Nanogirl News

From: Gina Miller (nanogirl@halcyon.com)
Date: Fri Feb 15 2002 - 14:48:09 MST


The Nanogirl News
Feb-14-02
(personal note at bottom)

(These are snips, to read the full story, click the link)

*Nano protein array could be just the tool for probing interactions on
biological scale. By using the technique known as dip-pen nanolithography,
chemists at Northwestern University and the University of Chicago have made
protein arrays with feature sizes ranging from 100 to 350 nm. The advance
could lead to protein or nucleic acid arrays--useful screening tools--that
are 1 million to 10 million times denser than those currently available.
(C&ENews 2/11/02)
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/topstory/8006/8006notw2.html

*New Understanding of Complex Virus Nano-Machine for Cell Puncturing and DNA
Delivery. Researchers have learned how the bacterial virus, bacteriophage
T4, attacks its host, the E. coli bacterium. This discovery could eventually
lead to a new class of antibiotics. (NSF 2/30/02)
http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/02/pr0207.htm

*Researchers at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) turn viruses into
enhanced nanochemical building blocks. Using a combination of chemistry and
molecular genetics, researchers at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) and
The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology have found a way to attach a wide
range of molecules to the surface of a virus, essentially enhancing the
virus with the properties of those molecules. (2/1/02 Scripps)
 http://www.scripps.edu/news/press/020102.html

*'Nanocircles' act as Trojan horse to shut down disease-causing genes, study
finds. Stanford scientists have synthesized a molecule of DNA that is
capable of
shutting off specific genes in living bacteria. Dubbed the "nanocircle," the
new nanometer-size molecule might one day give researchers the ability to
target harmful genes that cause cancer and other diseases in humans.
(Erekalert 1/24/03)
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-01/su-aa012402.php

*Glowing nanoparticles offer memory prospects. A US research team has
discovered a family of discrete-sized ultra-bright nanoparticles in the red,
green and blue range that could be useful for biomedical tagging, displays,
and flash memories. (EETimes 2/8/02)
http://www.eet.com/at/news/OEG20020207S0007

*New light on molecular switch that turns genes off. New research in yeast
cells may have pinpointed a key enzyme in the molecular circuitry that
silences genes. The new enzyme, Set2, could prove critical for helping
regulate gene expression in the ordered cycle of growth and division common
to all living
cells that have a nucleus. Thus, it may play an important role throughout
life, beginning with early development, in gene regulation. (2/14/02
Eurkalert)
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-02/uonc-nlo021402.php

*Insulation breaks could pave way to nanoscale ICs. Scientists at HP Labs
and UCLA have patented a technique to construct ICs from a grid template
that could lead to a simple means of constructing circuits on the
nanoscale - 100 times smaller than circuits today. (2/31/02 EETimes)
http://www.eet.com/at/news/OEG20020130S0026
-Or read this pretty gosh darn good article on Nanowires-
http://www.sciencenews.org/20020209/fob1.asp

*Carbon copy cat cloned. Pet cloning could be just a whisker away.
Researchers in Texas are the first to successfully clone a domestic cat.
(Nature/Science Update 3/14/02)
http://www.nature.com/nsu/020211/020211-13.html

* In today's world, where a 3-pound laptop ranks as a pretty remarkable feat
of miniaturization, the concept of creating tiny robots to scour the ocean
for dangerous microorganisms may seem like the stuff of science fiction.
Over the next several years, however, a group of researchers at the
University of Southern California are hoping to bring that seemingly
farfetched vision closer to reality. (Wired 1/15/02)
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,49722,00.html

*Stimulated Emission By Three-Photon Excitation Seen. Researchers report in
today's issue of Nature the first observation of a phenomenon called
stimulated emission by direct three-photon excitation. The event occurs when
three photons of lower energy are simultaneously absorbed to reach a higher
energy state. The report comes from a team of researchers at the University
at Buffalo Institute for Lasers, Photonics and Biophotonics. (UniSci
2/14/02)
http://unisci.com/stories/20021/0214025.htm

*Here's the ultimate PDA accessory: a $50 module that analyzes a sample of
your blood for anthrax and gives you the results on your Palm screen 10
minutes later. A Danish nanotechnology research spinoff called Cantion is
working on a technology it hopes will do exactly that. Other modules could
check your blood for everything from AIDS to cancer. (Wired 1/29/02)
http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,50018,00.html

*Nanowire Superlattices. In this issue of Nano Letters and an upcoming issue
of Nature, three groups report exciting developments in the growth of
semiconductor nanowires with modulated structures. Semiconductor nanowires
are nanoscale building blocks that could through bottom-up assembly enable
diverse applications in nanoelectronics and photonics. (Download the PDF for
free American Chemical Society: Nano Letters 1/25/02)
http://pubs.acs.org/hotartcl/nalefd/2002/nl020289d_rev.html

*Adult Stem Cells Likely The Ones That Are Cloned. Do clones such as Dolly,
derived from adult cells, develop from fully mature adult cells or do they
develop from rare stem cells found in adult tissues? Researchers from Rudolf
Jaenisch's lab at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research have
proved for the first time that fully differentiated adult cells can form
clones. But they found the process is extremely inefficient. (UniSci
2/12/02)
http://unisci.com/stories/20021/0212021.htm

*Nanotubes in the Fast Lane. Telescoping tubes. If you pull out a core from
a concentric set of carbon nanotubes and let go, the core should oscillate
in and out at gigahertz frequencies--faster than any other mechanical
oscillator. If engineers want to build nanoscale machines with moving parts
that can generate and respond to electronic signals, those parts have got to
be lightning fast. (Physical review Focus 1/18/02)
http://focus.aps.org/v9/st4.html

 *Our bodies' backup systems don't prevent aging, they make it more certain.
This is one offshoot of a new "reliability theory of aging and longevity" by
two researchers at the National Opinion Research Center at the University of
Chicago.The authors write, "Reliability theory predicts that even those
systems that are entirely composed of non-aging elements (with a constant
failure rate) will nevertheless deteriorate (fail more often) with age, if
these systems are REDUNDANT in irreplaceable elements. Aging, therefore, is
a direct consequence of systems redundancy." (UniSci 2/12/02)
http://unisci.com/stories/20021/0212023.htm

*Zyvex: Building Nanoscale Machines with Microscopic Engines. Pushing ahead
on one of nanotechnology's most ambitious frontiers, Zyvex is at work on a
machine that promises to be the beginning of an ever-shrinking series.
[NanotechPlanet February 14, 2002 ]
http://www.nanotech-planet.com/features/article/0,4028,6571_975231,00.html

*The Explosive Power of Silicon New Discovery May Lead to Self-Destructive
Computer Chips. With the rise of computer processing power, there's no doubt
to the might of silicon. But researchers recently discovered a potential new
use for the material - a discovery that literally popped up in their faces.
(ABCnews 2/4/02)
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/CuttingEdge/cuttingedge020204.html

*Carbon Nanotechnologies, Inc. Engages Highly Regarded Defense Consultant
Carbon Nanotechnologies, Inc. (CNI) said today that it has stepped up
efforts to develop applications utilizing single-wall carbon nanotubes for
defense and national security purposes. CNI has engaged the noted consulting
firm of Technology Strategies & Alliances (TSA), headquartered in Burke,
Virginia, near Washington, D. C., to assist in the strategic market
development of national defense directed products. (Carbon
Nanotechnologies1/24/2002)
http://www.carbonnanotech.com/story.cfm?id=63

*New world of nanoelectronics may arrive in the near future, AAAS speakers
say. A future filled with tiny, molecule-sized computers-fast and
powerful enough to do things like translate conversations on the fly or
calculate complex climate models-may be closer than people think, top
nanotechnology researchers said at the American Association for the
Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting in Boston today. (Eurekalert
2/14/02)
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-02/aaft-nwo020602.php

Gina "Nanogirl" Miller
Nanotechnology Industries
http://www.nanoindustries.com
Personal: http://www.nanogirl.com
Foresight Senior Associate
nanogirl@halcyon.com
"Nanotechnology: Solutions for the future."

"I would like to thank everyone who wrote, and supported me through out the
last
13 months. It's good to be back among friends." Gina~



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