From: Gina Miller (nanogirl@halcyon.com)
Date: Mon May 06 2002 - 14:05:37 MDT
Nanogirl News
May 6, 2002
*We Have Ignition! Carbon Nanotubes Ignite When Exposed to Flash.
Researchers at Rensselaer have discovered a surprising new property
of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCN). When exposed to a
conventional photographic flash, the nanotubes emit a loud pop and
then ignite.This discovery, reported in the April 26 issue of the journal
Science, could mean that SWCNs might be used in light sensors or to
remotely trigger explosives and combustion reactions, although
researchers say that more testing needs to be done to realize these
possibilities. (Rensselaer press release 5/02)
http://www.rpi.edu/web/News/press_releases/2002/flash.html
*Viruses enlisted as nano-builders. If you want to build a
molecular-scale computer chip, or a minuscule sensor that detects the
slightest whiff of an airborne toxin, you're going to need some tiny
builders to help put these gadgets together. In Friday's issue of the
journal Science, published by the American Association for the
Advancement of Science, researchers in Texas show how they hired a
virus as their nano-construction worker. (MSNBC 5/2/02)
http://www.msnbc.com/news/745696.asp
*One of my roles at the Foresight Institute annual "senior
associates" meeting is to take up the far-left point on the
intelligence bell curve of people in the room. This is another way of
saying that the gathering typically includes some of the smartest
people I ever encounter. Foresight, as its name suggests, looks into
the future. Its main thrust is promoting nanotechnology, the science
of making and manipulating very small things - down to the molecular
and atomic level in its purest definition. (Small Times 5/6/02)
http://www.smalltimes.com/document_display.cfm?document_id=3693
Another article by Dan Gillmor about Foresight from Dan Gillmor's
eJournal entitled: Foresight of Thought is located at:
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/business/columnists/dan
_gillmor/ejournal/3151407.htm
*STAR Inc., a startup at the State University of New York, Stony
Brook, is adapting a 19th century technology to create surgical
material for the 21st. STAR's nanofiber membrane is a mesh of
polymers designed to prevent body tissues from sticking together as
they heal. It also breaks down in the body over time like
biodegradable sutures. (Small Times 5/1/02)
http://www.smalltimes.com/document_display.cfm?section_id=45,51&docume
nt_id=3658
*Mutant Viruses Order Quantum Dots. A three dimensional grid of
quantum dots created and held together by genetically-engineered
viruses could enable a new generation of computer displays, memories
and even nanoscale computer chips.-Includes a Flash animation-
(New Scientist 5/6/02)
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992248
*Mirror Fibers. MIT researchers have created high-performance mirrors
in the shape of hair-like flexible fibers that could be woven into
cloth or incorporated in paper. Applications include fabrics with
embedded "bar codes" that identify the wearer, potentially useful in
the battle suits of future soldiers, or a lightweight cloth that
reflects radiation, protecting from blasts of heat. (MIT 5/02)
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/rd/2002/may.html
*Nanotechnolgy: the small science set. Ever-smaller microprocessors,
stain-resistant clothing, anti-cancer drugs, even sunscreen; you may
not have heard of "nanotechnology", but experts say it could
revolutionise the way we live and work. Born in the 1960s in the
research laboratories of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT) in the United States, nanotechnology is science on a small
scale, described by one sector watcher as "atomic lego". (Independent
Online 5/6/02)
http://www.itechnology.co.za/index.php?click_id=31&art_id=qw1020678660
535B216&set_id=1
*Photons Crowd Each Other Out. Technologies of the future like
quantum computers will need to manipulate single electrons, atoms, or
photons. Researchers can already control single electrons, but
photons are trickier, since they have no charge. In the 6 May print
issue of PRL, a team shows a new way in which individual photons
might be coaxed to stop and go, by using microscopic pinholes as
temporary photon "holding pens." (Physical Review Focus 5/6/02)
http://focus.aps.org/v9/st24.html
*The Shape of Computer Chips to Come. In the future, there will be
hundreds of billions of embedded chips and sensing devices integrated
into everything, from key chains and swimming pools to your
apartment's walls and even your skin. All of these devices will be
able to compute, sense and communicate with each other. (Newsfactor
5/1/02)
http://sci.newsfactor.com/perl/story/17522.html
*Nanotubes at Great Length. Rensselaer researchers, and collaborators
at Tsinghua University in Beijing, have found a simple way to create
hair-like strands of carbon nanotubes, up to eight inches long. The
discovery was reported in the May 3 edition of Science and is a first
step towards making microcables for electrical devices, or tiny
actuators for artificial muscle.(Rensselaer 5/2/02)
http://www.rpi.edu/web/News/press_releases/2002/ajayan2.html
*Check out the online clothing store Eddie Bauer to purchase your
pair of Nano-Care Plain-front Chinos. Stain resistant and wrinkle
proof technofabrics forge into the closets.
http://www.eddiebauer.com/eb/product.asp?product_id=20811&nv=2|11|44&l
view=3&cm_cg=C11&tid=&c=&sc=
*Molecules take electronics for a spin. Magnetism controls new
single-molecule electronic device. Researchers eager to use
individual molecules as the components of ultra-small electronic
circuits and computers have put a new spin on their ambitious goal.
They take advantage of a hitherto unexploited property of electric
currents, called spin, to make molecular devices that operate under
new rules. (Nature 4/23/02)
http://www.nature.com/nsu/020415/020415-13.html
*Nanosys, the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company that develops
nanotechnology-enabled systems, announced earlier this week that it
obtained exclusive rights from the University of California, Los
Angeles (UCLA) to intellectual property (IP) developed in the
laboratory of Professor James Heath. Heath is currently serving as
the Acting Director of the California NanoSystems Institute.
(Nanotech-Planet 5/3/02)
http://www.nanotech-planet.com/briefs/article/0,4028,6551_1037701,00.html
*Entropy Helps Big Molecules Get Out Of Small Spaces. A new
understanding of how large biological molecules behave in tiny spaces
could lead to a method for separating DNA strands by length. It also
could throw light on the way molecules move in living cells. (UniSci
5/6/02)
http://unisci.com/stories/20022/0506026.htm
*Focus: Serving International Industry, Feature Article. High-Tech
Gumbo The Technical Sessions. Take generous portions of analytical
techniques, biotechnology, nanotechnology, and antiterrorism devices,
and place into one extra-large convention center. Mix well.
(Todays Chemist At Work 4/02)
http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/tcaw/11/i04/html/04mcguire.html
*Explorers in nanospace. While astrophysicists are figuring out the
challenges of travel through outer space, CSIRO materials researchers
are tackling a problem at the opposite end of the size scale - moving
molecules through nanospace. A team of Australian and US scientists
today announced a world advance in the use of membrane technology to
filter and separate various gases and vapours. The breakthrough has
implications for many activities, ranging from water purification and
environmental cleanup, to better fuels and petrochemicals, purer
medicines and desalination of seawater for drinking. (CSIRO 4/23/02)
http://www.csiro.au/index.asp?type=mediaRelease&id=Nanospace
*Mechanical engineer developing device for possible use in
telesurgery. In the science of the small, precision and accuracy
really count. Won-jong Kim, an assistant professor of mechanical
engineering at Texas A&M University, is developing a device that can
be used to precisely position objects in nanotechnology and even
telesurgery. Nanotechnology is the building of things one atom at a
time with miniaturized robotics. Positioning devices, such as the one
Kim is developing, are used in nanotechnology to move an object being
studied or worked on into the precise position needed for study.
(Texas A&M Engineering News 4/23/02)
http://teesem.tamu.edu/tcd/archive/fy2002/2002.1005.shtml
*-Review-Meddling with Human Nature. In The End of History and the
Last Man, Francis Fukuyama argued that history was over because the
world was converging toward societies of democratic capitalism. The
book's thesis, much disputed when it was first published as an
article in 1989, seems all the more dubious in the wake of September
11. Now, in Our Posthuman Future, a volume likely to be similarly
contested, he claims that biotechnology has brought about "the
recommencement of history."
(Scientific American 5/02)
http://www.sciam.com/2002/0502issue/0502reviews1.html
*Big prospects for nanotech Street Talk: Columnist Steven Milunovich
on the emerging field of nanotechnology. Some historians have labeled
the past 100 years the Century of Physics. Now that the first draft
of the human genome is mapped and a blossoming of new research tools
are finding their way into common use, there's good reason to believe
that the next 100 years may become known as the Century of Biology.
And it isn't just biotechnology that will help establish this
designation; nanotechnology will also play a big part. (Red Herring
5/3/02)
http://www.redherring.com/insider/2002/0503/2659.html
*Small tech could change our lives in a nanosecond But we need more
funding to help Canadian research.
My previous column talked about making technology slower. In this
one, let's explore making it smaller.First of all, we will start with
thinking about really tiny things. How tiny? As diminutive as most
investors' Incredible Shrinking Tech Portfolios? Smaller. More
minuscule than the credibility of tech analysts who keep calling the
bottom? Much smaller. As infinitesimal as John Roth's reputation with
Canadian investors? Well ... not quite that small. (National Post
4/26/02)
http://www.nationalpost.com/tech/story.html?f=/stories/20020426/38126.html
*Nanotechnology expected to be huge. Nanotechnology one day will
change the world as we know it, say leading scientists and
entrepreneurs who are hard at work testing, developing and marketing
this relatively new and still-emerging field, which focuses on minute
quantities of matter. Some have referred to it as the next industrial
revolution. (The Washington Times 5/2/06)
http://www.washtimes.com/metro/20020502-91611140.htm
*-Conference-Registration is now open for NanoBusiness Spring 2002,
May 19-21, The Roosevelt Hotel,
New York City. www.nanobusiness-spring.com Space is limited.
http://www.nanobusiness-spring.com/
*(on another note:)
Here come the ratbots. Electrodes implanted in rats' brains can make
them follow instructions and
some day they could be used to rescue earthquake victims. (BBC 5/1/02)
http://news6.thdo.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1961000/1961798.stm
<Big Sig as follows>
Gina "Nanogirl" Miller
Nanotechnology Industries
http://www.nanoindustries.com
A Visual Tour of the Future: (new)
http://www.nanogirl.com/ArtisticLicense.html
Personal: http://www.nanogirl.com
Foresight Senior Associate
nanogirl@halcyon.com
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