
injected into patients' blood and go to work. But why not just support
the immune system that's already there?
Too often, modern medicine works to destroy the existing immune
system rather than support it. Chemotherapy, for example, consists of
injecting a non-lethal dose of deadly poisons into a human being. Those
poisons obliterate the patient's immune system. This is especially
bewildering, since a stronger immune system has the ability to tackle
cancer and keep tumors in
check.
But getting back to the point here, why don't scientists and researchers
work with the existing nanotechology that's already present in
every human being? I'll tell you why: because nobody gets a big career
boost boost from it. You don't get a billion dollars in funding by
talking about the immune system. You get it by painting a science
fantasy picture that includes really smart scientists building
microscopic machines that challenge nature, not that complement it.
Small devices power big egos, it turns out. At least in the
politics of
nanotechnology. But I offer that nature has far better nanotechnology
than mankind could ever produce, and if we would spend more time finding
ways to support nature rather than trying to control it, we'd all be
healthier and far more "advanced."
Analysis: Nanotechnology is currently being hyped up by researchers
seeking big grants. But in the medical field, the promise of
nanotech overlooks the
existing biological, nature-powered nanotechnology already present in
every human being alive.
- Nanotech claims lead the way in junk science; phototherapy needs no nano
-
http://www.newstarget.com/000438.html
- This story manages to stumble through such a large number of medical
myths that it's breathtaking. At first, the story sounds like it makes
good sense: nanotechnology, medicine, microscopic tumors... it's all
very scientific, right? Hardly. Above all, this story demonstrates how
easy it is to make junk science sound legitimate. Let me explain:
First, there's the idea that people have microscopic tumors that have to
be removed through, essentially, nano-surgery. In reality,
everyone has cancerous cells in their body, and it's the immune
system -- not golden nano balls -- that keeps these cancerous cells in
check. As usual, this story completely ignores the all-important role of
the immune system in reversing cancer.
Secondly, there's the idea that doctors have to use infrared light (a
form of phototherapy) to heat these golden nano balls and, basically,
cook the surrounding tissue. In reality, no nano balls are needed at
all: infrared light has its own powerful, documented healing properties.
In fact, infrared light at the 880nm wavelength has such astounding
healing properties that it's currently being explored as cutting-edge
emerging medicine under the umbrella of vibrational medicine.
NASA was one of the first organizations to examine phototherapy in
recent times: they were trying to develop a technology to accelerate the
growth of plants, presumably for space travel. What they got, instead,
was a technology that doubles the healing speed of human tissue. Shine
the light on a cut, burn, lesion, sprain, or other injury, and it heals
in half the time.
The U.S. military has been testing units, too. Soldiers engaged in
recent war efforts have been using light therapy to heal bullet wounds,
among other injuries. The results have been phenomenal (around a 200%
boost in the speed of healing).
On the experimental side, some health practitioners are even using
phototherapy to reverse cancer and shrink tumors.
So, you see, the nano balls are really just smoke and mirrors, like a
lot of so-called nanotechnology. But it sure makes for great headlines.
Analysis: Nanotechnology is today's equivalent of the dot-com craze.
Suddenly, everybody is talking nanotech, even when it
makes no sense.
- The Top Ten Technologies: Where is Nanotechnology?
-
http://www.newstarget.com/001341.html
- By this measure, everything is nanotechnology. I mean that
literally: every "thing" is nanotech because it's made of a collection
of very tiny molecules. Your computer has a nanotech CPU, your radio has
nanotech transistors, your brain is made of nanotech neurons, and the
carrots in your refrigerator were built from an impressive
nanotechnology infrastructure that fed them nutrients from tiny
molecules diffused into the plants' nanotech roots through soil.
The whole universe is, in fact, nanotech. In fact, every item of matter
in the known universe is made up of tiny particles and, ultimately,
waves of energy and probability. Under this vast umbrella, nearly
anything can be called "nanotechnology." And it's not a misnomer:
everything really is nanotech!
Since everything is, technically, nanotech, product makers and science
researchers can legitimately claim to be using nanotechnology on
practically any project. As a result, the term has lost any real
meaning. "Nanotech" now belongs on the scrap heap of catchy buzzwords
that sound cool but are devoid of any real meaning.
The preferred term for the "classic" definition of nanotechnology is
molecular assembly technologies. This phrase remains specific: it means
the assembly of objects or machines at the molecular scale. And that's
what classic "nanotech" was really all about.
So why haven't I covered molecular assembly technologies in this report?
While the field does look potentially promising, it's still a bit early
to say what the real-world applications are going to look like. I plan
to cover this subject in more detail in a future report, however.
In the mean time, here's one are where I think nanotechnology has gone
astray. One of the most frequently mentioned areas of nanotechnology is
in medicine, where researchers promise that an army of millions of
nanotech robots will travel through the bodies of medical patients and
repair cells, destroy tumors, rebuild damaged tissue, and perform other
medical miracles. These researchers forget that the body already has its
own nanotechnology that does all this and more! It's called the immune
system and the best way to improve the quality of life for most people,
in terms of health, would be to support their own natural healing
abilities.
- Nanotechnology's miniature answers to developing world's biggest problems
-
http://www.physorg.com/news3681.html
- In a study by the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics,
a panel of international experts ranks the 10 nanotechnology
applications in development worldwide with the greatest potential to aid
the poor. With a high degree of unanimity, the 63 panelists selected
energy production, conversion and storage, along with creation of
alternative fuels, as the area where nanotechnology applications are
most likely to benefit developing countries.
Some day soon, in a remote village in the developing world, a health
worker will put a drop of a patient's blood on a piece of plastic about
the size of a coin. Within minutes, a full diagnostic examination will
be complete including the usual battery of blood work tests, plus
analysis for infectious diseases such as malaria and HIV/AIDS, hormonal
imbalances, even cancer.
That remarkable piece of plastic is called a lab-on-a-chip and it is one
of the revolutionary products and processes currently emerging from
nanotechnology research with the potential to transform the lives of
billions of the world's most vulnerable inhabitants.
According to a new study by the Canadian Program on Genomics and Global
Health (CPGGH) at the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics
(JCB), a leading international medical ethics think-tank, several
nanotechnology applications will help people in developing countries
tackle their most urgent problems - extreme poverty and hunger, child
mortality, environmental degradation and diseases such as malaria and
HIV/AIDS. The study is the first ranking of nanotechnology applications
relative to their impact on development; it was published today by the
prestigious, open-access, US-based Public Library of Science journal
PLoS Medicine.
The study also relates the impact of nanotechnologies to the world's
eight Millennium Development Goals, agreed in 2000 for achievement by
2015.
"Most waves of technology can increase the gap between rich and poor but
the harnessing of nanotechnology represents a chance to close these
gaps. The targeted application of nanotechnology has enormous potential
to bring about major improvements in the living standards of people in
the developing world," says CPGGH co-director and JCB Director Dr. Peter
Singer.
"Science and technology alone are not going to magically solve all the
problems of developing countries but they are critical components of
development. Nanotechnology is a relatively new field that will soon be
providing radical and relatively inexpensive solutions to critical
development problems."
Nanotechnology is the study, design, creation, synthesis, manipulation,
and application of functional materials, devices, and systems through
control of matter at the nanometer scale (one nanometer being equal to 1
x 10-9 of a meter), and the exploitation of novel phenomena and
properties of matter at that scale. When matter is manipulated at the
tiny scale of atoms and molecules, it exhibits novel phenomena and
properties. Thus, scientists are harnessing nanotechnology to create
new, inexpensive materials, devices, and systems with unique properties.
Goals of the CPGGH study included identifying and ranking the 10
nanotechnology applications most likely to have an impact in the
developing world. The study team asked an international panel of 63
experts which nanotechnology applications are most likely to benefit
developing countries in the areas of water, agriculture, nutrition,
health, energy and the environment in the next 10 years.
The top 10 nanotechnology applications are:
- Energy storage, production and conversion;
- Agricultural productivity enhancement;
- Water treatment and remediation;
- Disease diagnosis and screening;
- Drug delivery systems;
- Food processing and storage;
- Air pollution and remediation;
- Construction;
- Health monitoring;
- Vector and pest detection and control.
With a high degree of unanimity, panelists selected energy production,
conversion and storage, along with creation of alternative fuels, as the
area where nanotechnology applications are most likely to benefit
developing countries.
"Economic development and energy consumption are inextricably linked,"
says Singer. "If nanotechnology can help developing countries to move
towards energy self-sufficiency, then the benefits of economic growth
will become that much more accessible."
Study leader Dr. Fabio Salamanca-Buentello explained that
nano-structured materials are being used to build a new generation of
solar cells, hydrogen fuel cells and novel hydrogen storage systems that
will deliver clean energy to countries still reliant on traditional,
non-renewable contaminating fuels.
As well, recent advances in the creation of synthetic nano-membranes
embedded with proteins are capable of turning light into chemical
energy.
"These technologies will help people in developing countries avoid
recurrent shortages and price fluctuations that come with dependence on
fossil fuels, as well as the environmental consequences of mining and
burning oil and coal," he says.
Number two on the list is agriculture, where science is developing a
range of inexpensive nanotech applications to increase soil fertility
and crop production, and help eliminate malnutrition - a contributor to
more than half the deaths of children under five in developing
countries.
Nanotech materials are in development for the slow release and efficient
dosage of fertilizers for plants and of nutrients and medicines for
livestock. Other agricultural developments include nano-sensors to
monitor the health of crops and farm animals and magnetic nano-particles
to remove soil contaminants.
Water treatment is third-ranked by the panel. "One-sixth of the world's
population lacks access to safe water supplies," says Dr.
Salamanca-Buentello.
"More than one third of the population of rural areas in Africa, Asia,
and Latin America has no clean water, and two million children die each
year from water-related diseases, such as diarrhea, cholera, typhoid,
and schistosomiasis, which result from a lack of adequate water sources
and sanitation."
Nano-membranes and nano-clays are inexpensive, portable and easily
cleaned systems that purify, detoxify and desalinate water more
efficiently than conventional bacterial and viral filters. Researchers
also have developed a method of large-scale production of carbon
nano-tube filters for water quality improvement.
Other water applications include systems (based on titanium dioxide and
on magnetic nano-particles) that decompose organic pollutants and remove
salts and heavy metals from liquids, enabling the use of heavily
contaminated and salt water for irrigation and drinking. Several of the
contaminating substances retrieved could then be easily recycled.
Disease diagnosis and screening was ranked fourth. Here technologies
include the "lab-on-a-chip", which offers all the diagnostic functions
of a medical laboratory, and other biosensors based on nano-sized tubes,
wires, magnetic particles and semiconductor crystals (quantum dots).
These inexpensive, hand-held diagnostic kits detect the presence of
several pathogens at once and could be used for wide-range screening in
small peripheral clinics. Meanwhile, nanotechnology applications are in
development that would greatly enhance medical imaging.
Rounding out the top 10:
5. Drug delivery systems: including nano-capsules, dendrimers (tiny
bush-like spheres made of branched polymers), and "buckyballs"
(soccerball-shaped structures made of 60 carbon atoms) for slow,
sustained drug release systems, characteristics valuable for countries
without adequate drug storage capabilities and distribution networks.
Nanotechnology could also potentially reduce transportation costs and
even required dosages by improving shelf-life, thermo-stability and
resistance to changes in humidity of existing medications;
6. Food processing and storage: including improved plastic film coatings
for food packaging and storage that may enable a wider and more
efficient distribution of food products to remote areas in less
industrialized countries; antimicrobial emulsions made with
nano-materials for the decontamination of food equipment, packaging, or
food; and nanotech-based sensors to detect and identify contamination;
7. Air pollution remediation: including nanotech-based innovations that
destroy air pollutants with light; make catalytic converters more
efficient, cheaper and better controlled; detect toxic materials and
leaks; reduce fossil fuel emissions; and separate gases.
8. Construction: including nano-molecular structures to make asphalt and
concrete more resistant to water; materials to block ultraviolet and
infrared radiation; materials for cheaper and durable housing, surfaces,
coatings, glues, concrete, and heat and light exclusion; and
self-cleaning for windows, mirrors and toilets.
9. Health monitoring: several nano-devices are being developed to keep
track of daily changes in patients' physiological variables such as the
levels of glucose, of carbon dioxide, and of cholesterol, without the
need for drawing blood in a hospital setting. This way, patients
suffering from diabetes would know at any given time the concentration
of sugar in their blood; similarly, patients with heart diseases would
be able to monitor their cholesterol levels constantly.
10. Disease vector and pest detection control: including nano-scale
sensors for pest detection, and improved pesticides, insecticides, and
insect repellents.
Addressing global challenges using nanotechnology
The study team found that several developing countries have already
launched nanotechnology initiatives. India's Department of Science and
Technology will invest $20 million over the next four years, for
example, and China ranks third in the world behind the United States and
Japan in the number of nanotech patent applications.
Researchers at China's Tsinghua University have begun clinical tests for
a bone scaffold based on nanotechnology which gradually disintegrates as
the patient's damaged skeletal tissue heals. This application of
nanotechnology is especially relevant for developing countries, where
the number of skeletal injuries resulting from road traffic accidents is
acute.
In Brazil, the projected budget for nanoscience during the next five
years (2004-2007) is about US $25 million, and three institutes, four
networks, and approximately 300 scientists are working in
nanotechnology. Brazilian researchers are investigating the use of
modified magnetic nanoparticles to remove oil from oil spills; both the
nanoparticles and the oil could potentially be recycled.
The South African Nanotechnology Initiative is a national network of
academic researchers involved in areas such as nanophase catalysts,
nanofiltration, nanowires, nanotubes, and quantum dots. And Mexico has
world-class researchers in carbon nanotubes. Other developing countries
pursuing nanotechnology include Thailand, Philippines, Chile, and
Argentina.
"Resource-rich member nations of the international community have a
self-interest and a moral obligation to support the development and use
by less industrialized countries of these top 10 nanotechnologies to
address key development challenges," says Dr. Abdallah Daar, MD,
Director for Ethics and Policy of the McLaughlin Centre for Molecular
Medicine and co-director of the CPGGH.
"We propose an initiative, called Addressing Global Challenges Using
Nanotechnology, that can be modelled on the Grand Challenges in Global
Health initiative launched last year by the Foundation for the National
Institutes of Health and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
"A grand challenge directs investigators to seek a specific scientific
or technological breakthrough that would overcome obstacles to solving
significant development problems. In our proposed initiative, a specific
Grand Challenges in Nanotechnology project would foster scientific and
technological advances that would encourage development in less
industrialized countries. The top 10 nanotechnology applications
identified in our current study are a good starting point for defining
these grand challenges.
"Our results can provide guidance to developing countries themselves to
help target their growing initiatives in nanotechnology. The goal should
be to use nanotechnology responsibly to generate real benefits for the 5
billion people in the developing world."
Source: University of Toronto Joint Center for Bioethics
- These be NanoBots
- Nano Space
-
http://www.angelfire.com/mt/marksomers/nanospace.html
- Space science as long played a role in the research and development
of advancing technologies. Spacecraft are being launched, with hulls
that are composed of carbon fibers, a light weight high strength
material. Combine that with smaller on board computers that perform
hundreds of times faster than computers used on spacecraft just a decade
ago and one can see the why of incredible advances in space exploration
in just the past few years. The advancements in material science and
computer science have allowed the building, launching and deploying of
space exploration systems that continually do more and more as they
become smaller and lighter.
Some of the latest avenues being explored, that are more in the nano
realm, in space science, include smart materials for the hulls of
spacecraft. These would be materials primarily composed of nanotube
fibers with nano sized computers integrated into them. These materials
along with being even lighter will also be far stronger too. One idea is
to create a surface that will help transfer the aerodynamic forces
working on a spacecraft during launch. When the craft is launched the
nano computers will flex the crafts hull to offset pressure differences
in the hull caused by the crafts acceleration through the atmosphere.
Then the same nano computer network in the hull would go to work heating
the shaded side of the craft and cooling the sun exposed side and to
even create heat shielding for reentry. To equalize the surface
temperature now, a spacecraft must be kept rotating and although a
slight spin is good in maintaining the attitude of a craft somtimes it
interferes with the mission plan, like when a spacecraft is taking
photographs or is in the process of docking with another craft.
Another avenue being investicated is a concept of nano robotics called
"Swarms". Swarms are nano robots that act in unison like bees. They
theoretically, will act as a flexible cloth like material and being
composed of what's called Bucky tubes, this cloth will be as strong as
diamond. Add to this cloth of nano machines nano computers and you have
smart cloth. This smart cloth could be used to keep astronauts from
bouncing around inside their spacecraft while they sleep, a problem that
arises when the auto pilot computer fires the course correction rockets.
The cloth like material will be able to offset the sudden movements and
slowly move the sleeping astronaut back into position. Still another
application for the nano robot swarms, being considered, is that the
smart cloth could be used in the astronauts space suits.
A space suit is nothing more nor less than an incredible space ship
itself so this same smart cloth could be the super structure of a deep
space probe replete with an on board A.I computer capable of creating
the science experiments needed enroute to its destination and capable of
not only making changes in mission plans but creating even new
experiments as they are needed or wanted. The same super explorer could
even create its own solar energy gathering panels if appropriate or
utilizing R.T.G technology with plutonium also it will be able to repair
itself. And while all of the above is going on the craft could even
expand it's own computing capabilities if need be.
Another application of nano robots would be in carrying out construction
projects in hostile environments, for example with just a handfull, of
self replicating robots, utilizing local materials, and local energy
it's conceivable that space habitats can be completely constructed by
remote control so that the inhabitants need only show up with their
suitcases. Colonization of space begins to make economic sense then,
since it would only take one saturn type rocket to create a complete
space colony on mars, for example. An engineer or a team of engineers
could check up on the construction of the habitat via telepresents
utilizing cameras and sensors created on the surface of Mars by the nano
bots all from the comfortable confines of Earth. Then once the habitat
is complete humans can show up to orchestrate the expansion of the
exploration. Venus could be explored with nano robots too. Super Hulls
could be fashioned by nano robots to withstand the intense pressures and
corrosive gases of the venusian atmosphere, to safely house nano robot
built sensors and equiptment. The potential in all of this is getting a
lot more space exploraton accomplished with less investment of resources
and a lot less danger to human explorers.
- LEGO(TM)s to the Stars: Active MesoStructures, Kinetic Cellular Automata, and Parallel Nanomachines for Space Applications
-
http://www.islandone.org/MMSG/9609lego.htm
- Abstract: Primitive molecular nanotechnology (MNT) will contribute
significantly to the human settlement of Space by creating flexible,
human-scale active systems that can be actively reconfigured into a wide
variety of useful shapes and artifacts. It appears that a very large
number of identical primitive nanomachines, operating in parallel as an
Active Meso-Structure (AMS), may not only meet the requirements for such
a system, but might also be easier to design, build, and control than
drexlerian assemblers. These systems attempt to combine the respective
strengths of Von Neumann's kinetic model and cellular automata (CA).
Examples such as Josh Hall's Utility Fog, Joseph Michael's
Shape-Shifting Flexible Robotic System, Forrest Bishop's XY Active
Cells, and Goel and Thompson's Movable Finite Automata are described and
compared. The claim is made that machines can only be self-replicating
if they are built using MNT. Finally, a non-self-replicating method of
constructing these primitive nanoscale KCAs is described.
- Utility Fog: Bothered one day by a chaffing seat belt, J. Storrs
Hall imagined how nanotechnology would replace it, and he ended up
inventing Utility Fog. He imagined a user-friendly, completely
programmable collection of avrogadro numbers of nanomachines that could
form every kind of transportation, from horses to spaceships. It could
simulate any material from gas, liquid, and solid, and it could
implement the ultimate in virtual reality. Finally more speculative
projections envision uploading human minds into planet-sized collections
of Utility Fog. Before dismissing such speculations too quickly, it may
be worthwhile to examine it closely for useful concepts that may be
applied in the near term.
- Joseph Michael's Shape-Changing Robots: While Hall's foglets closely
resemble TinkerToys(TM), another, more conservative KCA (kinematic
cellular automata) is more similar to LEGO(TM) blocks. Joseph Michael
envisions flexible robots that can flow through small openings as they
work on a wide variety of tasks. Like Utility Fog, Michael's concept
also involves at large numbers of individual machines, but instead of
dodecahedral foglets with telescoping and swiveling arms, his paradigm
is a simpler one consisting of solid bricks or cubes with retractable
wedges. Michael has not only patented his flexible robot, but he has
also built and tested models, and demonstrated them at trade shows.
- Visual images in nanotechnology
-
http://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/visuals.html
- There are frequent requests for visual images that
illustrate the concepts of molecular nanotechnology. This is a brief
guide to some of the available images.
- Zyvex has produced video of exponential assembly, a
scale-independent replicative architecture which could be implemented
in the next few years using MEMS. It's hypnotic.
- Diamondoid Molecular Machine Parts
-
http://www.imm.org/Parts/index.html
- Some atomically detailed designs include:
- A pump selective for neon
- A molecular differential gear
- A fine-motion controller for molecular assembly
- NANOCON PROCEEDINGS page 10 VI. CRITICAL PATH PANEL A. DELPHI Survey
-
http://www.halcyon.com/nanojbl/NanoConProc/nanocon10.html
- We questioned 200 scientists chosen from the literature prominent in
the paths that Mr. Drexler says will be important for the development of
nanotechnology. About half said that they would not participate because
of the reputation that nanotechnology has associated with it. They
called people involved with it the lunatic fringe. I find it very
interesting that the existence of a science-fiction oriented group such
as this is making it very hard for nanotechnology to be taken seriously
in the technological arena. The paradox seems to be that if you want it
to come about, you can't talk about it.
- G. BENFORD: One reason for emphasizing products developed from
nanotechnology is, first, it's sort of fun. Second, you can get people
who hold stock options who might be very interested in listening to you.
Third, one of the problems of technology in modern society is that if
you can't reach into the ordinary life of an ordinary person in a way in
which they identify you as both good and new, you have got two strikes
against you. One of the problems of the nuclear industry in this country
is that it has never been able to deliver a product that had its label
on it. Electricity through the wall -- you don't know where it came from.
Meanwhile, all the PR has been in the opposite direction, nuclear
weapons, etc. They have never established their constituency.
Nanotechnology could establish its constituency by producing -- a good
wall cleaner!
G. FJERMEDAL: Make it so practical that Middle America would just
embrace it! Bathroom cleaners, wood preservatives.
G. BEAR: Might I suggest the fabric industry. There is apparently a huge
grant available for anyone who can remove rust stains once they are set.
- Nanobots could be roaming through our body by as early as 2020: Nanotech to eliminate disease, old age; even poverty
-
http://www.betterhumans.com/Members/futuretalk/BlogPost/503/Default.aspx
- Nanotech to eliminate disease, old age; even poverty
Though he admits that nanobots sound like something out of “Fantastic
Voyage,” this star scientist feels confident his dream will come true.
“Already we can insert nano-biosensors into cells and observe their
process,” he says.
Officials at Foresight Institute, an industry think tank, agree that
future nanobots will revolutionize healthcare. Ability to self-replicate
makes them inexpensive, and because they can position each atom in place
with perfect precision, they leave no doubts about the quality of
performance.
Today, when a cell is damaged, doctors rely on drugs to instruct the
cell to repair itself, a process that does not always bring the patient
back to health. With nanobots, damaged cells are completely rebuilt, one
atom at a time, creating a flawless and brand new, or better than new
youthful cell.
Nanobots work like tiny surgeons as they reach into a cell, sense
damaged parts; repair them by reformatting new atoms, and leave. By
repairing and rearranging cells and surrounding structures, nanobots can
restore every tissue and bone in the body to perfect health – including
replacing aging skin with new, resilient skin, restoring youthful looks
and good health.
- “By manipulating individual atoms, nanobots can replicate
themselves, and build nearly any desired product on command. This
capability promises to end disease, create wealth for everyone, stop
pollution, provide unlimited energy, and build goods at little or no
cost.”
Foresight thinkers compare nanotech with the importance of humanity’s
taming of fire. Because assemblers build copies of themselves quickly,
using inexpensive materials, little energy, and no human labor, a single
nano-machine can copy itself billions of times with almost no cost.
However, opponents remind us that the human body contains about ten
thousand billion billion protein parts, which make up an extremely
complex machine called “life.” Can nanobots really improve on what
nature has accomplished through all its years of evolution? Advocates
believe they can.
These amazing ‘bots will easily understand how healthy cells differ from
damaged ones, and in the time it takes an enzyme to change a single
bond, nanobots could perform more than a thousand steps, easily winning
the “speed race” over nature.
Expected by many as early as 2020, nanobots will clearly revolutionize
medicine, giving us the ability to drastically extend our lives. Since
forward-thinking scientists now consider death a treatable disease
resulting from damaged molecular machinery, chemical imbalances, and
defective structures – all problems within the range of nano-repair
devices – youthful health and indefinite lifespan could soon be
available to every adult, regardless of age.
This “magical future” can become reality in our lifetime! Think positive
and it could become your future.
- Nano-interest in New York nanotech
-
http://www.corante.com/newyork/archives/2005/05/31/nanointerest_in_new_york_nanotech.php
- The NanoBusiness 2005 event, held last week at the New York Marriott
Financial Center, attracted little or no attention from the MSM
(mainstream media). In fact, a search at Google News didn't turn up any
MSM links to New York nanotech news, only a short preview of the
conference from a site called Monsters & Critics:
"While applications for the technology are wide open and venture capital
dollars are readily available - many of the companies assembled at the
NanoBusiness Conference 2005, a trade show held here wherein
nanotechnologists are rubbing elbows with each other and Wall Street
types - the challenges are great for the industry, which is still in its
infancy."
- Nanotechnology in future cars
-
http://www.nanotechwire.com/news.asp?nid=2356
- Windscreens that no longer steam up, or paint that no longer gets
dirty or can be scratched: all this could be everyday reality for car
drivers in just a few years time. As part of their research work,
engineers at the BMW Group are examining the use of nanotechnology in
future cars. The range of possibilities is large. Currently the company
is working on an agent that will counter dirt and paint damage, and
small nanoparticles are of great help in this.
Purchasing a new car in 2020 - the scenario: the showroom dealer, in
addition to exhibiting BMW's latest shiny new models, also sets up a
stand with small, colourful seed packets. The packets, however, do not
have pictures of exotic plants printed on them but instead car models.
The customer chooses a car, pays for it, and is then handed over his
dream car in a seed packet. He scatters the seed in his garden and
waits, and at some point, just like a flower, his dream car sprouts up
from the earth. Atom by atom, molecule by molecule.
What today seems like science fiction could tomorrow be reality. This is
because there is no reason why objects cannot be created on an atom by
atom basis, the proof for this being provided as far back as 1959 by
American physicist and Nobel prize winner, Richard Feynman. In 1986 US
researcher Eric Drexler too prophesied that: "In the future programmable
molecular-sized robots will be able to grab hold of individual atoms and
place them at the exact location where we want them to be. We will be
able to replicate each new object atom by atom, be it a strawberry or a
car." Just one year later the first step in this direction was taken
when the decisive tool for conquering the atomic world was discovered.
Since then scientists have been able to precisely design and mix the
building blocks of the universe. Also possible now is the construction
of artificial molecules which can be used as minute machines - almost
exactly as Drexler prophesied.
- Nanotechnology in China is focusing on innovations and new products
-
http://www.physorg.com/news5870.html
- The markets in china for nanotechnology products and systems is 5.4
billion us dollar in 2005 and will increase to 31.4 bn us $ by 2010 and
144.9 bn us $ by 2015. The main segments are nanomaterials,
nanoelectronics, nanobio and nano-life-sciences which count already for
70 percent of the turnover. The market share ( worldmarket ) will be
more then 6 percent by 2010 and 16 percent by 2015. Like no other
country china understood that to win the race depends on finished
products through Nano-Bio-Cogno-Info convergence and not on nano science
mainly. Second but maybe even more important, there are no ethical
restrictions or social controversy on developing and using
nanotechnologies for new products and systems.
Over the past three years, the number of companies in the field of
nanotechnology in China has grown and reached over 800. This growth rate
is very rapid and it has yet to show signs of slowing down. The sales to
date have been largely domestic, but with the increasing global interest
on the development of nanotechnology and with the advantage of modern
communication we can for sure speculate that this could be a very
profitable investment in the near future.
Nanotechnology and nano-bio-info-cogno converging technologies are
becoming more and more the decisive factor of the race between regions
and nations to win the future markets and society’s wealth and political
stability. The development shows that five nations are leading the
competition today. China, as one of these five nations, has its unique
advantage of high flexibilty, low labour costs, no barriers for new
technologies, young and vibrant society, large amount of foreign venture
capital, underestimated currency (today about 25 percent undervalue
compared with the US Dollar), low taxes, goverment support and a home
market with more than 1.3 billion people for applications.
- Nano-vehicle in blood vessel invented
-
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-09/30/content_3569905.htm
- BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhuanet) -- Chinese scientists have invented a
tiny vehicle which can carry drugs in human blood vessels and unload
drugs only at therapeutic targets.
Shi Jianlin, a senior researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences
(CAS) Shanghai Institute of Silicate, led a research team to invent the
nano-vehicle.
"The 200-nanometer-long vehicle can safely carry drugs and release them
suspendedly at focuses targeted by physicians," Shi said, adding that
unloaded nano-vehicles can go out of human bodies via alimentary canals.
"This method can reduce side effects as much as possible and make the
curative effects of drugs into full play," Shi said.
Shi completed his sophisticated tests in his lab, delivering
antiphlogistic and analgesic drugs and cancer curatives.
The invention was published by the American Chemical Society Journal and
a German academic journal of Angew Chemical.
Shi said that one gram of drugs needs thousands of such vehicles for
transportation.
The research team used layer-by-layer technique in a hollow mesoporous
silica. Mesoporous materials are of great research interests for their
potential applications as catalysts, absorbents, key components in
chemical sensors and optical nanodevices.
The past decade has seen the fast development of nanocomposite materials
from ordered mesoporous materials.
The size distribution and dispersion of nanomaterials, in addition to
their dimension, are crucial for their performance, Shi said.
Angew Chemical rated Shi's achievement as a "very important paper."
Chinese scientists have achieved a lot in nanotechnology. Statistics
showed that from January to August 2004, China was ranked first in
academic papers in nanotechnology by the Scientific Citation Index.
- NANOTECHNOLOGY: Prepared Written Statement and Supplemental
Material of R. E. Smalley, Rice University, June 22, 1999
- Real World Applications of Nanotechnologies
-
http://www.cientifica.com/blog/mt/2005/09/
- Shantou Tongsheng Co., Ltd produces nanotech toothbrushes claiming they are:
Capable of cleaning the inner side of teeth more effectively, it is
toothbrushes upgradeable from the traditional. Usage the Nano
technology, prevent the toothbrush to become the carrier what the germ
survive and spread.
- Shanghai BEST Industry & Commerce Co., Ltd produces Herbal Skin Care Lavender Nano Whitening Cream
"The product is rich with patented herbal-whitening-effective
ingredient and bodhi fruits UAA that may fight against the reason of
blemish skin formation.
It can fade the black, yellow or brown skin and make skin
white and tender. The ingredient of plant whitening can also prevent
blemish skin especially the development of Tyrosinase. The Nano element
is added to enhance skin transparent. The plentiful nutrition elements
added can instantly make skin more elastic and white. The effect of
white is quick and long."
- Nanotechnology in China is focusing on innovations and new products
-
http://www.physorg.com/news5870.html
- The markets in china for nanotechnology products and systems is 5.4
billion us dollar in 2005 and will increase to 31.4 bn us $ by 2010 and
144.9 bn us $ by 2015. The main segments are nanomaterials,
nanoelectronics, nanobio and nano-life-sciences which count already for
70 percent of the turnover. The market share ( worldmarket ) will be
more then 6 percent by 2010 and 16 percent by 2015. Like no other
country china understood that to win the race depends on finished
products through Nano-Bio-Cogno-Info convergence and not on nano science
mainly. Second but maybe even more important, there are no ethical
restrictions or social controversy on developing and using
nanotechnologies for new products and systems.
Over the past three years, the number of companies in the field of
nanotechnology in China has grown and reached over 800. This growth rate
is very rapid and it has yet to show signs of slowing down. The sales to
date have been largely domestic, but with the increasing global interest
on the development of nanotechnology and with the advantage of modern
communication we can for sure speculate that this could be a very
profitable investment in the near future.
Nanotechnology and nano-bio-info-cogno converging technologies are
becoming more and more the decisive factor of the race between regions
and nations to win the future markets and society’s wealth and political
stability. The development shows that five nations are leading the
competition today. China, as one of these five nations, has its unique
advantage of high flexibilty, low labour costs, no barriers for new
technologies, young and vibrant society, large amount of foreign venture
capital, underestimated currency (today about 25 percent undervalue
compared with the US Dollar), low taxes, goverment support and a home
market with more than 1.3 billion people for applications.
- Nano-Bio-Info-Cogno-Socio-Anthro-Philo- HLEG :
Foresighting the New Technology Wave Converging Technologies :
Shaping the Future of European Societies
- Molecule-size sensors inside astronauts' cells could warn of health impacts from space radiation.
-
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/28oct_nanosensors.htm
- Wouldn't it be nice if the cells in your body would simply
tell you when you're starting to get sick, long before symptoms appear?
Or alert you when a tumor is growing, while it's still microscopic and
harmless?
he ability to detect changes inside of individual cells while those
cells are still inside your body would be a boon to medicine.
NASA-supported scientists are developing a technology right now that
could, if it works, do exactly that.
The scientists don't actually coax the cells into talking, of
course. The idea is to place "nanoparticles" inside the cells to
function as molecule-size sensors. Whenever these sensors encounter
certain signs of trouble -- a fragment of an invading virus perhaps --
they would begin to glow, signaling the outside world that something is
wrong.
- The Next Giant Leap: The next big thing is small: Nanotechnology could lead to radical improvements for space exploration.
-
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/technologies/27jul_nanotech.html
- When it comes to taking the next "giant leap" in space exploration, NASA is thinking small -- really small.
In laboratories around the country, NASA is supporting the burgeoning
science of nanotechnology. The basic idea is to learn to deal with
matter at the atomic scale -- to be able to control individual atoms
and molecules well enough to design molecule-size machines, advanced
electronics and "smart" materials.
If visionaries are right, nanotechnology could lead to robots
you can hold on your fingertip, self-healing spacesuits, space
elevators and other fantastic devices. Some of these things may take
20+ years to fully develop; others are taking shape in the laboratory
today.
- Voyage of the Nano-Surgeons : NASA-funded
scientists are crafting microscopic vessels that can venture into the
human body and repair problems – one cell at a time.
- NASA and Self-Replicating Systems: Implications for Nanotechnology
-
http://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/selfRepNASA.html
- In the summer of 1980, NASA and the American Society for
Engineering Education (ASEE) sponsored a summer study by 15 NASA
program engineers and 18 educators from U.S. universities to
investigate advanced automation for space missions. The resulting
400-page report included a 150-page chapter on "Replicating Systems
Concepts: Self-Replicating Lunar Factory and Demonstration" which
proposed a 20-year program to develop a self-replicating general
purpose lunar manufacturing facility (a Self Replicating System, or
SRS) that would be placed on the lunar surface. The design was based
entirely on conventional technology.
The "seed" for the facility, to be landed on the lunar surface from
Earth to start the process, was 100 tons (approximately four Apollo
missions). Once this 100-ton seed was in place, all further raw
materials would be mined from the lunar surface and processed into the
parts required to extend the SRS. A significant advantage of this
approach for space exploration would be to reduce or eliminate the need
to transport mass from the Earth--which is relatively expensive.
The report remarks that "The difficulty of surmounting the
Earth's gravitational potential makes it more efficient to consider
sending information in preference to matter into space whenever
possible. Once a small number of self-replicating facilities has been
established in space, each able to feed upon nonterrestrial materials,
further exports of mass from Earth will dwindle and eventually cease.
The replicative feature is unique in its ability to grow, in situ, a
vastly larger production facility than could reasonably be transported
from Earth. Thus the time required to organize extraordinarily large
amounts of mass in space and to set up and perform various ambitious
future missions can be greatly shortened by using a self-replicating
factory that expands to the desired manufacturing capacity."
"The useful applications of replicating factories with
facilities for manufacturing products other than their own components
are virtually limitless."
Establishing the credibility of the concept occupied the early
part of the chapter. The theoretical work of von Neumann was reviewed
in some detail. Von Neumann designed a self-replicating device that
existed in a two-dimensional "cellular automata" world. The device had
an "arm" capable of creating arbitrary structures, and a computer
capable of executing arbitrary programs. The computer, under program
control, would issue detailed instructions to the arm. The resulting
universal constructor was self-replicating almost as a by-product of
its ability to create any structure in the two-dimensional world in
which it lived. If it could build any structure it could easily build a
copy of itself, and hence was self-replicating.
One interesting aspect of von Neumann's work is the relative
simplicity of the resulting device: a few hundred kilobits to a
megabit. Self-replicating systems need not inherently be vastly
complex. Simple existing biological systems, such as bacteria, have a
complexity of about 10 million bits. Of course, a significant part of
this complexity is devoted to mechanisms for synthesizing all the
chemicals needed to build bacteria from any one of several simple
sugars and a few inorganic salts, and other mechanisms for detecting
and moving to nutrients. Bacteria are more complex than strictly
necessary simply to self-reproduce.
Despite the relative simplicity that could theoretically be
achieved by the simplest self-reproducing systems, the proposed lunar
facility would be highly complex: perhaps 100 billion to a trillion
bits to describe. This would make it almost 10 thousand to 100 thousand
times more complex than a bacterium, and a million times more complex
than von Neumann's theoretical proposal. This level of complexity puts
the project near the limits of current capabilities. (Recall that a
major software project might involve a few tens of millions of lines of
code, each line having a few tens of characters and each character
being several bits. The total raw complexity is about 10 billion
bits--perhaps 10 to 100 times less complex than the proposed SRS.)
Where did this "excess" complexity come from?
The SRS has to exist in a complex lunar environment without any
human support. The complexity estimate for the orbital site map alone
is 100 billion bits, and the facilities for mining and refining the
lunar soil have to deal with the entire range of circumstances that
arise in such operations. This includes moving around the lunar surface
(the proposal included the manufacture and placement of flat cast
basalt slabs laid down by a team of five paving robots); mining
operations such as strip mining, hauling, landfilling, grading,
cellar-digging and towing; chemical processing operations including
electrophoretic separation and HF (hydrofluoric) acid-leach separation,
the recovery of volatiles, refractories, metals, and nonmetallic
elements and the disposal of residue and wastes; the production of wire
stock, cast basalt, iron or steel parts; casting, mold-making, mixing
and alloying in furnaces and laser machining and finishing; inspection
and storage of finished parts, parts retrieval and assembly and
subassembly testing; and computer control of the entire SRS.
When we contrast this with a bacterium, much of the additional
complexity is relatively easy to explain. Bacteria use a relatively
small number of well defined chemical components which are brought to
them by diffusion. This eliminates the mining, hauling, leaching,
casting, molding, finishing, and so forth. The molecular "parts" are
readily available and identical, which greatly simplifies parts
inspection and handling. The actual assembly of the parts uses a single
relatively simple programmable device, the ribosome, which performs
only a simple rigid sequence of assembly operations (no AI in a
ribosome!). Parts assembly is done primarily with "self-assembly"
methods which involve no further parts-handling.
Another basic issue is closure. "Imagine that the entire
factory and all of its machines are broken down into their component
parts. If the original factory cannot fabricate every one of these
items, then parts closure does not exist and the system is not fully
self-replicating." In the case of the SRS, the list of all the
component parts would be quite large. In the case of a bacterium, there
are only 2,000 to 4,000 different "parts" (proteins). This means that
the descriptions of the parts are less complex. Because most of the
parts fall into the same class (proteins), the manufacturing process is
simplified (the ribosome is adequate to manufacture all proteins).
What does all this mean for humanity? The report says "From the
human standpoint, perhaps the most exciting consequence of
self-replicating systems is that they provide a means for organizing
potentially infinite quantities of matter. This mass could be so
organized as to produce an ever-widening habitat for man throughout the
Solar System. Self-replicating homes, O'Neill-style space colonies, or
great domed cities on the surfaces of other worlds would allow a niche
diversification of such grand proportions as never before experienced
by the human species."
The report concludes that "The theoretical concept of machine
duplication is well developed. There are several alternative strategies
by which machine self-replication can be carried out in a practical
engineering setting. . . .There is also available a body of theoretical
automation concepts in the realm of machine construction by machine, in
machine inspection of machines, and machine repair of machines, which
can be drawn upon to engineer practical machine systems capable of
replication. . . . An engineering demonstration project can be
initiated immediately, to begin with simple replication of robot
assembler by robot assembler from supplied parts, and proceeding in
phased steps to full reproduction of a complete machine processing or
factory system by another machine processing system, supplied,
ultimately, only with raw materials."
What implications does the NASA study have for nanotechnology?
The broad implications of self-replicating systems, regardless
of scale, are often similar. The economic impact of such systems is
clear and dramatic. Things become cheap, and projects of sweeping scale
can be considered and carried out in a reasonable time frame without
undue expense.
The concepts involved in analyzing self-replicating
systems--including closure, parts counts, parts manufacturing, parts
assembly, system complexity, and the like--are also quite similar. The
general approach of using a computer (whether nano or macro) to control
a general purpose assembly capability is also clearly supported.
Whether the general-purpose manufacturing capability is a miniature
cross-section of current manufacturing techniques (as proposed for the
SRS), or simply a single assembler arm which controls individual
molecules during the assembly process, the basic concepts involved are
the same.
Finally, by considering the design of an artificial SRS in such
detail, the NASA team showed clearly that such things are feasible.
Their analysis also provides good support for the idea that a
nanotechnological "assembler" can be substantially less complex than a
trillion bits in design complexity. There are several methods of
simplifying the design of the "Mark I Assembler," as compared with the
NASA SRS. First, it could exist in a highly controlled environment,
rather than the uncontrolled lunar surface. Second, it could expect to
find many of its molecular parts, including exotic parts that it might
find difficult or impossible to manufacture itself, pre-fabricated and
provided in a convenient and simple format (e.g., floating in
solution). Third, it could use simple "blind," fixed-sequence assembly
operations.
Conceptually, the only major improvements provided by the Mark
I Assembler over a simple bacterium would be the general purpose
positional control it will exert over the reactive compounds that it
uses to manufacture "parts," and the wider range of chemical reactions
it will use to assemble those "parts" into bigger "parts." Bacteria are
able to synthesize any protein. The Mark I Assembler would be able to
synthesize a very much wider range of structures. Because it would have
to manufacture its own control computer as a simple prerequisite to its
own self-replication, it would revolutionize the computer industry
almost automatically. By providing precise atomic control even the Mark
I Assembler will revolutionize the manufacturing process.
Copies of "Advanced Automation for Space Missions" are
available from NTIS. Mail order: NTIS, U.S. Department of Commerce,
National Technical Information Service, Springfield, VA. 22161.
Telephone orders with payment via major credit cards are accepted; call
703-487-4650 and request "N83-15348. Advanced Automation for Space
Missions; NASA Conference Publication (or CP) 2255." Publication date
is 1982 (although the study was done in 1980). Purchase price is about
$60.00, various shipping options are available.
- Advanced Automation for Space Missions (report completed in 1980)
-
http://www.islandone.org/MMSG/aasm/
- What follows is a portion of the final report of a NASA summer
study, conducted in 1980 by request of newly- elected President Jimmy
Carter at a cost of 11.7 million dollars. The result of the study was a
realistic proposal for a self-replicating automated lunar factory
system, capable of exponentially increasing productive capacity and, in
the long run, exploration of the entire galaxy within a reasonable
timeframe. Unfortunately, the proposal was quietly declined with barely
a ripple in the press.
- "In the lower left corner, a lunar manufacturing facility rises from
the surface of the Moon. Someday, such a factory might replicate itself,
or at least produce most o f its own components, so that the number of
facilities could grow very rapidly from a single seed."
- Self-Assembling Nanotubes
- Nanofactory Product Catalog (NPC)
-
http://nano-catalog.com/
- This catalog is a compilation of ideas and designs for
products that could be produced by a home desktop nanofactory or
commercial molecular manufacturing industry.
- Electric Grass: Solar panels indistinguishable from
plants, aside, of course, from being inedible to wildlife. Replacing
lawns in this fashion will generate huge amounts of power, as well as
eliminating fertilizer runoff, and lawn mowing labor. Attach the "lawn
interface" to your power panel, unfold the lawn panels and apply to the
ground like carpet squares. The lawn pieces connect to each other and
to the interface module. More individualized "plants" can be made up of
variable assemblages of structural and solar collecting units, and
assume any shape you assign, from a flower bed to a tree.
- Food Machine: Makes tasty food from any biomass. Just
stuff whatever plants or animal matter into the input hopper and
miniturized chemical processes deconstruct it and reconstruct it into
your desired dish. The Food Machine has a large chamber at the top to
accept the biomass, which locks at the beginning of the process. A
combination of heat and enzymes break down the biomass into simple
amino acids and simple carbohydrates. After thermal depolymerization
the molecules are sorted and routed to the production tracks. Some
production tracks use lab-on-chip technology, others use molecular
mills to produce the food precursers. The starches, proteins, and fatty
acids of various lengths and properties, and also vitamins are routed
to the product assembly chamber (below the input chamber) and are
assembled into the finished product by micro-mechanical techniques.
- Nano-Paint: While maintaining the functionality of
Drexler's Smart-Paint (self spreading, color control, self repair, and
self cleaning), Nano-Paint incorporates several new and incredibly
useful features, solar to electric power generation, electro-shock
insect pest control, user configurable display screens, electrical
power distribution, air cleaning by active molecular transport, and
sound dampening or production.
- A bloodborne spherical 1-micron diamondoid 1000-atm
pressure vessel with active pumping powered by endogenous serum
glucose, able to deliver 236 times more oxygen to the tissues per unit
volume than natural red cells and to manage carbonic acidity. An
onboard nanocomputer and numerous chemical and pressure sensors enable
complex device behaviors remotely reprogrammable.
- Constructed from a matrix of diamondoid and carbon
nanotube lattice plus an array of molecular machinery for added
functionality, the suit is bulletproof, and when wearing the hood (not
shown) it filters the air you breathe. The suit monitors the occupant's
physical condition and will go rigid to prevent crushing or to
distribute force. Also limits flexibility to a safe range of motion.
Provides protection against infectious and chemical agents, and with
the ability to inflate itself can provide temperature insulation,
buoyancy, and injury stabilization, plus a safe comfortable harness for
vertical work. Depending on amount of inflation, it can provide impact
protection or even partial free-fall protection. It can gather a little
solar power. It can also control humidity and keep out environmental
toxins (smoke, poison ivy, military chemicals). With enough power, it
can provide cooling.
- Microbivore artificial white blood cell: Artificial mechanical
phagocytes of microscopic size, called "microbivores," whose primary
function is to destroy microbiological pathogens found in the human
bloodstream using a digest and discharge protocol. The microbivore is an
oblate spheroidal nanomedical device measuring 3.4 microns in diameter
along its major axis and 2.0 microns in diameter along its minor axis,
consisting of 610 billion precisely arranged structural atoms in a gross
geometric volume of 12.1 micron3. The device may consume up to 200 pW of
continuous power while completely digesting trapped microbes at a
maximum throughput of 2 micron3 of organic material per 30-second cycle.
Microbivores are up to ~1000 times faster-acting than either natural or
antibiotic-assisted biological phagocytic defenses, and are ~80 times
more efficient as phagocytic agents than macrophages, in terms of
volume/sec digested per unit volume of phagocytic agent.
- October 11, 2005 : Blogging the Nanoworld
-
http://www.cientifica.com/blog/mt/
- With Howard Lovy's Nanobot being closed down by his new employers
for fear of further antagonizing non Kabbalists, molecular nano skeptics
and the entire population of China we felt it was time to round up a few
of the blogs that currently catch our eye.
- Howard Lovy's NanoBot: Saturday, July 02, 2005 : Feynman on freedom
-
http://nanobot.blogspot.com/
- 'So I have just one wish for you -- the good luck to be somewhere
where you are free to maintain the kind of integrity I have described,
and where you do not feel forced by a need to maintain your position in
the organization, or financial support, or so on, to lose your
integrity. May you have that freedom.'
-- Richard Feynman, from a Caltech commencement address given in 1974
- No government has the right to decide on the truth of scientific
principles, nor to prescribe in any way the character of the questions
investigated. Neither may a government determine the aesthetic value of
artistic creations, nor limit the forms of literacy or artistic
expression. Nor should it pronounce on the validity of economic,
historic, religious, or philosophical doctrines. Instead it has a duty
to its citizens to maintain the freedom, to let those citizens
contribute to the further adventure and the development of the human
race.
-- [Richard Feynman], "The Uncertainty of Values" (in the collection "The Meaning of it All")
- CARGO CULT SCIENCE by Richard Feynman: Adapted from the Caltech commencement address given in 1974.
-
http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/cargocul.htm
-
http://www.physics.brocku.ca/etc/cargo_cult_science.html
- During the Middle Ages there were all kinds of crazy ideas, such
as that a piece of rhinoceros horn would increase potency. Then a
method was discovered for separating the ideas--which was to try
one to see if it worked, and if it didn't work, to eliminate it.
This method became organized, of course, into science. And it
developed very well, so that we are now in the scientific age. It
is such a scientific age, in fact that we have difficulty in
understanding how witch doctors could ever have existed, when
nothing that they proposed ever really worked--or very little of
it did.
But even today I meet lots of people who sooner or later get me
into a conversation about UFOS, or astrology, or some form of
mysticism, expanded consciousness, new types of awareness, ESP, and
so forth. And I've concluded that it's not a scientific world.
Most people believe so many wonderful things that I decided to
investigate why they did. And what has been referred to as my
curiosity for investigation has landed me in a difficulty where I
found so much junk that I'm overwhelmed. First I started out by
investigating various ideas of mysticism, and mystic experiences.
I went into isolation tanks and got many hours of hallucinations,
so I know something about that. Then I went to Esalen, which is a
hotbed of this kind of thought (it's a wonderful place; you should
go visit there). Then I became overwhelmed. I didn't realize how
much there was.
At Esalen there are some large baths fed by hot springs situated
on a ledge about thirty feet above the ocean. One of my most
pleasurable experiences has been to sit in one of those baths and
watch the waves crashing onto the rocky shore below, to gaze into
the clear blue sky above, and to study a beautiful nude as she
quietly appears and settles into the bath with me.
One time I sat down in a bath where there was a beautiful girl
sitting with a guy who didn't seem to know her. Right away I began
thinking, "Gee! How am I gonna get started talking to this
beautiful nude babe?"
I'm trying to figure out what to say, when the guy says to her,
I'm, uh, studying massage. Could I practice on you?"
"Sure," she says. They get out of the bath and she lies down on a
massage table nearby.
I think to myself, "What a nifty line! I can never think of
anything like that!" He starts to rub her big toe. "I think I feel
it, "he says. "I feel a kind of dent--is that the pituitary?"
I blurt out, "You're a helluva long way from the pituitary, man!"
They looked at me, horrified--I had blown my cover--and said, "It's
reflexology!"
I quickly closed my eyes and appeared to be meditating.
That's just an example of the kind of things that overwhelm me. I
also looked into extrasensory perception and PSI phenomena, and the
latest craze there was Uri Geller, a man who is supposed to be able
to bend keys by rubbing them with his finger. So I went to his
hotel room, on his invitation, to see a demonstration of both
mindreading and bending keys. He didn't do any mindreading that
succeeded; nobody can read my mind, I guess. And my boy held a key
and Geller rubbed it, and nothing happened. Then he told us it
works better under water, and so you can picture all of us standing
in the bathroom with the water turned on and the key under it, and
him rubbing the key with his finger. Nothing happened. So I was
unable to investigate that phenomenon.
But then I began to think, what else is there that we believe?
(And I thought then about the witch doctors, and how easy it would have
been to check on them by noticing that nothing really worked.) So
I found things that even more people believe, such as that we have
some knowledge of how to educate. There are big schools of reading
methods and mathematics methods, and so forth, but if you notice,
you'll see the reading scores keep going down--or hardly going up
in spite of the fact that we continually use these same people to
improve the methods. There's a witch doctor remedy that doesn't
work. It ought to be looked into; how do they know that their
method should work? Another example is how to treat criminals. We
obviously have made no progress--lots of theory, but no progress--
in decreasing the amount of crime by the method that we use to
handle criminals.
Yet these things are said to be scientific. We study them. And I
think ordinary people with commonsense ideas are intimidated by
this pseudoscience. A teacher who has some good idea of how to
teach her children to read is forced by the school system to do it
some other way--or is even fooled by the school system into
thinking that her method is not necessarily a good one. Or a parent
of bad boys, after disciplining them in one way or another, feels
guilty for the rest of her life because she didn't do "the right
thing," according to the experts.
So we really ought to look into theories that don't work, and
science that isn't science.
I think the educational and psychological studies I mentioned are
examples of what I would like to call cargo cult science. In the
South Seas there is a cargo cult of people. During the war they saw
airplanes land with lots of good materials, and they want the same
thing to happen now. So they've arranged to imitate things like
runways, to put fires along the sides of the runways, to make a
wooden hut for a man to sit in, with two wooden pieces on his head
like headphones and bars of bamboo sticking out like antennas--he's
the controller--and they wait for the airplanes to land. They're
doing everything right. The form is perfect. It looks exactly the
way it looked before. But it doesn't work. No airplanes land. So
I call these things cargo cult science, because they follow all the
apparent precepts and forms of scientific investigation, but
they're missing something essential, because the planes don't land.
Now it behooves me, of course, to tell you what they're missing.
But it would be just about as difficult to explain to the South Sea
Islanders how they have to arrange things so that they get some
wealth in their system. It is not something simple like telling
them how to improve the shapes of the earphones. But there is one
feature I notice that is generally missing in cargo cult science.
That is the idea that we all hope you have learned in studying
science in school--we never explicitly say what this is, but just
hope that you catch on by all the examples of scientific
investigation. It is interesting, therefore, to bring it out now
and speak of it explicitly. It's a kind of scientific integrity,
a principle of scientific thought that corresponds to a kind of
utter honesty--a kind of leaning over backwards. For example, if
you're doing an experiment, you should report everything that you
think might make it invalid--not only what you think is right about
it: other causes that could possibly explain your results; and
things you thought of that you've eliminated by some other
experiment, and how they worked--to make sure the other fellow can
tell they have been eliminated.
Details that could throw doubt on your interpretation must be
given, if you know them. You must do the best you can--if you know
anything at all wrong, or possibly wrong--to explain it. If you
make a theory, for example, and advertise it, or put it out, then
you must also put down all the facts that disagree with it, as well
as those that agree with it. There is also a more subtle problem.
When you have put a lot of ideas together to make an elaborate
theory, you want to make sure, when explaining what it fits, that
those things it fits are not just the things that gave you the idea
for the theory; but that the finished theory makes something else
come out right, in addition.
In summary, the idea is to try to give all of the information to
help others to judge the value of your contribution; not just the
information that leads to judgment in one particular direction or
another.
The easiest way to explain this idea is to contrast it, for
example, with advertising. Last night I heard that Wesson oil
doesn't soak through food. Well, that's true. It's not dishonest;
but the thing I'm talking about is not just a matter of not being
dishonest, it's a matter of scientific integrity, which is another
level. The fact that should be added to that advertising statement
is that no oils soak through food, if operated at a certain
temperature. If operated at another temperature, they all will--
including Wesson oil. So it's the implication which has been
conveyed, not the fact, which is true, and the difference is what
we have to deal with.
We've learned from experience that the truth will come out. Other
experimenters will repeat your experiment and find out whether you
were wrong or right. Nature's phenomena will agree or they'll
disagree with your theory. And, although you may gain some
temporary fame and excitement, you will not gain a good reputation
as a scientist if you haven't tried to be very careful in this kind
of work. And it's this type of integrity, this kind of care not to
fool yourself, that is missing to a large extent in much of the
research in cargo cult science.
A great deal of their difficulty is, of course, the difficulty of
the subject and the inapplicability of the scientific method to the
subject. Nevertheless it should be remarked that this is not the
only difficulty. That's why the planes didn't land--but they don't
land.
We have learned a lot from experience about how to handle some of
the ways we fool ourselves. One example: Millikan measured the
charge on an electron by an experiment with falling oil drops, and
got an answer which we now know not to be quite right. It's a
little bit off, because he had the incorrect value for the
viscosity of air. It's interesting to look at the history of
measurements of the charge of the electron, after Millikan. If you
plot them as a function of time, you find that one is a little
bigger than Millikan's, and the next one's a little bit bigger than
that, and the next one's a little bit bigger than that, until
finally they settle down to a number which is higher.
Why didn't they discover that the new number was higher right away?
It's a thing that scientists are ashamed of--this history--because
it's apparent that people did things like this: When they got a
number that was too high above Millikan's, they thought something
must be wrong--and they would look for and find a reason why
something might be wrong. When they got a number closer to
Millikan's value they didn't look so hard. And so they eliminated
the numbers that were too far off, and did other things like that.
We've learned those tricks nowadays, and now we don't have that
kind of a disease.
But this long history of learning how not to fool ourselves--of
having utter scientific integrity--is, I'm sorry to say, something
that we haven't specifically included in any particular course that
I know of. We just hope you've caught on by osmosis.
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself--and you are
the easiest person to fool. So you have to be very careful about
that. After you've not fooled yourself, it's easy not to fool other
scientists. You just have to be honest in a conventional way after
that.
I would like to add something that's not essential to the science,
but something I kind of believe, which is that you should not fool
the layman when you're talking as a scientist. I am not trying to
tell you what to do about cheating on your wife, or fooling your
girlfriend, or something like that, when you're not trying to be
a scientist, but just trying to be an ordinary human being. We'll
leave those problems up to you and your rabbi. I'm talking about
a specific, extra type of integrity that is not lying, but bending
over backwards to show how you are maybe wrong, that you ought to
have when acting as a scientist. And this is our responsibility as
scientists, certainly to other scientists, and I think to laymen.
For example, I was a little surprised when I was talking to a
friend who was going to go on the radio. He does work on cosmology
and astronomy, and he wondered how he would explain what the
applications of this work were. "Well," I said, "there aren't any."
He said, "Yes, but then we won't get support for more research of
this kind." I think that's kind of dishonest. If you're
representing yourself as a scientist, then you should explain to
the layman what you're doing--and if they don't want to support you
under those circumstances, then that's their decision.
One example of the principle is this: If you've made up your mind
to test a theory, or you want to explain some idea, you should
always decide to publish it whichever way it comes out. If we only
publish results of a certain kind, we can make the argument look
good. We must publish both kinds of results.
I say that's also important in giving certain types of government
advice. Supposing a senator asked you for advice about whether
drilling a hole should be done in his state; and you decide it
would be better in some other state. If you don't publish such a
result, it seems to me you're not giving scientific advice. You're
being used. If your answer happens to come out in the direction the
government or the politicians like, they can use it as an argument
in their favor; if it comes out the other way, they don't publish
it at all. That's not giving scientific advice.
Other kinds of errors are more characteristic of poor science. When
I was at Cornell, I often talked to the people in the psychology
department. One of the students told me she wanted to do an
experiment that went something like this--it had been found by
others that under certain circumstances, X, rats did something, A.
She was curious as to whether, if she changed the circumstances to
Y, they would still do A. So her proposal was to do the experiment
under circumstances Y and see if they still did A.
I explained to her that it was necessary first to repeat in her
laboratory the experiment of the other person--to do it under
condition X to see if she could also get result A, and then change
to Y and see if A changed. Then she would know that the real
difference was the thing she thought she had under control.
She was very delighted with this new idea, and went to her
professor. And his reply was, no, you cannot do that, because the
experiment has already been done and you would be wasting time.
This was in about 1947 or so, and it seems to have been the general
policy then to not try to repeat psychological experiments, but
only to change the conditions and see what happens.
Nowadays there's a certain danger of the same thing happening, even
in the famous (?) field of physics. I was shocked to hear of an
experiment done at the big accelerator at the National Accelerator
Laboratory, where a person used deuterium. In order to compare his
heavy hydrogen results to what might happen with light hydrogen"
he had to use data from someone else's experiment on light
hydrogen, which was done on different apparatus. When asked why,
he said it was because he couldn't get time on the program (because
there's so little time and it's such expensive apparatus) to do the
experiment with light hydrogen on this apparatus because there
wouldn't be any new result. And so the men in charge of programs
at NAL are so anxious for new results, in order to get more money
to keep the thing going for public relations purposes, they are
destroying--possibly--the value of the experiments themselves,
which is the whole purpose of the thing. It is often hard for the
experimenters there to complete their work as their scientific
integrity demands.
All experiments in psychology are not of this type, however. For
example, there have been many experiments running rats through all
kinds of mazes, and so on--with little clear result. But in 1937
a man named Young did a very interesting one. He had a long
corridor with doors all along one side where the rats came in, and
doors along the other side where the food was. He wanted to see if
he could train the rats to go in at the third door down from
wherever he started them off. No. The rats went immediately to the
door where the food had been the time before.
The question was, how did the rats know, because the corridor was
so beautifully built and so uniform, that this was the same door
as before? Obviously there was something about the door that was
different from the other doors. So he painted the doors very
carefully, arranging the textures on the faces of the doors exactly
the same. Still the rats could tell. Then he thought maybe the rats
were smelling the food, so he used chemicals to change the smell
after each run. Still the rats could tell. Then he realized the
rats might be able to tell by seeing the lights and the arrangement
in the laboratory like any commonsense person. So he covered the
corridor, and still the rats could tell.
He finally found that they could tell by the way the floor sounded
when they ran over it. And he could only fix that by putting his
corridor in sand. So he covered one after another of all possible
clues and finally was able to fool the rats so that they had to
learn to go in the third door. If he relaxed any of his conditions,
the rats could tell.
Now, from a scientific standpoint, that is an A-number-one
experiment. That is the experiment that makes rat-running
experiments sensible, because it uncovers the clues that the rat
is really using--not what you think it's using. And that is the
experiment that tells exactly what conditions you have to use in
order to be careful and control everything in an experiment with
rat-running.
I looked into the subsequent history of this research. The next
experiment, and the one after that, never referred to Mr. Young.
They never used any of his criteria of putting the corridor on
sand, or being very careful. They just went right on running rats
in the same old way, and paid no attention to the great discoveries
of Mr. Young, and his papers are not referred to, because he didn't
discover anything about the rats. In fact, he discovered all the
things you have to do to discover something about rats. But not
paying attention to experiments like that is a characteristic of
cargo cult science.
Another example is the ESP experiments of Mr. Rhine, and other
people. As various people have made criticisms--and they themselves
have made criticisms of their own experiments--they improve the
techniques so that the effects are smaller, and smaller, and
smaller until they gradually disappear. All the parapsychologists
are looking for some experiment that can be repeated--that you can
do again and get the same effect--statistically, even. They run a
million rats no, it's people this time they do a lot of things and
get a certain statistical effect. Next time they try it they don't
get it any more. And now you find a man saying that it is an
irrelevant demand to expect a repeatable experiment. This is
science?
This man also speaks about a new institution, in a talk in which
he was resigning as Director of the Institute of Parapsychology.
And, in telling people what to do next, he says that one of the
things they have to do is be sure they only train students who have
shown their ability to get PSI results to an acceptable extent--
not to waste their time on those ambitious and interested students
who get only chance results. It is very dangerous to have such a
policy in teaching--to teach students only how to get certain
results, rather than how to do an experiment with scientific
integrity.
So I have just one wish for you--the good luck to be somewhere
where you are free to maintain the kind of integrity I have
described, and where you do not feel forced by a need to maintain
your position in the organization, or financial support, or so on,
to lose your integrity. May you have that freedom.
- Howard Lovy's NanoBot: Independent nanotechnology information and commentary
- Howard Lovy's NanoBot: Sunday, June 19, 2005: Irresponsible NanoHype
-
http://nanobot.blogspot.com/2005/06/irresponsible-nanohype.html
- Those responsible boys at the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology are
fired up over accusations of nanobot
hype-mongering and are blasting back at the U.S. government's nanotech program. The best part is
that Chris Phoenix and Mike Treder do not even need to write any commentary around it. Using U.S.
science policy leaders' own words, they reveal exactly where the hype is coming from.
Read the intro,
Part 1 and
Part 2
I found the passage below particularly amazing:
- Enabling the blind to see better, the lame to walk better, and the deaf to hear better
- Curing and preventing AIDS, cancer, diabetes and other afflictions
- Ending hunger
- Clean, renewable energy
- Supplementing the power of our minds, enabling us to think great thoughts, create new knowledge and gain new insights.
What molecular manufacturing nutcase is making those irresponsible
claims? U.S. Commerce Undersecretary Phil Bond, the same Phil Bond who,
just a month before making those comments last year, told me that it's
time to "aggressively" counter nanotech misinformation.
Sounds like the patriots at CRN are carrying out the undersecretary's orders.
- Uncyclopedia on Nanotechnology
- Iranian Nanotechnology Initiative
- Defense and National Security Nanomaterials and Nanotechnologies
- Soft Machines : Thoughts on the future of nanotechnology from Richard Jones
- Nanotechnology Implications and Interactions
- October 24, 2005 : KNT or KNTcase?
-
http://www.cientifica.com/blog/mt/
- We're not sure whether this is the point where nanotech moves from
hype to fad, but in the wake of Apple's ipod nano (Small Times
accidentally ran an automated story on this last week!) we now have, oh
dear, Kabbalistic Nanotechnology.
Madonna's favourite Rabbi Rav Berg's book Kabbalistic Nanotechnology
just popped up on our radar thanks to an anonymous tipster (see the
description below).
The description sounds uncannily Drexlerain in its utopian nature, which
makes us wonder how many of the attendees at this weeks Foresight Vision
Weekend will have seen this particular light? This recent addition to
nanotechnology's rich pageant gives us yet another flavour, KNT anyone?
"Two emerging technologies promise to transform the world in ways that
will make the breakthroughs of the 20th century seem pedestrian. One has
existed for less than 50 years and is called nanotechnology. The other
has existed for 4,000 years and is called Kabbalah. On the surface, they
seem to be divergent, even contradictory technologies. But in fact, they
are complementary in the most profound ways possible. One promises to
deliver a practical technology and a transformed world in the distant
future. The other promises practical tools and remarkable changes now.
In this book, Kabbalist Rav Berg isolates the common points of science
and spirit to reveal the elusive path toward achieving humanity's
noblest and most challenging aspiration - the manipulation of the
physical world. The potential uses are staggering: pollution reversal,
elimination of disease and genetic defects, eradication of poverty,
microscopic computers faster than today's best supercomputers, and the
indefinite extension of the human lifespan."
- October 12, 2005 : A Monstrous Misconception
-
http://www.cientifica.com/blog/mt/
- Jobs portal Monster.com has an article on how to get a job in the
Nanotechnology Industry, but perhaps that should that be the yet to come
Molecular Nanotechnology Industry?
Ominously, the article starts with Michael Crichton's definition of
nanotechnology as "the quest to build man-made machines of extremely
small size, on the order of 100 nanometers, or 100/billionths of a
meter."
It gets worse from here with the author suggesting that a good way to
get a nanotech job would be to join an organisation such as Foresight.
It's hard to think of a worse idea, as most nanotech related jobs are
concerned with real world applications, not pontificating about possible
nanobot related scenarios. In fact the mere mention of nanobots is
enough to bring most job interviews to an speedy conclusion, whether in
industry or the academic world.
It brings us back to the twin issues of the non-existence of any kind of
nanotechnology industry, and the fact that nanotechnologies cut across a
wide variety of academic disciplines and industries. While there are
many jobs that may involve the application of nanotechnologies, there
are very few companies entirely concerned with nanotechnologies, and
even those will have specific requirements for chemical engineers or
material scientists.
The mistake commonly made in this type of article is to assume that
there exists some kind of industry often described as the digitisation
of matter where anyone fascinated by computer games and science fiction
can find a job. The harsh reality is no different from any other sector,
you have to have the skills and experience that an employer wants, and a
predilection for sci-fi usually comes low on the list of priorities.
- Industry Spotlight: Nanotechnology
-
http://technology.monster.com/articles/nanotech/
- Engineers, software professionals and other techies are
always looking for the next big thing. And according to some futurists
and techno gurus, it could be something small: Nanotechnology.
Doctor, sci-fi author and Hollywood power broker Michael Crichton
sees nanotechnology as "perhaps the most radical technology in human
history."
What Is Nanotechnology?
Crichton defines it as "the quest to build man-made machines of
extremely small size, on the order of 100 nanometers, or 100/billionths
of a meter." In an article in Parade magazine, Crichton wrote about the
potential power of the field: "Such machines would be 1,000 times
smaller than the diameter of a human hair. Experts predict that these
tiny machines will provide everything from miniaturized computer
components to new medical treatments to new military weapons. In the
21st century, they will change our world totally."
No wonder techies of all types are scrambling to learn about
this nascent field. "Lots of people are very interested in
nanotechnology," says Christine Peterson, vice president of public
policy for the Foresight Nanotech Institute, the leading nanotech think
tank. "They can see this is the next big thing, and they want to
participate."
As Foresight defines it, nanotechnology encompasses a number of
technologies -- some with current or near-term applications, others
with applications likely to be developed in the distant future. But
experts say it is a field that utilizes a wide variety of technical
skills and knowledge, including electrical engineering, materials
science, chemistry, physics, mechanical engineering and software.
"The good news is that you can come at nanotechnology from
almost any technical direction," says Peterson. "The bad news is
sometimes you need to go back to school."
How to Break In
Peterson, who counsels Foresight members on career issues, says
she sees "a lot of software folks -- dotcom-bust people -- jaded with
that field and wanting to do something new and exciting." But "the jump
from software to nano is a pretty big jump," she cautions. "Some people
in software are good about bits, but they can't think about atoms."
Those best positioned to enter the field include experts in
materials science and applied chemistry as well as others "who have
been thinking about molecules," as Peterson puts it.
Research is essential. Students should consider which aspect of
nanotechnology is right for them, and then seek out leading local
university scholars in that arena. To make your mark, tap into your
school's resources and conduct research. Positions for those with
nanotechnology research experience range from PhD scientists working on
original ideas in the lab to those with bachelor's degrees carrying out
experiments and filling other support roles.
You can also research the field by:
- Scanning Online Resources: The online world offers a wealth of
nanotechnology resources. The Forbes/Wolfe Nanotech Report, the
Foresight Nanotechnology Institute, the Nano Science and Technology
Institute and the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network, among
scores of other spots, will connect you with message boards, blogs,
courses and other resources.
- Joining an Organization: Consider membership in Foresight or
other groups as a way to meet others and become immersed in the field.
- Attending a Conference: Nanotechnology conferences provide a
way to network, connect with companies and hear from industry leaders.
Ignore the Hype
Some in the field caution that excessive hype is driving
interest in nanotechnology. "So far, it's an idea," says Lev Dulman,
CEO of AngstroVision, a startup working on imaging for nanotechnology.
In Dulman's view, those considering a career in nanotechnology
shouldn't focus on nanotechnology itself, "because there's still not a
clear definition of what it is." Instead, he suggests focusing on the
"problems associated with nanotechnology," such as developing
instrumentation and tools to work toward practical applications.
Follow the Money
Others, however, see nanotechnology as happening now rather than far into the future.
"Follow the money," advises Peterson, noting the cash being
funneled into nanotechnology in Europe, Japan and the US. Just one
example: The federal government's 2006 budget includes more than $1
billion in R&D funding requests for nanotech projects in 11
departments and agencies. "It doesn't really matter whether there's
hype or not. If there's money going into it, that's real."
- Cracking the Science of Undies
-
http://www.abc.net.au/science/features/undies/default.htm
- But Dr Tony Pierlot, a researcher with CSIRO Textile & Fibre
Technology argues that many new synthetic fibres and manufacturing
techniques would not be necessary if wool was worn more often. He says
wool's structure and chemical composition naturally inhibits bacterial
growth and it also keeps body odours down by trapping the smells and
releasing them during washing and by carrying sweat away from the skin.
Wool is pretty weird stuff. Paradoxically it is water repellent but can
absorb 35 per cent of its own weight in water, Pierlot says, and still
feel dry. Meanwhile, tiny pores in the wool fibres allow water vapour to
pass right through. This is why wool is comfortable because it can
'breathe' and allow body heat and moisture out.
Ironically, scientists are now working on a synthetic fibre and
engineering materials containing carbon nanotubes. "Funnily enough, it
turns out nature's already thought about nanotechnology - for at least a
few million years," says Pierlot "because wool is a complex assembly of
nano-sized fibres." "The human race is besotted by technology, but if
you hang in long enough the worm turns and people come back to natural
fibres … the challenge is to develop a range of products that have
relevance to people's lifestyles now."
- Nanotube water doesn't freeze - even at hundreds of degrees below zero
- Chinese boffins in copper nanotubes acronym outrage
-
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/09/nanotube_acronyms/
- We're awarding today a much-coveted Vulture Vulgar Acronym trophy
(VULVA) to China's Dachi Yang, Guowen Meng, Shuyuan Zhang, Yufeng Hao,
Xiaohong An, Qing Wei, Min Yeab, and Lide Zhanga for a truly
breathtaking contribution to the genre in their snappily-titled
Electrochemical synthesis of metal and semimetal nanotube-nanowire
heterojunctions and their electronic transport properties.
Ok, so here it is: you've got your carbon nanotubes (CNTs), your
single-walled nanotubes (SWNTs), or even your multi-walled nanotubes
(MWNTs). Then some bright spark develops copper nanotubes.
Right, now you need an acronym for those. Let's have a think... Yup, got
it:
Genius. According to the supplementary information (pdf): "For CuNT-BiNW
heterojunction arrays, the Au-coated AAO template was mounted on the
PMMA cell, CuNTs segments were electrodeposited inside the half depth of
the nanochannels under a constant current density of 2.2 mA/cm2 for 30
min at room temperature, with a graphite plate as the counter
electrode."
There's more - what about bismuth nanotubes? Well, it just gets better
and better: "Firstly, BiNT segments were electrodeposited inside the
half depth of the nanochannels under a constant current density of 2
mA/cm2 for 30 min at room temperature."
BiNT segments? We love it. A well-deserved VULVA to the Chinese team.
- TNTlog: June 17, 2004: The Nanobots that Just Won’t Die:
- Nano-robot-red-blood-cells (making it possible to survive for hours without breathing)
- Nano-robot-white blood cells (also called nano-submarines : only minutes to find and clear the entire human body of pathogens)
- Nanobots for unlimited human life extension to defend against the "human holocaust" of death due to natural aging
- Space elevator using carbon nanotubes for the cable.
- TNTlog: June 16, 2004:Premature Predictions of Doom:
No, not from nanobots, but taking a break from insulting Americans, Scotland's
Institute of Nanotechnology sound the death knell for washing machine
manufacturers in the UKs Daily Mirror. In an article that will delight Homer
Simpsons everywhere, nanotechnology is predicted to put an end to the need
to change your underwear, cleaning your car or washing your windows.
As the Institute’s Andy Garland helpfully points out, "consumers could take
time to adjust to the idea of underwear which never needs changing" and that
this is "a disaster for the cleaning industry, manufacturers of washing
machines and the like. It could be the end for them."
- TNTlog: June 14, 2004: Auto
Insider has a report on some of the applications of nanotech in the
automotive industry, claiming that "cars of the future to be assembled
atom by atom" and that "factories will run more efficiently with the
help of microscopic assembly machines."
- TNTlog: May 20, 2004: Move over GMOs, Here Comes Nanofood:
Move over GMOs, Here Comes Nanofood
An article in these weeks Observer (a british Sunday Newspaper) seems to
capture the nanoZeitgeist. This one has it all - the battle between
environmental groups and large multinational food processing companies,
nanobots dishing up steak sandwiches and Pat Mooney worrying about the
effects of nanoparticles after they have, how should we put this, passed
through the body.
Marvin Rudolph, director of DuPont Food Industry Solutions gets a little
overexcited by the prospect of nanobots could assembling “the desired
steak or flour from carbon, hydrogen and oxygen atoms present in the air
as water and carbon dioxide” (something that raises a whole set of food
related ethical dilemmas – could vegans eat assembled bacon?), but the
real action is over at Kraft. Manuel Marquez-Sanchez’s work on
nanocapsules mirrors what other industries are already trying to
achieve, a degree of programmability in matter. The polymer based
shake-gel may be closer to reality than the interactive, customisable
drink being proposed.
According to Kraft, 'the idea is that everyone buys the same drink, but
you'll be able to decide its colour, flavour, concentration and
texture,' or in simpler terms, we only make one product instead of tens
of thousands.
Having been exposed over many years to Krafts experiments with processed
cheese, any flavour or texture woukld be welcome.
- Received Email with title of "Subject: Jezuzzzzzzz. Ou
f***ingrageous" (removing highly unflattering anti-nano comments in the
body-text with respect of the following) to:
Kurzweil proposes research programs to replace DNA, block bioterror viruses
Ray Kurzweil has proposed a nanobiotechnology research program to
replace the cell nucleus and ribosome machinery with a nanocomputer and
nanobot to prevent diseases and aging and another program to create
defensive technologies against rogue designer viruses.
Kurzweil presented the ideas in a keynote at the recent
"Breakthrough Technologies for the World's Biggest Problems" conference
on April 28, sponsored by the Arlington Institute.
The nucleus is basically a computer that stores the DNA genetic
code and controls gene expression via RNA, messenger RNA, and
ribosomes, which build amino acid sequences that get folded into
proteins that control everything else.
Using nanotechnology expected to be available in the late
2020s, a nanocomputer would store and execute the software of the
genetic code and the expression of genetic information. It would direct
a nanobot to construct the amino acid sequences (eventually, it could
also construct the folded proteins). The system would "block
uncontrolled replication and DNA transcription errors, and virus
replication that can result in cancer, disease, and aging," he said.
"It could also upgrade the genetic code to eliminate other diseases,
reverse aging, and enhance human abilities."
The concept of modeling the genetic code in software and using
nanobots to repair a patient's DNA was suggested by Robert A. Freitas,
Jr. in the book Nanomedicine Vol I. Kurzweil's concept would go
further, replacing DNA, RNA, mRNA, and ribosomes with software and
nanobots.
Stopping designer viruses
Kurzweil also proposed a new research program to spend 1% of
GDP, or about $100 billion currently, to create defensive technologies
against the intentional abuse of designer biological viruses that could
be used in bioterrorism atttacks.
"Relinquishing viral design technology is not the answer
because this technology provides the means to overcome many human
diseases, including cancer," he said. "But a terrorist with access to a
routine college biotechnology laboratory can create a designer virus
that could spread easily and be deadly. We are close to having
effective anti-viral medications, but this work needs to be given the
highest possible priority, and funding to match.
"We also need to streamline regulatory bottlenecks that are
delaying these vital defenses. A bioterrorist does not need to put his
inventions through the FDA for approval. But the responsible scientists
that we are counting on to defend us are delayed at every step."
- And: Kurzweil Doesn't Tailgate
New interview with Ray Kurzweil about his plan to live forever:
Ray Kurzweil doesn't tailgate. A man who plans to live
forever doesn't take chances with his health on the highway, or anywhere
else.
As part of his daily routine, Kurzweil ingests 250 supplements, eight to
10 glasses of alkaline water and 10 cups of green tea. He also
periodically tracks 40 to 50 fitness indicators, down to his "tactile
sensitivity." Adjustments are made as needed.
"I do actually fine-tune my programming," he said.
Once again, I think Sherwin Nuland's assessment is right on:
Sherwin Nuland, a bioethics professor at Yale University's
School of Medicine, calls Kurzweil a "genius" but also says he's a
product of a narcissistic age when brilliant people are becoming
obsessed with their longevity.
"They've forgotten they're acting on the basic biological fear of death
and extinction, and it distorts their rational approach to the human
condition," Nuland said.
As to the increased demand for resources when he and his friends start
living forever,
Kurzweil says he believes new technology will emerge to
meet increasing human needs. And he said society will be able to control
the advances he predicts as long as it makes decisions openly and
democratically, without excessive government interference.
But there are no guarantees, he adds.
- The nanocomputer dream
BLURB
The writer Ray Kurzweil is known for making outlandish claims
about the future of computing technology. In a speech to the Arlington
Institute's conference on "Breakthrough Technologies for the World's
Biggest Problems," Kurzweil advocated replacing cell nuclei and
ribosomes with nanocomputers and nanobots. Kurzweil's bizarre argument
was that advances in nanotechnology will allow the activities of
ribosomes and cell nuclei to be largely duplicated by software,
nanocomputers, and nanobots. Kurzweil claims that these techniques
could "block uncontrolled replication and DNA transcription errors, and
virus replication that can result in cancer, disease, and aging," and
could also "upgrade the genetic code to eliminate other diseases,
reverse aging, and enhance human abilities." Kurzweil gets these plans
in large part from nanotechnology researchers Eric Drexler and Ralph
Merkle, and medical researcher Robert Freitas, who believe that
"nanocomputers"--computers the size of a bacterium--could eventually be
inexpensively mass-produced. In Nanosystems, Drexler envisioned
building nanocomputers using mechanical rod-logic components and
reversible logic techniques (to limit energy consumption/heat
dissipation). Without such reversible techniques the nanocomputer would
quickly overheat. These nanocomputers could, in theory, perform a
quadrillion instructions per second per watt, and facilitate
mainframe-sized computers with mole quantities of transistors. Without
such nanocomputers, most of the dreams and forecasts of Kurzweil and
Drexler are impossible. If scientists find a way to build, program, and
interface with computers the size of a bacterium, Kurzweil and
Drexler's predictions go from being impossible to merely implausible.
I want... (3:03pm EST Fri Apr 30 2004)
...what he smokes.
Gotta be some wicked powerful weed to come up with stuff that extremely insane. - by MJ
- Bio-Nano Robotics web page
- (web-scribe's note: Also refer to Original Pedegree of the term, "Nanocar")
- Researcher Develops World's Smallest Car
-
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1875223,00.asp
- I bet you thought the Mini Cooper was small. At four
nanometers long and three wide, the Nanocar, developed by researchers
at Rice University, takes the cake as the smallest car in the world.
- And with four independently rotating axles, built-in
suspension, and oversized wheels, it looks more like a racer in the
DARPA Challenge than any car on route 95. With its rotating axles, the
Nanocar moves directionally, which means either forward or backward,
with its wheels rolling, as opposed to sliding back and forth which is
commonly done on the nanoscale. The oversized wheels and suspension
allow the Nanocar to drive over positive and negative atomic steps, or
nanoscale speedbumps and potholes, if you will, necessary for even the
thin layer of gold that was used in Tour's experiments, which can
resemble the mountainous surface of the moon.
But why build a Nanocar? For bottom-up fabrication, of course. The
Nanocar was built to transport cargo across a nanoscale surface, which
has always been difficult to do gracefully. This cargo could then be
used for fabrication on the nano level. For example, a fleet of
Nanocars could carry the materials necessary to build a computer chip
on a silicon wafer, and deposit them in the appropriate location.
According to Tour, this provides a more graceful strategy for chip
fabrication, and should enable more precise construction and fewer
defects.
The Nanocar will be only slightly larger than the cargo it
carries. Why? "We're taking our cue from biology," Tour explains, since
a transporter tends to be roughly the same size as the particle it
carries. Each unit of hemoglobin, for example, is about the same size
as the molecule of oxygen it carries around your body.
- Waiting for Breakthroughs By Gary Stix
-
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=0003FBB1-6119-1C76-9B81809EC588EF21&pageNumber=1&catID=6
- "That's the messiah," confides Edward M. Reifman, D.D.S. The Encino,
Calif., dentist has paid hundreds of dollars to attend a conference to
hear about robotic machines with working parts as small as protein
molecules. Reifman nods toward K. Eric Drexler, the avatar of
nanotechnology. Drexler has just finished explaining to a strange mix of
scientists, entrepreneurs and his own acolytes that nanotech may arrive
in one to three decades. The world, in his view, has not fully grasped
the implications of molecular machines that will radically transform the
way material goods are produced.
- Drexler's fanciful scenarios, nonetheless, have come to represent
nanotechnology for many aesthetes of science and technology. The
phenomenon is not uncommon in the sociology of science. The public image
of a certain field or concept, shaped by futurists, journalists and
science-fiction scribes, contrasts with the reality of the often
plodding and erratic path that investigators follow in the trenches of
day-to-day laboratory research and experimentation.
- Drexler and his nanoist disciples view molecular nanotechnology as a
grand challenge of science and technology. And they comb the pages of
journals such as Science and Nature for evidence of research advances
that might lay the groundwork toward the ultimate self-replicating
assembler. At the Foresight conference last fall, Merkle showed a
schematic chart illustrating how the current work being done at a scale
below 100 nanometers by chemists and materials scientists might one day
lead to nanomachines. Lines on the left of the chart represented
experimental approaches, such as probes that can manipulate atoms, tubes
of graphite about a nanometer in diameter, and novel types of proteins.
On the right side resided lines that corresponded to computer
simulations of molecular machine parts for assemblers. In the center
appeared a noticeable gap.
- Keeping every atom in its place may also prove exceedingly onerous
at the atomic level. David E. H. Jones, a researcher in the department
of chemistry at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, who may be best
known as the author of the irreverent "Daedalus" column in Nature, has
provided a pointed critique of the idea that individual atoms and
molecules could serve as construction elements in the ultimate erector
set. Jones made his case a year ago in a review of a popular book about
Drexler by science writer Ed Regis, called Nano. Regis's account
generally treats the chief nanoist's ideas favorably.
Jones describes the contortions often required to achieve atomic control
of matter. In 1989 two IBM researchers penned their employer's acronym
by manipulating 35 xenon atoms with a scanning tunneling microscope-a
device that dragged the atoms across a nickel surface. The atoms moved
because of chemical bonding interactions that occurred when the
microscope's tungsten tip came to within a tenth of a nanometer or so of
each atom. Jones notes the difficulties involved: The IBM logo was
created in an extremely high vacuum at the supercooled temperature of
liquid helium using inert xenon atoms. Outside this rarefied
environment, the world becomes much less stable. "Single atoms of more
structurally useful elements at or near room temperature are amazingly
mobile and reactive," Jones writes. "They will combine instantly with
ambient air, water, each other, the fluid supporting the assemblers, or
the assemblers themselves."
Jones believes that the nanoists fail to take into account critical
questions about the thermodynamics and information flow in a system of
assemblers. "How do the assemblers get their information about which
atom is where, in order to recognize and seize it? How do they know
where they themselves are, so as to navigate from the supply dump [where
raw atomic material is stored] to the correct position in which to place
it? How will they get their power for comminution [breaking up material]
into single atoms, navigation and, above all, for massive internal
computing?" The list continues before Jones concludes: "Until these
questions are properly formulated and answered, nanotechnology need not
be taken seriously. It will remain just another exhibit in the freak
show that is the boundless-optimism school of technical forecasting."
The nanoists' response to this fusillade is simple: read Drexler's
technical tome Nanosystems, which contains a response to virtually any
general point raised by detractors. Acoustic waves, for example, can be
used to supply power to assemblers, an answer to one of Jones's
objections.
- The present inability to build an assembler-coupled with elaborate
speculation about what the future may hold-gives nanotechnology a
decidedly ideological or even religious slant, in Barth's view. In early
January he posted a message to an Internet bulletin board (sci.
nanotech) suggesting that subscribers comment on whether molecular
nanotechnology has the makings of a mass social/political movement or a
religious faith in the traditions of Marxism or Christianity. Barth
bolsters the case for nanoism as a form of salvation by citing a passage
from a new magazine called NanoTechnology: "Imagine having your body and
bones woven with invisible diamond fabric. You could fall out of a
building and walk away."
The nanoists' legacy may be to stoke science-fiction writers with ideas
for stories. The latest genre in science fiction employs nanotechnology
as its centerpiece. A follow-on to the cybernetic fantasies of authors
such as William Gibson, it is sometimes even called "nanopunk." The
world depicted by nanowriters goes beyond cybernetic mind control and
downloading one's brain into a computer. It postulates ultimate control
over matter. "It seems like nanotech has become the magic potion, the
magic dust that allows anything to happen with a pseudoscientific
explanation," says Istvan Csicsery-Ronay, Jr., an editor of the journal
Science-Fiction Studies, published by DePauw University.
- Nanoists' convictions about the inevitability of a breakthrough
evoke memories of another idea once posed by Feynman, their adoptive
mentor. In a commencement speech given to the 1974 graduating class at
Caltech, Feynman noted that some Pacific Islanders religiously awaited
the return of the U.S. troops who had landed in World War II. He
described the elaborate preparations the islanders made for the return
of the planes that would bring them advanced technological accoutrements
and limitless wealth. Fires mark the sides of runways. A man plays
air-traffic controller by sitting in a hut with carved wooden headphones
from which pieces of bamboo stick out, like antennas. The believers wait
patiently in this preindustrial imitation of an airfield.
"They're doing everything right," Feynman said. "The form is perfect. It
looks exactly the way it looked before. But it doesn't work. No
airplanes land." Similarly, some scientific endeavors rely on wish
fulfillment-and an inability to consider why something may not work,
Feynman noted. "So I call these things cargo cult science," he
concluded, "because they follow all the apparent precepts and forms of
scientific investigations, but they're missing something essential,
because the planes don't land." Until the nanoists can make an assembler
and find something useful to do with it, molecular nanotechnology will
remain just a latter-day cargo cult.
- Foresight Debate with Scientific American
-
http://www.islandone.org/Foresight/SciAmDebate/SciAmResponse.html
- Dear Editors:
I was dismayed to read in your April 1996 issue ("Waiting for
Breakthroughs") an extended quotation from Richard Feynman's essay
"Cargo Cult Science" used as a critique of nanotechnology. I am sure he
would have found such misuse of his idea quite unreasonable. I should
know, because I talked with him at length about the prospects of
nanotechnology.
As the article itself points out, Richard Feynman saw no basis
in physical laws that would preclude realization of the concepts of
nanotechnology. To claim that nanotechnology is cargo cult science
because its proponents analyze the capabilites of devices not yet
constructed is as absurd as to say that astronautics was cargo cult
science before Sputnik.
Richard Feynman did not regard setting "stretch" technological
goals as cargo cult science. Quite the opposite. In the course of his
1958 talk in which he proposed manipulating atoms, he offered cash
prizes from his own financial resources for breakthrough achievements
in working at a very small scale. If he were still alive, I think that
he would be pleased to have his name associated with a large cash prize
that seeks to accelerate the realization of one of his most exciting
ideas. That is why I have participated in defining the conditions for
winning the Feynman Grand Prize, and have agreed to naming the prize in
his memory.
Sincerely,
Carl Feynman
- Foresight Institute vs Scientific American :
Debate on nanotechnology: Round 2 from Foresight : Foresight reply to
Email from Scientific American
-
http://www.islandone.org/Foresight/SciAmDebate/Round2frForesight.html
- Subject: Re: unauthorized use of SciAm materials
We have received your email dated 5 April concerning "unauthorized
use of SciAm materials" in the Web document
http://www.foresight.org/SciAmResponse.html published at the Foresight
web site.
We have consulted with copyright counsel. We believe that the
quotations from the news story "Trends in Nanotechnology: Waiting for
Breakthroughs" (April 1996) fall within the safe harbor of fair use
principles stated in Section 107 of the Copyright Act. We do not
believe we have any obligation, under either Section 107 or the First
Amendment, to cease to use these quotations in an effort to set the
record straight and to defend our organization's work. For information
on fair use, see these Web pages:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/usc/17/107.html
http://www.benedict.com/fairtest.htm
- Journalism Gone Wrong
-
http://crnano.typepad.com/crnblog/2004/week19/
- This article is an opinion article from Chris Pheonix of the group
Responsible Nanotechnology. The link below will bring you to their
website, if you are interested in more information. Chris's issues seem
to be with people who use phrases to create mass hysteria over the
introduction of nanotechnology to consumer products. In particular, he
was defending the newest book from Robert A. Freitas, Jr. who is a
scientist at the Institute for Molecular Manufacturing, entitled
"Nanomedicine Volume IIA, Biocompatibility". In his article, Chris
Phoenix provides links to a letter written by Carl Feynman, son of
physicist Richard Feynman as well as to reviews of the book itself. It's
an interesting perspective.
http://crnano.typepad.com/crnblog/2004/05/journalism_gone.html
"A few years ago, Scientific American published an article that began
with the words, 'That's the messiah,' and proceeded to inform us that
Eric Drexler sounded like Mr. Peabody. This, we assume, was because they
had nothing more substantial to say, but for some reason felt a pressing
need to oppose Drexler's work on molecular manufacturing. The article
was so bad that it evoked a strong protest from Carl Feynman, son of the
Nobel-winning physicist Richard Feynman, about their abuse of his
father's name and reputation.
Just this week, a nano blog that used to be trustworthy and even-handed
has gone down the same path. In response to Robert Freitas' recent
publication of Nanomedicine Volume IIA: Biocompatibility, Cientifica
posted an article containing such phrases as, 'swarm of nanobots - more
idle speculation,' and 'books of this ilk,' and most dishonorably, 'a
hobby pursuit.'
A book with six thousand references is not a hobby pursuit. I wonder why
they are trying so hard to persuade people that it's not worth reading.
What is their motivation?
I've been saying 'they,' but in fact, Paul Holister recently left
Cientifica. It appears that Tim Harper is now free to vigorously -- and
irresponsibly -- oppose the more advanced kinds of nanotechnology. I'm
not usually so openly critical. But false claims that 'Martian nanobots
... are equally feasible' should not go unchallenged. This is shabby
journalism, and it damages the serious and ongoing discussion of the
potential effects of advanced nanotechnology.
- May 02, 2004 : "Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast"
-
http://www.cientifica.com/archives/000100.html
- Just when we thought there was some positive movement in the media
battle to wean popular press off nanobots and get down to the real
businesses of nanotech, along comes another swarm of nanobots - more
idle speculation sold as science.
A new volume in the Nanomedicine book series by Robert A. Freitas Jr.
describes "the many possible mechanical, physiological, immunological,
cytological, and biochemical responses of the human body to the in vivo
introduction of medical nanodevices, especially medical nanorobots."
And we thought that we had enough issues to grapple with concerning
humble nanoparticles and fullerenes.
While there is a lot of good information in the Nanomedicine series, it
is well researched and thought out, albeit with a rather odd focus, we
cannot help wondering whether the immense amount of effort put into
determining the effects of accidentally ingesting diamondoid flying
nanorobots and other decices yet to be invented may have been put to
better use?
Understanding the products that are currently on, or coming to, the
market, as the scientific community is curently engaged in, may have
been a good place to start. After all, the Martian nanobots from Olaf
Stapledons SciFi classic "Last and First Men", published in 1930, may
have similar effects on the human body, and are equally feasible.
While books of this ilk do reference scientific results, that does not
make them any more credible than any other forms of fiction. We would be
far more interested to hear the views of scientists, the Center for
Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology (CBEN) for example, or even
a someone with some medical training.
While there is a place for these types of works, and we will leave
readers to speculate as to where that place may be, attempting to pass
off a hobby pursuit as real science is dangerous, counter productive and
merely confuses people. It also propagates the myth that nanotechnology
is something dreamt up by a handful of Star Trek fanatics, and provides
yet more ammunition to the critics of MNT.
- Heresey (Webscribe's Note: MNT = either means "Micro and Nano Technologies" or "Molecular Nanotechnology")
-
http://nanodot.org/article.pl?sid=04/07/10/0029244
- The people in power do not wish for Nanotechnology to be
known to the general public. Why? Because this technology will change
everything; people will finally be able to realize their dreams without
living through a life of hardship. The status quo, and the social
hiearchy created by man, will cease to exist altogether, and this has
many people, especially those who are set in their ways and do not
desire change, running around as if their heads had been cut off.
The enemy isn't just the politicians here though - the majority of
the malice towards MNT comes from the scientific community itself,
because many of these scientists feel threatened by this idea, and fear
that their careers will be in jeapordy - which, in all honesty, they
will be. They have every right to be scared - but denial of this
technology and Drexler's vision is kind of a stupid way to go about
doing things, and is looked down upon.
- How nanocubes can run your laptop
- Toward total environmental sustainability via emerging molecular nanotechnology
-
http://www.tainano.com/CCRN/TOWARD%20REAL%20SUSTAINABILITY%20BY%20NANOTECHNOLOGY.htm
- 2.1.1. Control of Pollution from Energy Production by MNT
- Though MNT does not meddle with atomic nuclear, NEMS will make
triggering nuclear fusion easy (18). Community own small-scale nuclear
fusion power plant is possible. Nevertheless solar energy is ample for
us; so far there is no need to tap into fusion energy source.
- Nano-photosynthesis can produce sugar, starch for food; further
synthesis of cellulose for paper and wood to avoid clear-cutting
forests. Nano-biotechnology can yield protein and collagen to stop
animal slaughtering. Carbon retrieved from atmosphere and recycled from
existing wastes by MNT will be used to make carbon nanotubes, that are
far superior than steel. Carbon will be the most common structural and
functional element for a MNT based civilization (9). A carbon based MNT
material production model is conceptualized as Fig. 6. If there is
specific need for metal, nanofactory with trillions of nanoassembler can
synthesize steel (9), copper and alloy to skip mining and refining.
Thereby, industrial wastewater, wastes and air pollution will all
vanish.
- 2.1.2. Control of Pollution from Material Production and Product Manufacturing by MNT
- The costly water distribution network not only encroach the
environment but also provide chances for chemical and biological
recontamination.
A series of nanodevices can be devised to revolutionize water treatment
process. Nanobots like nanoflocculant or nanocoagulant can be devised to
neutralize the surface charge of suspended solids. They are non-chemical
and 100% reusable. Smart non-fouling nanomembrane or nanoseparator can
be developed to selectively separate dissolved solids while keeping
beneficial minerals in the water, or to desalinate brine water (20,21).
Nano-disinfectant such as UV nanobots can accomplish germicidal task
without leaving toxic residual and producing no THMs. Nanocondenser can
be developed to extract water from air. Integrating these unit
nanoprocesses and powered by abundant nano-solar energy, different water
treatment systems can be designed to fit specific geographical
conditions. Such development will make huge waterworks with messy piping
system obsolete. On-demand and on-location generation of drinking water
from liquid or vapor will make decentralized water supplies extensive,
affordable, and environmentally clean. A MNT's future on-demand and
on-location generation of drinking water system is conceptualized as
Fig. 7.
- 2.2.1. Acid Rain and Smog
- Once MNT enabled solar energy become exclusive energy source, our
long-term energy umbilical cord that ties with fossil fuel can finally
be severed. In addition, future vehicles that constructed with
nanomaterial, driven by nanoelectromechanical system and powered by
hydrogen fuel cell or solar cell will totally eliminate transportation
related SO2 and NOx emission. Therefore,the anthropogenic SO2 and NOx
that assault our atmosphere since industrial revolution can be ceased;
thus further acidification to the environment and threatening to human
health can be relieved.Nanobots such as nano-desulfurizer can be sent up
to the atmosphere to capture SO2 gas, reduce it to sulfur and
precipitate to earth surface as dust; nano-sulfur-precipitator contains
calcium or magnesium ion can be sent up into sky to oxidize SO2 and then
form CaSO4 or MgSO4 salts.
Nanobots like nano-catalytic-converter can also be sent up into
atmosphere to converter NOx into nitrogen and oxygen. If the agriculture
technology still needs fertilizer, nanobots like nano- NOx-reducer can
be sent up to capture NOx and transform it into ammonia and bring it
down to the ground. For ground level treatment, the acidified
waterbodies and soil, we can disseminate a troop of nano-buffer to
increase their buffer capacity in resisting acidity. We can also deploy
an army of nano-neutralizer to dynamically adjust pH in water or soil to
their original condition, either by capturing H+ from the environment or
giving off OH- to the environment.
- 2.2.2. Global Warming
- MNT will also enable us to develop nanomachines or nanobots such as
nano-photosynthesizer (11,12,13) nano-chlorophyll, nano-carbon-fixer,
and etc. Powered by the cheap solar energy, these nanobots not only can
be manipulated to extract all the 300 billion tonsof excess CO2 from
atmosphere, but also can transform them into valuable materials. The
carbon extracted by nanobots can be used in synthesizing functional and
structural materials. It can also be extracted by other nanobots and
further synthesized into sugar, starch, and cellulose to supplement our
demand for food, paper and etc. (See Fig. 6).
- 2.2.3. Ozone Layer Depletion
- Drexler (9) proposed using sodium containing balloon type nanobots.
The nanobots powered by nano-solar cells collects CFCs and separates out
the chlorine in the stratosphere. Combining this with sodium makes
sodium chloride. When the sodium is gone, the balloon collapses and
falls. Eventually, a grain of salt and a biodegradable speck fall to
Earth. The stratospheric CFC can be removed soon.
- 2.2.5. Nuclear Wastes
- Nuclear wastes can be collected, concentrated by specific nanobots.
Products of MNT could help with conventional approaches to dealing with
nuclear waste, helping to store it in the most stable, reliable forms
possible. Using nanomachines, we could seal them in self-sealing
containers and powered by cheap nano-solar energy (10). These would be
more secure than any passive rock or cask. When MNT has developed cheap,
reliable spacecraft, the concentrated nuclear wastes can be transported
to the moon and bury them in moon's dead, dry rock by nanobots, or to
other planets that still radioactive, or even shoot them directly into
the sun.
Underground nano-atom smasher powered by cheap solar cells can also be
devised to treat nuclear wastes. This is a reverse process of nuclear
engineering. Instead of smashing nonradioactive target and harvesting
for radioactive substance, the nanomachine will smash radioactive target
and harvest for nonradioactive substance. The smashing and harvesting
process will continue stability is achieved. Fig. 9 illustrates a few
routes for resolving nuclear waste piles that accumulated in the
environment and TDBT is at loss on dealing with them.
- 3. Conclusions
- MNT is powerful and realizable within our lifetime, yet it's a tool
- NASA nanobots
-
http://www.eetimes.com/news/98/1000news/nano.html
- Thus, one scenario is of a NASA space probe that dumps a
container full of nanoscale robots on an asteroid. Their first job:
mine metals to reproduce billions of identical robots that then go to
work transforming the amorphous chunk of material into a space station.
Other scenarios feature the ability to harness biological processes
such as protein replication or DNA information encoding to produce
ultradense memories and computing devices.
Other possibilities include nanobots that would circulate
through the bloodstream to attack cancer cells, or industrial
nanomachines that build superstrong materials one atom at a time.
Though tantalizing, such futurism has also come under attack.
Introducing a healthy dose of scientific skepticism, Scientific
American recently ran an article questioning whether the field is
actually going to deliver in the near term.
That sparked a spirited debate among nanotechnology proponents.
The debate is presented online at a page that also presents a concise
overview of the field
- Copper and DHEA Facial Spray for the discriminating person: A highly active Nano Copper, bioactive from start to finish.
-
http://www.mag-i-cal.com/copper.htm
- Doctor Gunderson's Rãahj Nano Copper Facial Spray is produced using Nano
Technology, a highly sophisticated production process to obtain a very
small particle size. Nano means 1 divided by 1,000,000,000 or 10-9. We
have certified (condfidential) test data from a FDA approved and certified
Micro Precision Laboratory that verified the results to be nano size
particles in the 10-9 meter range. Because of these small particle sizes
the copper is very easily assimilated into the skin through cell ion
channels. Nano Copper Facial Spray is cupric in form meaning it is
metabolically active for a younger vibrant look
- Comment from submittee: "In the cached version there is the additional warning:
"This product may not be shipped into Canada as it now is illegal in Canada."
...all very inspiring for health products don;t you think
- Nano Odour Killer - Neutralising agent
-
http://www.alibaba.com/product-free/100501093/Mineral_Silver_Nano_Spray.html
- Thanks to application of nanotechnology is the newest generation
amongagents fighting unpleasant odours. New layer removes many nasty
andunpleasant odours - cigarette smoke, trash, animal beds and most of volatile
organiccompounds (for instance urea, toluene etc.). In old houses reduces
in great measure unpleasant smell of must.
Nano Odour Killer [+ Sandal] - Neutralising agent & Air freshener
Eliminates all offensive smells. Applied onto various types of surfacesin
order to provide long lasting deodorizing and air purifyingfeatures.
Opposite to common deodorants it does not operate temporarilythrough
spraying additional odour into air or using chemical agentsneutralizing
smells. Use Nano Odour Killer in the home, hospitals,restaurants, shops,
cars etc.
- Nano-2 Bio-Sym
-
http://spiritofmaat.com/maatshop/n2_biosim.htm
- What Is Bio-Sim Made From
Bio-Sim contains over ten thousand (10,000) varieties of food-grade
diatomaceous earth, nanoized to create just the right size particles to be
most effective in your body.
This diatomaceous earth is uniquely treated and processed to give
immune-system support. After nanoization, it is combined with minute
quantities of sugar cane and kosher, distilled vinegar to serve as bait
for hidden parasites.
Timing, temperature, and blending all play a part in Bio-Sim's success.
Bio-Sim's Action
Because ridding the body of Candida and other yeast overgrowth, parasites,
worms, fungus and amoebas is the fundamental basis for any cure that
brings back health to the body, this product is a must in your total
healing program.
Once the Bio-Sim is absorbed by the body, the sugar and vinegar start
attracting parasites, fungus, Candida, worms, and amoebas out of hiding.
Then the nano-silica acts like a cutting knife toward the intruders. And
because of the perfect size of the diatomaceous earth, Bio-Sim touches
only the pathogens, leaving the healthy body intact. It took many years to
find this sizing!
- nanosexuality- the next sexual revolution?
-
http://www.barbelith.com/topic/966
- Suppose that, at some point in the future, scientist develop
nanobots, capable of swimming around inside a persons body, unclogging
their arteries, rebuilding cancerous cells, and helping out our immune
systems. (I reckon this could happen in around 50 years, but that's
neither here nor there.) With such technology, it will then be possible
for a person to change (physical) sex (in both directions) with
negligible difficulty: not merely on a cosmetic level, but genetically,
hormonally, as well as in terms of what organs a person has
- Three Minutes With Ray Kurzweil : Visionary tells how
biotechnology and nanotechnology will extend human life spans into near
immortality.
-
http://pcworld.about.com/magazine/2212p034cid118375.htm
- PC World: How does computer technology fit into your plan to "live
long enough to live forever"?
Ray Kurzweil: [In the recent book,] we present three bridges to radical
life extension.
We provide a detailed program--bridge one--based on today's knowledge of
how to slow down aging and disease processes. I've been reprogramming
the biochemistry of my own body for 20 years, and this has become more
intensive with my collaboration over the past five years with Dr.
Grossman. I take about 250 supplements each day and weekly intravenous
therapies. A biological aging test pegged me at about 38 when I was 40.
I'm now 56, and an extensive biological aging test says that my
biological age is now 40, so I have not aged very much in the last 16
years.
Dr. Grossman and I describe a program of how to slow down each of the
dozen aging and disease processes. This program will enable baby boomers
who are aggressive enough to remain in good shape until the full
flowering of the biotechnology evolution--bridge two, in which we
reprogram the information processes underlying biology. Biotech will
reach its peak in ten to twenty years.
Computers are playing a vital role in biotechnology. The decoding of the
genome would have been impossible without computers, and we're using
computers today to design highly targeted therapies that perform precise
biochemical missions, such as destroying a cancer cell, with minimal
side effects. We're starting to place computerized biochemical sensors
in our bodies that can monitor our health and make diagnostic decisions.
An artificial pancreas is now undergoing clinical trials; it combines a
glucose sensor, an insulin pump, and a computer, all embedded inside the
patient's body.
Biotechnology in turn will lead to bridge three--nanotechnology--in
which we will go beyond the limitations of biology to enhance our
physical and mental capabilities by factors of many thousands,
eventually millions. The golden age of nanotechnology will be in the
2020s. We will ultimately replace our frail "version 1.0" bodies with a
greatly enhanced version 2.0. In our book, we describe all three bridges
in detail.
The killer app for nanotechnology, about twenty years away, is nanobots.
Inside our bodies and brains, nanobots will provide radical life
extension by destroying pathogens and cancer cells, repairing DNA
errors, destroying toxins and debris, and otherwise reversing aging
processes. Nanobots are computer-based robots small enough to travel in
our bloodstream.
- Nano service
-
http://www.eetimes.com/news/98/1000news/nano.html
- While current methods are just breaking ground with the
individual manipulation of atoms and molecules, the full visionary idea
fueling nanotechnology enthusiasts is the possibility of building
manufacturing machines and robots on the nanometer scale . Like life
forms, which are self-reproducing molecular machines, these
hypothetical machines would be able to rapidly build billions of copies
of themselves and go to work tirelessly performing the tasks they were
programmed for.
- New breed of robots to explore the planets
-
http://www.robots.org/images/2001_Robot_Games/New%20breed%20of%20robots%20to%20explore%20the%20planets.htm
- Conceivably, NASA could cram numerous nanobots aboard a single
launch vehicle, then send them to Mars or another world. There, they
would disembark and form a "robot colony," in the words of Ames systems
engineer Hamid Berenji.
The colony could scout out in different directions to survey the
entire planet. Such fleets would be mechanical versions of the great
human terrestrial exploring teams of the past, such as Lewis and Clark.
- Nanobots would have an inherent disadvantage: They get
cold easily. A well-known principle of physics is that smaller objects
cool off faster than large ones, because the smaller object's surface
is bigger relative to its overall volume than a larger object's. (This
is one reason why small planets like Mars apparently have no active
volcanoes: Their internal heat escaped to space long ago.)
And the nanobot will be too small to carry an on-board heater.
Scientists could give it heat shields to keep it warm (as well as to
protect it from high-speed interstellar particles called galactic
cosmic rays), but the added weight of shielding would obviate the
advantage of its small size.
So the JPL team is trying to develop nanobots whose electronics
can endure the temperature extremes of deep space - which range from
boiling-hot daytimes to nighttime temperatures about 300 degrees below
zero Fahrenheit, far colder than the South Pole.
On Thursday, NASA announced plans to launch into Earth orbit
three small satellites, dubbed the "Nanosat Constellation Trailblazer"
mission. Each satellite would be an octagon 8 inches high and 16 inches
long. Among other things, the minisatellites - to be launched in 2003 -
will test the ability of new electronics and other equipment to survive
"near the boundary of Earth's protective magnetic field,"
- "Nanobombs" could blow up cancer
-
http://www.betterhumans.com/News/4738/Default.aspx
- Researchers have created "nanobombs" that can produce nanoscale explosions to blow up cancer.
- The bombs are created through the bundling of carbon
nanotubes. Nanotubes dissipate heat generated by the light into
surrounding air. In bundles, they can't dissipate the heat as quickly
and the result is "an explosion on the nanoscale,"
- The nanobombs could also offer advantages over other
nanotech treatments as they are destroyed along with cancer cells.
Macrophages then clear cell debris and exploded nanotubes, preventing
nanoparticles from jamming up in the body.
- Molecular Nano Weapons - China Hotels Reservation
- Index of thumbnails and names of all images in the Nanomedicine Art Gallery
-
http://www.foresight.org/Nanomedicine/Gallery/index.html#ExhList
-
http://www.foresight.org/Nanomedicine/Gallery/Captions/index.html
- Included as such things as :
- "Brain Cell Enhancer: The blue,
octopus-like nanobot is one of billions of brain cell enhancers. The
central sphere houses a computer, with a storehouse of information equal
to many large libraries. Billions of spheres are in contact with one
another, as well as with the brain cells, creating a secondary gestalt
mind that interfaces with the brain's original gestalt mind. For this
image, the circuit board background was chosen to impart a surreal
tone."
- "Cell Repair Machines I: In a cubic micron, you can
construct the equivalent of a mainframe computer with a gigabyte of
memory You have enough computational cycles within the volume, time,
and heat-dissipation constraints to identify all the macromolecules of
the cell (even if they're moderately damaged), by using certain
algorithms that can already be specified in fairly great detail. Since
you can identify all the molecules, you can map the cell structures:
the patterns that you recognize are type-tagged by the molecules they
contain (i.e. if it contains tubulin, it's a microtubule). Since this
tells us the type of structure, it makes it easier to know how to probe
and further characterize the structure."
- "Nanosubmarine Attacks Fat Deposit: A nanomachine swimming
through a capillary attacks a fat deposit (such as normally may
accompany an arteriosclerotic lesion). The classic original image!"
- Cell Repair Machines IV: Several cell repair units are
shown simultaneously engaged in repairing a single neuronal cell.
Communications fibers and cables link the repair units to a master
controller system that directs all the repair activities from outside
the scene.
- Molecular Machines in the Bloodstream: Vanishingly small
machines like the ones envisioned here could someday serve as tiny
mechanical doctors. These miniature devices would roam between the red
cells of the bloodstream, seeking out and destroying harmful viruses
(shown here as green geometric solids). The working parts of these
machines would be built around gears no bigger than a protein molecule.
- Blue Respirocyte Closeup: High latitude view of a single
respirocyte in blue, showing the circumpolar concentric-circle bar
coding and a conventional 12-fold pumping station layout. Surface
features are realistically depicted as nearly flush with the outer
spherical surface of the device.
- Utility Foglet: Imagine a microscopic robot. It has a body
about the size of a human cell and 12 arms sticking out in all
directions. A bucketfull of such robots might form a `robot crystal' by
linking their arms up into a lattice structure. Now take a room, with
people, furniture, and other objects in it -- it's still mostly empty
air. Fill the air completely full of robots. The robots are called
Foglets and the substance they form is Utility Fog, which may have many
useful medical applications.
- Toward the Breach: Cylindrical nanorobots in the bloodstream hurry to the site of a vascular breach to begin repairs.
- Nanobot Lung Cleaners: In this fanciful image, mobile
nanorobotic janitors (green) patrol the lungs, collecting inhaled
debris and transporting it to recycling stations (blue-gray).
- Artery Cleaner II: A metallic-looking medical nanorobot in
the foreground extends a pincer-like mechanism and begins removing a
yellow fatty deposit from an arterial surface; another similar device
is seen working in the background. Hovering nearby is a supervisory
nanorobot.
- Dental Nanorobots I: A remote-controlled nanorobot
performs a restorative dental procedure on a patient's tooth. As an aid
to visualization, the artist has depicted the dental nanorobot about
1000 times larger than actual size. This artwork originally appeared on
the front cover of the November 2000 issue of the Journal of the
American Dental Association.
- Peepers I: "Peeper" nanorobots equipped with optical
sensors along with other nanorobots having various test features are
introduced into the venous bloodstream of an anesthetized animal to
validate safety protocols prior to human use.
- Hairjacks: Evoking a humorous sense of lumberjacks felling
trees, this image shows buzzsaw-wielding nanorobots mowing down a thick
stand of follicles. Apparently the owner treated his hair with green
mousse before deciding to go with a buzzcut instead. You can almost
feel your scalp humming!
- Gastronanorobot I: Image Description: A nanorobot surveys
the stomach of an astronaut, looking for signs of infection. This image
is taken from "Vital Space," an interactive movie exhibit unveiled in
Summer 2002 at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural
History, which takes its audience on a fantastic voyage through the
body of a female astronaut ravaged by an alien virus.
- Fibots 4: In artist Fonseca's interpretation of the
clottocyte concept created by Robert Freitas , a clot-inducing medical
nanorobot is embedded in a growing clot with red cells and fibrin
strands involved.
- Artery Cleaner V: Medicine is one of the most exciting
application areas for nanorobots. It may become possible to inject a
fleet of nanorobots to perform vital work inside a human body without
resorting to surgery. Imagine toothpaste full of nanorobots equipped to
locate and destroy plaque, or nanorobots built to clean a diseased
blood vessel, as shown in this image.
- Capsula: Radio-controlled drug delivery nanocapsules
measuring about 1 micron in diameter include a storage tank, multiple
injection ports, and an antenna allowing external radio control;
inspired by Freitas' pharmacytes.
- Thinkers and Handlers: "Handler" nanorobots install
"Thinker" nanocomputer modules in a damaged brain. Note the dead brain
cells. Such devices could one day replace brain cells damaged by
illnesses such as Alzheimers, mad cow disease, or accidents, or could
be used to enhance brain capacity. The nanorobots can operate
autonomously or through teleoperation.
- Stinger II: A "stinger" nanorobot (designed by Erik
Viktor) grabs a sick T lymphocyte and injects a glucocorticoid designed
to induce cellular apoptosis, during a laboratory diagnostic test on a
patient''s blood sample.
- From pulses to motors (published in Nature Materials)
- The Coming Age Of Nanotechnology: GREAT HOPES
-
http://www.his.com/~dionychus/nano/greathopes.html
- The ramifications for pollution control and clean-up are
startling. Because nanotechnology is a "bottom-up" technology that
constructs products atom by atom, molecule by molecule, it would no
longer be necessary to destroy the biosphere in an attempt to gather
raw materials for production. Any substance nearby; dirt, grass
clippings, garbage, etc., will suffice. They would be broken down into
their constituent atoms and reassembled into desired products using the
sun as an energy source. There would be no manufacturing waste. 100%
recycling would be achieved because the nano-machines would be able to
construct and de-construct atom by atom (Wu). This would have the
additional effect of decentralizing our economies because the
technology will be portable. "By disconnecting our material needs from
distant places and relocating ultra-clean manufacturing locally, the
highly undemocratic trend of the past few centuries, of concentration
of technology and wealth in the hands of the few" will be reversed
(Wu). According to Drexler, we would be able to build planet mending
machines to correct damage already inflicted on the earth. "Some
wastes, such as dioxin, consist of dangerous molecules made of
innocuous atoms. Cleaning machines will render them harmless by
rearranging their atoms" (Drexler 121). We will be able to remove
billions of tons of carbon from the atmosphere, putting to good use the
carbon dioxide that was spewed out during the industrial revolution.
With this resource it would be possible to build strong and lightweight
housing for ten billion people and still have ninety-five percent of
this material left for other purposes; all "without even scratching the
surface of the earth" (Wisz). We would also be able to make use of all
the garbage we have already created. This would provide building
material for some time to come (Wisz). There is very little if anything
at all that could not be accomplished using nano-machines. It will even
be possible to repair living tissue and extend human life. "Imagine
having your bones woven with invisible diamond fabric. You could fall
off a building and get up and walk away" (NanoTechnology, Health).
Nano-computers could be inserted inside living cells. These computers
would watch for invading organisms and if a virus or some other alien
organism were found, assemblers could be sent out into the bloodstream
to attack and destroy them (NanoTechnology, Health). Cancers could be
selectively destroyed. Similarly, viral diseases such as herpes could
be eradicated by removing the coded information in the host DNA
structures. Plaque and other deposits in the heart could be cleaned out
using nano-machines (Drexler 109). Nano-machines could be applied to a
myriad of health problems. With cell repair machines, life could
actually be extended (Drexler 115). In the home, all appliances would
be replaced with a bread-box sized machine called a "shape shifter."
This machine would take the place of all the other appliances and would
be able to perform any function you asked of it. It could cook dinner,
be the toaster, microwave, or can opener, or create the food for you.
It could even walk the dog, or be the dog (Bishop). This same machine
could be used to colonize space. It could be economically used to mine
asteroids, using the raw materials to create colonies suitable for
human use. Shape shifters could also be used to manufacture
"lightsails," devices that use solar wind energy to propel them through
space. These lightsails could transport universal assemblers (shape
shifters) to far reaches of our solar system. These assemblers could
then terraform other planets or build more colonies for human
habitation. This, of course, will ease population pressures on earth,
and allow unlimited exploration of space (Drexler 86-87). Then, of
course, there are the more off-the-wall, or trivial uses.
Self-repairing roads, trees that manufacture gasoline, roving real
estate (you could adjust the size of your house, say, to accommodate a
large party). Floors and carpets, and even entire houses could clean
themselves, or paint themselves for that matter! (Crandall 126-129).
- The Coming Age Of Nanotechnology: GREAT HOPES
-
http://www.his.com/~dionychus/nano/greathopes.html
- The ramifications for pollution control and clean-up are
startling. Because nanotechnology is a "bottom-up" technology that
constructs products atom by atom, molecule by molecule, it would no
longer be necessary to destroy the biosphere in an attempt to gather
raw materials for production. Any substance nearby; dirt, grass
clippings, garbage, etc., will suffice. They would be broken down into
their constituent atoms and reassembled into desired products using the
sun as an energy source. There would be no manufacturing waste. 100%
recycling would be achieved because the nano-machines would be able to
construct and de-construct atom by atom (Wu). This would have the
additional effect of decentralizing our economies because the
technology will be portable. "By disconnecting our material needs from
distant places and relocating ultra-clean manufacturing locally, the
highly undemocratic trend of the past few centuries, of concentration
of technology and wealth in the hands of the few" will be reversed
(Wu). According to Drexler, we would be able to build planet mending
machines to correct damage already inflicted on the earth. "Some
wastes, such as dioxin, consist of dangerous molecules made of
innocuous atoms. Cleaning machines will render them harmless by
rearranging their atoms" (Drexler 121). We will be able to remove
billions of tons of carbon from the atmosphere, putting to good use the
carbon dioxide that was spewed out during the industrial revolution.
With this resource it would be possible to build strong and lightweight
housing for ten billion people and still have ninety-five percent of
this material left for other purposes; all "without even scratching the
surface of the earth" (Wisz). We would also be able to make use of all
the garbage we have already created. This would provide building
material for some time to come (Wisz). There is very little if anything
at all that could not be accomplished using nano-machines. It will even
be possible to repair living tissue and extend human life. "Imagine
having your bones woven with invisible diamond fabric. You could fall
off a building and get up and walk away" (NanoTechnology, Health).
Nano-computers could be inserted inside living cells. These computers
would watch for invading organisms and if a virus or some other alien
organism were found, assemblers could be sent out into the bloodstream
to attack and destroy them (NanoTechnology, Health). Cancers could be
selectively destroyed. Similarly, viral diseases such as herpes could
be eradicated by removing the coded information in the host DNA
structures. Plaque and other deposits in the heart could be cleaned out
using nano-machines (Drexler 109). Nano-machines could be applied to a
myriad of health problems. With cell repair machines, life could
actually be extended (Drexler 115). In the home, all appliances would
be replaced with a bread-box sized machine called a "shape shifter."
This machine would take the place of all the other appliances and would
be able to perform any function you asked of it. It could cook dinner,
be the toaster, microwave, or can opener, or create the food for you.
It could even walk the dog, or be the dog (Bishop). This same machine
could be used to colonize space. It could be economically used to mine
asteroids, using the raw materials to create colonies suitable for
human use. Shape shifters could also be used to manufacture
"lightsails," devices that use solar wind energy to propel them through
space. These lightsails could transport universal assemblers (shape
shifters) to far reaches of our solar system. These assemblers could
then terraform other planets or build more colonies for human
habitation. This, of course, will ease population pressures on earth,
and allow unlimited exploration of space (Drexler 86-87). Then, of
course, there are the more off-the-wall, or trivial uses.
Self-repairing roads, trees that manufacture gasoline, roving real
estate (you could adjust the size of your house, say, to accommodate a
large party). Floors and carpets, and even entire houses could clean
themselves, or paint themselves for that matter! (Crandall 126-129).
- Calls for Competitiveness and Nano-revolution Rhetoric Overhyped
-
http://www.merid.org/nanodev/more.php?ts=20051222130123
- David Berube, Professor of Communication Studies at the
University of South Carolina in the U.S., responds to U.S. Senator
George Allen's recent article in the journal Issues in Science and
Technology by saying that it "is guilty of some exaggeration and
hyperbole". Berube says that Allen's assertion that nanotechnology will
"transform almost every aspect of out lives" is wrong because current
evidence indicates only that nanotechnology has the potential to
improve many existing lines of production, while it is unclear whether
it will become a new general purpose technology. Berube says,
"Nanotechnology is evolutionary not revolutionary [sic] and hyperbole
produces false expectations." He also says that Allen's call for U.S.
competitiveness is "misguided" because improving education and
increasing the number of U.S.-trained engineers does not ensure
domestic job production. He suggests that a better solution may be
supporting globalization and international efforts to develop
nanotechnology.
- Chinese Robots To Land On Moon Before Yuhangyuan
-
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/china-00zzj.html
- Why Nanotechnology?
-
http://www.yashnanotech.com/nano-application.php
- Within a decade, nanotechnology is expected to be the basis of
$1 trillion worth of products in the United States alone and will
create anywhere from 8, 00,000 to 2 million new jobs. "Nanotechnology
will require you to radically rethink what your core business is, who
your competitors are, what skills your workforce needs, how to train
your employees, and how to think strategically about.
Even though it may sound far off at times, within the decade
Nanotech will have huge effects on many practical industries, including
manufacturing, health care, energy, agriculture, communications,
transportations & electronics.
The industries that nanotechnology will likely disruptively
affect in the near term include the following: (Amounts are in Billions
of US Dollars).
- Guest Editorial/ Nanobots: A New Paradigm for Hydrogeologic Characterization?
-
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1745-6584.2005.0079.x
- Ground Water
Volume 43 Page 463 - July 2005
doi:10.1111/j.1745-6584.2005.0079.x
Volume 43 Issue 4
- Nanoscience and nanotechnologies: opportunities and uncertainties
-
http://www.nanotec.org.uk/finalReport.htm
- Singularly fanciful: review of The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology by Ray Kurzeil,
-
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17557088%255E5001986,00.html
- OUR bodies will soon be obsolete. Genetic engineering, smart drugs
and nanotechnology will reverse the ageing process and make us immortal.
Machines will do the unpleasant work for us, producing all the energy we
need. We will download our minds into powerful computers and become
superintelligent, disembodied beings. We will be able to change bodies
at will and inhabit virtual worlds of our making.
And all of this will happen in our lifetime, for we are approaching the
Singularity: a point at which scientific advance will happen so fast
that technology will become indistinguishable from magic. This is the
picture of the future presented in Ray Kurzweil's The Singularity is
Near. A renowned inventor and entrepreneur, Kurzweil is a leading voice
of the extropian (or transhuman) movement, which preaches that we are on
the threshold of a golden age of techno-supermen.
Unsurprisingly, extropianism is largely an American phenomenon,
combining two potent traditions: Christian millenarianism and the cult
of technology. This enthusiastic brand of futurism may appear harmless,
charming even, but it has an ugly side.
Kurzweil's central belief is that technological and scientific progress
is exponential. That is, science and technology do not only improve, but
the rate of progress also accelerates, tending towards infinity, at
which point we will experience "an expansion of human intelligence by a
factor of trillions through merger with its non-biological form". A
variation on the Enlightenment myth of rational progress, Kurzweil's
model departs from a restricted notion of technology (basically,
processing power). In the final analysis, it is based on a bad
inference.
Kurzweil's technological determinism is equally myopic. The political
and social environment that shapes the nature and direction of
technology is completely missing from his picture. Technology is neither
an autonomous force nor an outgrowth or continuation of biological
evolution. The recent debacle concerning AIDS drugs for Africa
underscores the fact technology means nothing in the face of political
unwillingness and the profit motive. Life extension can be granted now
to most of the world's disadvantaged with remarkably low-tech means,
such as food and cheap medicines.
An entrenched political conservatism underlies the transhuman vision of
the future. Social change is not necessary for Kurzweil, since it will
be precipitated by the inherent acceleration of technological progress
and driven by the free market model.
Today's machines represent the principles of the neo-liberal economy,
just as in the 16th century the mechanical clock embodied the values of
the monarchic state. Robots and computer systems "self-organise", just
like selfish individuals under the invisible hand of the market.
And technology gets better and cheaper all the time, so that eventually
it will trickle down to the poorest people, just like capital does in
right-wing economics. The Singularity, Kurzweil tells us, is an economic
imperative. Like human knowledge, economic growth is also exponential
and the market will become the main engine of future change. We will not
only be immortal but filthy rich.
Incredibly, Kurzweil argues that factories and farm jobs in the US have
dropped from 60per cent to 6 per cent because of automation; no mention
of Third World sweatshops or corporate outsourcing and downsizing. He
even argues that modern warfare claims fewer casualties thanks to more
accurate weapons. We should mention that Kurzweil is an adviser to the
US military and sits on the board of directors of Seegrid, a robotics
company (founded by fellow extropian Hans Moravec) that subcontracts to
the US Army. This may explain the absence of ethical concerns in his
discussion of the military applications of new technology.
Also central to Kurzweil's argument is the notion that our minds can be
copied into computers built in the image of the brain. This runs up
against gigantic problems and relies on several unproven assumptions.
The information sciences have sparked the mystic belief that everything
is made of ethereal data and that consciousness or identity can be
separated from the complex electro-biochemical dynamics of the brain.
This is a curious technological rewriting of the notion of the
individual soul, transcendent from embodiment. It may be a reassuring
story but there's no evidence to support it. Kurzweil believes the
simulation of intelligence (or consciousness, he can't see the
difference) is a matter of fast processing power.
But he is not speaking to our more rational instincts. Though dressed in
the garb of science, these fantasies are addressed mainly to the
anxieties of ageing baby boomers. As governments of developed nations
brace for an imminent huge swell in the population of elderly and
retirees, this vision of a future ruled by an army of narcissistic
baby-boomer cyborgs sounds like a bad joke. Kurzweil, however, feels
naturally entitled to the fruits of the latest biomedical knowledge. And
he has some ideas on how to handle the accompanying strain on economic
and natural resources: nanobots will produce all the energy we need,
cheaply and in an environmentally sustainable manner. And the oil giants
needn't worry, as the nanobots will clean the environment too.
For most of its history, technology has remained inseparable from
religion, illusionism and magical thinking. Things haven't changed much
and modern science and technology continue to inspire beliefs as baroque
as anything concocted by our forebears. The road to the uncertain future
is littered with the carcasses of brave new worlds that never were.
So far, the only reliable law of futurism was pronounced by J.G.
Ballard: "If enough people predict something, it won't happen."
- Nanotechnology as a “Revolutionary Technology”: Rhetoric, Forward-looking Statements, and Public Understanding of Science
- Smart food
- Beware the coming of smart foods! In not so distant future
companies will engineer food to have a host of useful properties. Food
could acquire an unbearably bad taste upon its expiration date to
prevent hoarding. Food could taste good and have no caloric value
whatsoever to let people with no self-control lose weight. Food could
become completely digestable and produce no excrement.
But that's not all! Did you ever wish your competitors would go out
of business? Well, with smart food engineering you'll be able to get
your food to install tiny machines in the eater's taste buds. Then,
whenever a product similar to yours enters his mouth, these machines
will check for your company's cryptographic signature and, if absent,
make the food taste really bad. Then the poor shmuck will have no
choice but to buy your product. Is that cool or what?
But why stop there? With the latest nanoengineering technology
you can make food that is as addictive as cocaine, but without any
effect on the brain. It just has really unpleasant withdrawal symptoms.
That'll surely keep them coming back for more!
Smart food can also drastically improve the effectiveness of
your marketing. Did you ever want to know which part of the city eats
the most of your product? Tag it with special nanotracers and install
simple scanning equipment in the city sewers. Since such equipment is
easy and cheap to produce, there is no reason why every home shouldn't
have one. Wouldn't you like to know exactly who is eating your stuff,
when, and where? I thought so.
- October 24, 2005 : KNT or KNTcase?
-
http://www.cientifica.com/blog/mt/
- We're not sure whether this is the point where nanotech moves from
hype to fad, but in the wake of Apple's ipod nano (Small Times
accidentally ran an automated story on this last week!) we now have, oh
dear, Kabbalistic Nanotechnology.
Madonna's favourite Rabbi Rav Berg's book Kabbalistic Nanotechnology
just popped up on our radar thanks to an anonymous tipster (see the
description below).
The description sounds uncannily Drexlerain in its utopian nature, which
makes us wonder how many of the attendees at this weeks Foresight Vision
Weekend will have seen this particular light? This recent addition to
nanotechnology's rich pageant gives us yet another flavour, KNT anyone?
"Two emerging technologies promise to transform the world in ways that
will make the breakthroughs of the 20th century seem pedestrian. One has
existed for less than 50 years and is called nanotechnology. The other
has existed for 4,000 years and is called Kabbalah. On the surface, they
seem to be divergent, even contradictory technologies. But in fact, they
are complementary in the most profound ways possible. One promises to
deliver a practical technology and a transformed world in the distant
future. The other promises practical tools and remarkable changes now.
In this book, Kabbalist Rav Berg isolates the common points of science
and spirit to reveal the elusive path toward achieving humanity's
noblest and most challenging aspiration - the manipulation of the
physical world. The potential uses are staggering: pollution reversal,
elimination of disease and genetic defects, eradication of poverty,
microscopic computers faster than today's best supercomputers, and the
indefinite extension of the human lifespan."
- New nanoshite particles a radical new approach to DHT
-
http://www.regrowth.com/hairloss-forums/viewthread.cfm?f=5&t=16798
- Ellsom research has formulated a new topical that uses a radically
new mechanism for DHT [dihydrotestosterone] removal. Its called the Naoshite particle using
micronised nanoscat in a collidal solution with a mean improvement of
dermal absorption of 187%. What makes nanoshite unique is that it
operates on a totally new principle namely that of a maximal
physiological capacity of effluence or waste.
"Excess DHT is a waste by-product and hair loss is the bodies primary
response to the excess DHT. However like all clean up mechanisms the
body will concentrate it immunological response on the most toxic waste
product in the body, in this case the proximity to the skin organ. Our
research has shown that by placing toxic by-products directly onto the
scalp, the skin concentrates it immunological resources on removing the
toxity and not on removing hair. Hair loss is prevented." "Our research
has shown that the most effective and naturally occuring non-harmful
topical waste product is in fact human excrement, using our unique
patented nanosal technology of encapsulation, the shit is scattered into
microfine nano-bubbles each 1/100 i.u in diameter and suspended in a
colloidal suspension to form nanoshite suspensions. Studies have shown a
187% increase in absorption over simple application of human-excrement
in its raw unprocessed state. Customers need not worry about the smell
since nanoshite is suspended and the smell is diffused it has been
described as having a "heady woody farmland smell"
- October 12, 2005 : A Monstrous Misconception
-
http://www.cientifica.com/blog/mt/
- Jobs portal Monster.com has an article on how to get a job in the
Nanotechnology Industry, but perhaps that should that be the yet to come
Molecular Nanotechnology Industry?
Ominously, the article starts with Michael Crichton's definition of
nanotechnology as "the quest to build man-made machines of extremely
small size, on the order of 100 nanometers, or 100/billionths of a
meter."
It gets worse from here with the author suggesting that a good way to
get a nanotech job would be to join an organisation such as Foresight.
It's hard to think of a worse idea, as most nanotech related jobs are
concerned with real world applications, not pontificating about possible
nanobot related scenarios. In fact the mere mention of nanobots is
enough to bring most job interviews to an speedy conclusion, whether in
industry or the academic world.
It brings us back to the twin issues of the non-existence of any kind of
nanotechnology industry, and the fact that nanotechnologies cut across a
wide variety of academic disciplines and industries. While there are
many jobs that may involve the application of nanotechnologies, there
are very few companies entirely concerned with nanotechnologies, and
even those will have specific requirements for chemical engineers or
material scientists.
The mistake commonly made in this type of article is to assume that
there exists some kind of industry often described as the digitisation
of matter where anyone fascinated by computer games and science fiction
can find a job. The harsh reality is no different from any other sector,
you have to have the skills and experience that an employer wants, and a
predilection for sci-fi usually comes low on the list of priorities.
- Nano-smiley made from DNA
-
http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s1593020.htm
- A nanotechnologist has created the world's smallest and most
plentiful smiley, a tiny face measuring a few billionths of a metre
across assembled from strands of DNA.
- This theoretically opens the way to making DNA quantum computers and
nano-level devices including injectable robots that can monitor the
body's tissues for good health.
- How to get rich on people not understanding science
-
http://lupoleboucher.livejournal.com/32527.html#cutid1
-
I got some idjit motley fool today about Nanotech. As is usual with such
rubbish, the new technology was declared to be a panacea; the world as
we know it will end. There will be no more work; only infinite wealth
generated by our nanoscopic robot slaves. The more frothing of such
reports (including this one) indicates that, not only will they generate
insane wealth, basically, by making things appear in genie-like fashion,
they will also make us immortal. I'm not just making this crap up;
people really write it. Other people really believe it. I even met an
astounding charlatan on tribe.net who started a special interest group
(to siphon money from gullible charitable foundations) calling for
"responsible use of nanotech." As if there were presently any uses of
"nanotech," irresponsible or otherwise. This idea of the imagined
technology wreaking havoc comes from that ninny who invented Java: he
has been claiming we are in dire danger of scientists creating
nanorobots who would immediately eat everything and turn the world into
"grey goo."
- That's it. That's what the whole book is. Oh yes, there are a few
collections of tables and graphs purporting to indicate that such a
thing might be possible, and Drexler does sketch out some impressive
looking mechanical designs of what he supposes a nanobot might look
like, but, without more than a passing justification, he seems to lack
the imagination to figure out what a real nanosized doodad might look
like. Much of his thesis seems to be hand wavey arguments that such
"looking rather a lot like a meter scale object" designs were actually
valid on a nano or small microscale. I know for a fact that they are
not. You can wave your hands around all you want; when you stick an
atomic force microscope down on nanosized thingees, you know what forces
they produce. Duh. Drexler would also occasionally notice that his
perfect little robots would probably, you know, oxidize, like most
reactive things do, and embarassedly consign them to Ultra High Vacuum
chambers. Then sometimes he would forget, and enthusiastically stick
them everywhere. None of the chemistry was done. Little real thought was
given to thermodynamics or where the energy was coming from for all
these cool Maxwell-Demon like "perpetual motion" reactions. It was never
noticed that computational chemistry is basically useless. Experimental
results were rarely mentioned, or explained away with the glorious
equation of Schroedinger, with which, all things seemed possible. Self
assembly was apparently deemed routine, despite the fact that nobody
knows how to engineer such things, or even really when to expect them.
- Lookit; it will be easy; just take these red balls, and stick them
to the blue balls and you have a bearing surface! -so sez Drexler; not
really -so sez my atomic force microscope; little things are sticky: duh
- Presently the best scam to be in, in nanoland is claiming to use
nanoparticles in your whatever. The thing is, we have always used
nanoparticles in our whatevers. Before Drexler (BD?) we would call these
nano-entities, "chemicals." But now people realize the marketing worth
of claiming your sunscreen has "nanoparticles" in it, despite the fact
that, well, all sunscreens do. Scotchguard is no longer marketed as a
chemical that makes it easy to clean your pantaloons; it is now
rebranded a "nanoshield" of some kind. Some ding dong has managed to
fool people into thinking they have specially engineered some tennis
balls to be bouncy using ... nanothingees... Back when I was a boy, they
called those, "chemical coatings."
- Industry Spotlight: Nanotechnology
-
http://technology.monster.com/articles/nanotech/
- Engineers, software professionals and other techies are
always looking for the next big thing. And according to some futurists
and techno gurus, it could be something small: Nanotechnology.
Doctor, sci-fi author and Hollywood power broker Michael Crichton
sees nanotechnology as "perhaps the most radical technology in human
history."
What Is Nanotechnology?
Crichton defines it as "the quest to build man-made machines of
extremely small size, on the order of 100 nanometers, or 100/billionths
of a meter." In an article in Parade magazine, Crichton wrote about the
potential power of the field: "Such machines would be 1,000 times
smaller than the diameter of a human hair. Experts predict that these
tiny machines will provide everything from miniaturized computer
components to new medical treatments to new military weapons. In the
21st century, they will change our world totally."
No wonder techies of all types are scrambling to learn about
this nascent field. "Lots of people are very interested in
nanotechnology," says Christine Peterson, vice president of public
policy for the Foresight Nanotech Institute, the leading nanotech think
tank. "They can see this is the next big thing, and they want to
participate."
As Foresight defines it, nanotechnology encompasses a number of
technologies -- some with current or near-term applications, others
with applications likely to be developed in the distant future. But
experts say it is a field that utilizes a wide variety of technical
skills and knowledge, including electrical engineering, materials
science, chemistry, physics, mechanical engineering and software.
"The good news is that you can come at nanotechnology from
almost any technical direction," says Peterson. "The bad news is
sometimes you need to go back to school."
How to Break In
Peterson, who counsels Foresight members on career issues, says
she sees "a lot of software folks -- dotcom-bust people -- jaded with
that field and wanting to do something new and exciting." But "the jump
from software to nano is a pretty big jump," she cautions. "Some people
in software are good about bits, but they can't think about atoms."
Those best positioned to enter the field include experts in
materials science and applied chemistry as well as others "who have
been thinking about molecules," as Peterson puts it.
Research is essential. Students should consider which aspect of
nanotechnology is right for them, and then seek out leading local
university scholars in that arena. To make your mark, tap into your
school's resources and conduct research. Positions for those with
nanotechnology research experience range from PhD scientists working on
original ideas in the lab to those with bachelor's degrees carrying out
experiments and filling other support roles.
You can also research the field by:
- Scanning Online Resources: The online world offers a wealth of
nanotechnology resources. The Forbes/Wolfe Nanotech Report, the
Foresight Nanotechnology Institute, the Nano Science and Technology
Institute and the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network, among
scores of other spots, will connect you with message boards, blogs,
courses and other resources.
- Joining an Organization: Consider membership in Foresight or
other groups as a way to meet others and become immersed in the field.
- Attending a Conference: Nanotechnology conferences provide a
way to network, connect with companies and hear from industry leaders.
Ignore the Hype
Some in the field caution that excessive hype is driving
interest in nanotechnology. "So far, it's an idea," says Lev Dulman,
CEO of AngstroVision, a startup working on imaging for nanotechnology.
In Dulman's view, those considering a career in nanotechnology
shouldn't focus on nanotechnology itself, "because there's still not a
clear definition of what it is." Instead, he suggests focusing on the
"problems associated with nanotechnology," such as developing
instrumentation and tools to work toward practical applications.
Follow the Money
Others, however, see nanotechnology as happening now rather than far into the future.
"Follow the money," advises Peterson, noting the cash being
funneled into nanotechnology in Europe, Japan and the US. Just one
example: The federal government's 2006 budget includes more than $1
billion in R&D funding requests for nanotech projects in 11
departments and agencies. "It doesn't really matter whether there's
hype or not. If there's money going into it, that's real."
- Cracking the Science of Undies
-
http://www.abc.net.au/science/features/undies/default.htm
- But Dr Tony Pierlot, a researcher with CSIRO Textile & Fibre
Technology argues that many new synthetic fibres and manufacturing
techniques would not be necessary if wool was worn more often. He says
wool's structure and chemical composition naturally inhibits bacterial
growth and it also keeps body odours down by trapping the smells and
releasing them during washing and by carrying sweat away from the skin.
Wool is pretty weird stuff. Paradoxically it is water repellent but can
absorb 35 per cent of its own weight in water, Pierlot says, and still
feel dry. Meanwhile, tiny pores in the wool fibres allow water vapour to
pass right through. This is why wool is comfortable because it can
'breathe' and allow body heat and moisture out.
Ironically, scientists are now working on a synthetic fibre and
engineering materials containing carbon nanotubes. "Funnily enough, it
turns out nature's already thought about nanotechnology - for at least a
few million years," says Pierlot "because wool is a complex assembly of
nano-sized fibres." "The human race is besotted by technology, but if
you hang in long enough the worm turns and people come back to natural
fibres … the challenge is to develop a range of products that have
relevance to people's lifestyles now."
- Nano and Far Infrared Underwear
-
http://www.tradekey.com/selloffer_view/id/152183.htm
FAR INFRARED BEAUTY & HEALTH
The far infrared rays, also called the fertile ray, is part of rays of
the sun. Its wavelength is closed to that of the human body's, and
produces resonance vibration of magnetic wave with the human body by
means of it. Thus, it is of great help to the health of the human body.
Properties:
1. Promoting blood circulation, activating cells, and speeding up metabolism.
2. Burning excess fats, consuming extra calories, and shaping attractive curves.
3. Regulating autonomic nerves, and eliminating fatigue rapidly
Using the weaving of high elastic fibers to design this product with
human body engineering that has functions of restraining the abdomen and
lifting buttocks. It is truly the killer of bulgy abdomens cooperating
with the far infrared ray processed at the abdomen.
Ways of Cleaning:
1. Cleaning in the warm water under 30 degree c
2. Do not soak with the chlorine series washing powder in order to avoid
damaging the elasticity of fibers.
Ingredients:
20% Magnetic Powder of Far Infrared Ray
20%LYCRA
60% Polyamide
- Company Name: Truck Rapidoil S. R. O. - Product/Service: Nanosocks,
Nanounderwear, Nanowindows, Nanodesinfection, Nanosurface rain protect,
Nanoautocosmetics, Nano engines oil, nanoproducts for healing service
- Rutgers to create ultra-tiny 'bio-nano' motors under National Science Foundation grant
-
http://www.scienceblog.com/community/older/2003/G/20035251.html
- Three engineering departments at Rutgers, The State University of
New Jersey – mechanical and aerospace, biomedical, and chemical and
biochemical – are teaming up to create a prototype of an ultra-tiny
motor small enough to be part of a system that could eventually travel
patients' bloodstreams to help repair damaged cells, organs and DNA.
A prototype of the "Viral Protein Nano Motor" is expected to be unveiled
in 2007, with research and development funded by a four-year $1,050,017
grant from the National Science Foundation and its Nanoscale Science and
Engineering program
The term "nano" refers to nanotechnology – the study and process of
working with devices and assembling structures by using atom- or
molecule-sized building blocks. In this case, Rutgers scientists are
using biological molecules derived from virus-based proteins to build a
bio-nano motor that can perform a linear opening and closing motion.
- compares developing bio-nano motors to designing the internal
combustion engine, which later was combined with other components to
develop such history-changing advances as the automobile and airplane.
"Two years ago, our ideas seemed very ambitious, like science fiction.
Now it's becoming a reality," he said.
- Brookhaven Dedicates Center for Functional Nanomaterials
-
http://www.nanotech-now.com/news.cgi?story_id=09052
- The overarching research goal at the new nanocenter will be to help solve
energy problems in the U.S. by exploring materials that use energy more
efficiently and by researching practical alternatives to fossil fuels, such
as hydrogen-based energy sources and improved, economical solar energy
systems.
- Nanodentistry
-
http://www.rfreitas.com/Nano/Nanodentistry.htm
- Abstract. Nanodentistry will make possible the maintenance of
comprehensive oral health by employing nanomaterials, biotechnology
including tissue engineering, and, ultimately, dental nanorobotics
(nanomedicine). When the first micron-size dental nanorobots can be
constructed in 10-20 years, these devices will allow precisely
controlled oral analgesia, dentition replacement therapy using
biologically autologous whole replacement teeth manufactured during a
single office visit, and rapid nanometer-scale precision restorative
dentistry. New treatment opportunities may include dentition
renaturalization, permanent hypersensitivity cure, complete orthodontic
realignments during a single office visit, covalently-bonded diamondized
enamel, and continuous oral health maintenance using mechanical
dentifrobots.
- (Even diamondoid nanomachines can be crushed by dental grinding
unless their outer shells are at least 10% of device radius thick [11].)
- Hydrogen Can Lurk in Ice for Fuel Use
-
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/200504/kt2005040710524410220.htm
- A team of international scientists have found an affordable way to
store hydrogen, the element many researchers believe is the key to the
world’s future energy problems.
The team, headed by Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
professor Lee Huen, yesterday said they uncovered the hydrogen storage
mechanism by researching ice.
``Purified water does not have a space to embed hydrogen but we found
water combined with organic metals creates a nano-space to stably hoard
hydrogen at about 0 degrees Celsius when water turns to ice,’’ Lee said.
The 53-year-old professor added the newly found storage method will help
enhance the viability of hydrogen as an alternative energy source to the
current dominance of fossil fuels.
As the greenhouse gases-caused global warming is becoming a serious
issue, hydrogen is emerging as a clean fuel solution because it is
non-toxic, nonpolluting and renewable.
In addition, the element is by far the most abundant one in the universe
and can be easily obtained through separating water with electricity.
In recognition of such huge potential, the world’s major carmakers have
energetically begun developing hydrogen fuel cell vehicles of zero
emissions.
One hitch in the process is the difficulty in storing and transporting
hydrogen since it is very light, with very small molecules and can
escape from storage tanks or pipes more easily than conventional fuels.
Up until now, the gas is usually stored at a 350 barometric pressure or
liquidized under a temperature of up to minus 252 degrees Celsius, ways
which are not practical for everyday use.
``Researchers has been in hunt for new storage technology with such
futuristic materials as carbon nano-tube but the efforts have failed to
bear impressive results,’’ Lee said.
In this climate, Lee claimed his team’s new technology of piling up
hydrogen inside ice without any treatment will become the industry
standard for hydrogen storage in the future.
``We will be able to store hydrogen inside ice at a near-ambient
temperature of 0 degrees Celsius and use it as a fuel or for other
purposes with the addition of heat that frees hydrogen from ice,’’ Lee
predicted.
Lee’s team applied for international patents for the breakthrough. The
finding will be featured in the next edition of the science journal
Nature as the ``Feature of the Week,’’ or the most prominent report in
the issuance.
- Nanotech frauds imminent, warns VC
-
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/06/18/nanotech_frauds_soon/
- Vinod Khosla, the co-founder of Sun Microsystems who wrote its first
business plan, and one of the pivotal figures in Silicon Valley capital,
has warned that nanotech frauds are on their way. The first IPO in the
much-touted sector will shortly take place, with the flotation of
Nanosys, a Silicon Valley company which has gained over $50m in capital
and filed over 200 patents, as premature. For Khosla it's a problem that
he can't evaluate what it's actually selling.
"When people start investing in a technology as opposed to investing in
an application [and] when people start hyping a technology, you're sure
to have bad things happen," said Khosla. He said the sector would
"almost certainly" create a bubble.
"And whether they are doing it knowingly or unknowingly, there is a
reasonably high likelihood that they will defraud the public market," he
said, referring to Nanosys.
It's not that he thinks that nanotech is bogus. Far from it: he's
invested in two firms and regards nanotechnology breakthroughs in
computer memory and batteries as inevitable in the next few years. But
he doesn't think companies should go to market without a product and
he's dubious that old companies have been able to repackage themselves
as fresh nanotech startups.
Nanosys itself has licensing agreements with Intel and Matsushita
(Panasonic) to exploit its portfolio. Nanosys' CEO Larry Bock has a
slash-and-burn reputation with startups: of twelve biotechnology
companies he took public in 2001, four have gone bust and the not one of
the remaining eight is making money yet. ®
A partner at Kleiner Perkins Caulfield and Byers, Khosla has invested in
optical networking and silicon companies in recent years. You can find
an account of his early years at Sun here - it's worth a hundred airport
kiosk business paperbacks.®
- Yorkshire Forward acting on nano's £1 trillion potential
-
http://www.serco.com/media/industrynews/ItemPage.asp?ItemID=8052580
- Development agency Yorkshire Forward has announced that it is to
invest in nanotechnology's market potential.
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has predicted that by the end
of the next decade, nanotechnology's global market could be worth £1
trillion.
As such, development agency Yorkshire Forward is to invest in projects
that show "substantial commercial potential" within the sector.
The agency will invest a total of £5 million across three projects.
Nanofactory, a joint partnership between Leeds, Sheffield and Bradford
universities, which will be the first Nano-Manufacturing centre that
focuses on commercial products and will receive £2.1 million.
The York-JEOL Centre for Nanolithography and Analysis will receive £1.65
million to help transform it into a "world-class facility".
Finally, the Polymer Interdisciplinary Research Centre, based at the
universities of Sheffield, Leeds and Bradford, will get £1.2 million to
investigate the nanotechnology's commercial potential in polymer and
composite material production.
Susan Johnson, executive director of business development at Yorkshire
Forward, said: "There is already a substantial presence in micro and
nano-technology in our region but this investment will help businesses
to really exploit this expertise and to bring new and exciting
innovations to the market.
"The potential market in micro- and non-technology is huge and we want
to make sure that, as a region, we are at the forefront of its
commercial development."track
- German Cooperation on Nanotechnology
-
http://www.china.org.cn/english/2005/Apr/125707.htm
- On Tuesday, experts from China and Germany began to exchange views
on the development of nanotechnology at a three-day conference in
Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province.
"The gap between China and western countries in nanotechnology is not
very big. China is even leading in some areas," said Jiang Xiaowei, a
Ministry of Science and Technology official.
Jiang said companies from the two countries will negotiate on
cooperative projects. Germany will invest in nanofertilizer technology,
a field in which China is more advanced, he said.
- Huang Boyun, president of the Changsha-based Central South
University, spoke highly of the application of nanoscience in cancer
research, saying that some tumors may be curable in 15 years with its
help.
- Companies cool on nanotechnology
-
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200504/s1343816.htm
- A survey of western Sydney companies' attitudes to the
relatively new science of nanotechnology has found that nearly half of
those that responded could not see the technology's relevance to their
business.
Nanotechnology is the science of rearranging individual atoms and molecules to create different materials and devices.
The University of Western Sydney's Kim Leevers says the
Nanotechnology Project sent surveys to more than 300 businesses, of
which just 38 replied.
He says early results indicate that many companies cannot grasp how nanotechnology can have a practical use in their business.
"The manufacturing sector, particularly those in the
small-to-medium enterprises don't have large research and development
budgets to put into things like nanotechnology," he said.
"They are prepared to sit and wait for some things to come through first before I think they will invest."
- Medical applications of molecular nanotechnology: Nanorobots
-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanomedicine#Nanorobots
- Nanodevices could be observed at work inside the body using MRI,
especially if their components were manufactured using mostly 13C atoms
rather than the natural 12C isotope of carbon, since 13C has a nonzero
nuclear magnetic moment. Medical nanodevices would first be injected
into a human body, and would then go to work in a specific organ or
tissue mass. The doctor will monitor the progress, and make certain that
the nanodevices have gotten to the correct target treatment region. The
doctor wants to be able to scan a section of the body, and actually see
the nanodevices congregated neatly around their target (a tumor mass,
etc.) so that he or she can be sure that the procedure was successful.
- Nanoparticles' behaviour causes environmental concerns
-
http://www.htcricket.com/news/181_656497,001301450000.htm
- The tiniest particles of matter don't flow uniformly in
water, a finding that could have wide-ranging implications in assessing
environmental risks and benefits of nanotechnology — the science of
manipulating the very small, says a scientist.
Preliminary research, the first of its kind, suggests the ways in
which so-called nanoparticles behave in groundwater environments or
water treatment plants are as varied as the diverse molecules or atoms
used to assemble them.
The finding precludes making broad statements about how
nanomaterials, measurable in the billionths of a meter, move in watery
environments, said Mark Wiesner of Rice University. Details were
presented at the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society.
"What's becoming obvious is while it's trendy to talk about
nanomaterials in broad-brush terms, we can't do that. We need to
discuss this on a case-by-case basis," Wiesner said in an interview.
The discovery also suggests limited roles for some
nanoparticles in either dirtying or cleaning the world - they have been
touted as capable of doing both - since they gum up before flowing very
far. Among the minute materials examined by Wiesner and his colleagues
were buckyballs, a soccer ball-shaped particle thousands of times
smaller than a human hair.
Early research, presented by other scientists at the meeting,
suggested the particles cause brain damage in fish. "There are many
potential benefits of nanotechnology, but its hazards and risks are
poorly understood. This study gives us additional cause for concern,"
said Eva Oberdorster of Southern Methodist University.
Wiesner said laboratory tests showed the particles were the
least mobile from among a variety of nanomaterials his group examined,
presumably reducing their potential for causing harm in the
environment.
Even the nanoparticles best suited for travel appeared capable
of moving underground no more than about 10 yards before sticking to
larger grains of sand, he added.
The finding also could impede those who want to press the
ultra-small particles into the fight against pollution. Scientists are
working to develop special nanoparticles to seek out and destroy
sources of groundwater pollution that often are expensive and difficult
to treat.
Wiesner said not all nanoparticles are the same - some may be
incapable of "finding their targets" if injected into the ground. The
findings underscore a basic tenet of nanotechnology: "When you get
smaller, properties change," Mark Ratner of Northwestern University
said during a nanotechnology forum.
The US government is spending roughly $1 billion a year on
nanotechnology, including dozens of studies that examine its
environmental and societal impacts. The private sector is laying out
billions more.
"We can't afford to make mistakes," American Chemical Society president Charles Casey said.
- So What? What Can Nano Do for Us?
-
http://nanotech2004.thenewatlantis.com/2004/10/so_what_what_ca.html
- It's Day Two of the Foresight conference, and the focus is on
"applications." Yesterday concentrated on nano research, today
concentrates on what nano can do for us.
The first speaker this morning was Scott Mize, who has just finished
speaking as I write this. (His abstract is here.) Scott is the new
president of Foresight, having just taken over the job a couple of
months ago. His remarks this morning concentrated on how nanotechnology
could help solve the problems raised by the United Nations Millennium
Challenges. It's part of his effort to make Foresight seem more
relevant. These challenges include things like global warming, dirty
water, declining resources, infectious diseases, and terrorism.
One interesting observation Scott makes is this: while the total number
of dollars going into nano has been rising, the number new deals in nano
business is going down. There's so much uncertainty in the early stages
of nano business endeavors that, it seems, new investors are
decreasingly willing to take new risks. Or so it seems.
- NanoBusiness and You
-
http://nanotech2004.thenewatlantis.com/2004/10/nanobusiness_an.html
- The second speaker of the morning was Sean Murdock, the head of the
NanoBusiness Alliance. (Like Scott Mize, the previous speaker, Mr.
Murdock only recently came to lead his organization -- there was
recently a spate of change in the nano-world.)
Sean is, he says, an "economist by training," so his talk is full of
business jargon. He talks about "opening up the solution space" and
"creating new opportunities to optimize" and "the consumer value
proposition."
I had a chance to chat with Sean yesterday, and he seems a very serious
and solid and steady guy (unlike, say, his predecessor, who was somewhat
excitable).
The biggest application for nanotech in coming years, Sean says, is in
energy. Still, he's a staunch defender of nanopants and nanotech-tennis
rackets against those who would belittle them as nuthin' compared to
what nanotech is likely to bring. After all, Sean says, these things are
here, they are "revolutionary" and people want them. Consumer products
matter, he says. It's not enough to just speculate about the distant
future, we need "innovation as opposed to invention."
- Bacteria Bridges New Nano-circuit
-
http://www.memsnet.org/news/1111157913-0/
- Scientists in Wisconsin have used bacteria to make tiny
bio-electronic circuits, a step towards new sensors and perhaps new
nano-manufacturing techniques
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have developed a
system to guide living microbes, one by one, between a pair of
electrodes only a germ's length apart. When the bacteria lands in
between it completes the circuit. The system enables researchers to
capture, interrogate and release bacterial cells -- a technique that
could be used for sensors able to detection of dangerous bioterror
agents almost instantaneously.
-
http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20050317-080617-9143r.htm
- Author of Nanomedicine, Joins Zyvex
-
http://www.foresight.org/Updates/Update40/Update40.1.html#FreitasZyvex
- Zyvex LLC announced on March 1st that Robert A. Freitas Jr., author
of Nanomedicine, has joined the company as a Research Scientist.
Freitas, the world's foremost expert on potential medical applications
of molecular nanotechnology, has already finished Volume I of the
three-volume treatise, and will finish Volumes II and III at Zyvex.
Nanomedicine is the first in-depth survey of the impact of this emerging
technology on medicine.
"Applications of nanotechnology will revolutionize the 21st century, and
medical applications could be the most revolutionary of all," said Jim
Von Ehr, President & CEO of Zyvex. "Applications of nanomedicine are
years or even decades away, but the incredible size of the opportunity
(measured in either lives or dollars) makes it worthwhile to directly
support groundbreaking research and to encourage others to do likewise.
We are developing some of the enabling technology for this field, and
think Rob's work can help us open a dialog with the medical researchers
who will actually make these devices."
Commenting on his decision to join Zyvex, Freitas said, "I'm delighted
that Zyvex has decided to support the completion of Nanomedicine, and
proud to be part of the Zyvex team. Many people have made it possible
for me to get this far, and I sincerely thank them all."
The Foresight Institute and the Institute for Molecular Manufacturing,
where Freitas is a Research Fellow, have provided major funding in
support of Freitas' research and writing of his ground-breaking
examination of the medical applications of molecular nanotechnology.
After five years of work, the first volume of his projected three-volume
treatise was published last October.
"I've also been amazed at the rapid growth of interest in all the
applications of nanotechnology," Freitas added. "Public awareness of
nanotechnology has really taken off since Clinton's announcement of the
NNI. The technical progress in just the last few years has seized
people's imaginations and will stimulate even more interest and progress
in the future. This makes completing Nanomedicine both more enjoyable
and more valuable."
Medical applications of nanotechnology could eventually make possible
subcellular medical nanorobots able to hunt down and kill cancer cells,
clear out clogged arteries, provide oxygen during a heart attack, attack
and destroy invading bacteria and viruses or even reverse the damage
caused by aging.
Zyvex, based in Richardson, Texas, was started in 1997 with the goal of
building the key tool for creating molecular nanotechnology, the
assembler. The privately held company is engaged in research and
development of molecular nanotechnology, concentrating on what it
believes to be the three key technologies for the field:
mechanochemistry, nanopositioning, and system design.
- Nanobots For You: 500 trillion nanobots might replace your blood in the future
-
http://www.pcquest.com/content/firstlooks/103091603.asp
- Ever
thought about holding your breath and swimming under water for hours at
a stretch like a whale? Or sprinting like a cheetah for 12 minutes,
without breathing even once!
It's no Sci-fi movie script or dream. The concept is very much real and
might come true some day in the future. Scripted by scientists, Robert
A Freitas and Christopher J Phoenix, it involves changing the very
essence of life-replacing the blood coursing through your arteries and
veins with over 500 trillion oxygen and nutrients carrying nanobots.
The vasculoid system as it is called will just about duplicate every
function of blood, albeit more efficiently.
Respirocytes, for example, are just one type of the nanobots that will
make up this artificial blood. Freitas envisages respirocytes to be
made up of 18 billion structural atoms that are precisely arranged to
the last atom. Each respirocyte will have a tiny onboard computer,
powerplant and molecular pumps and storage hulls that can transport
molecules of oxygen and carbon dioxide.
The bots will be a thousand times more efficient than the RBCs they
seek to replace. Agreed this nano-robotic blood will be more than a
little time in the making. But who knows, one day it could very well
change the course of human evolution.
- Inventor foresees implanted sensors aiding brain functions
-
http://www.eetuk.com/tech/news/rn/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=18307535
- BOSTON
: Using deliberately provocative predictions, speech-recognition
pioneer Ray Kurzweil said that by 2030 nanosensors could be injected
into the human bloodstream, implanted microchips could amplify or
supplant some brain functions, and individuals could share memories and
inner experiences by "beaming" them electronically to others.
- The First Foresight Conference on Nanotechnology
- Nano kids
- Nanorobotics
- Center for Automation in Nanobiotech (CAN)
- Center for Automation in Nanobiotech (CAN)
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