~Nanogirl news~ Oct. 11, 99
As I am preparing for the Foresight conference, this is not as elaborate,
but a mere slice to sink your teeth into. ~Gina
*Tiny molecules called nanotubes have scientists dreaming big.
(Post-Gazette) In this computer-driven world, a new technology that might
make computers even smaller and more powerful than today's will always
garner attention. But in the case of nanotubes -- tiny, tube-shaped carbon
molecules discovered in 1991 -- startling electronic properties are only one
source of wonderment.
http://www.post-gazette.com/healthscience/19991011nanotubes1.asp
*Intel Scientist Sees Chip Size, Design Limits - NYT. After 30 years of
progress in the quest to make cheaper and faster computers, an Intel
researcher said scientists may have reached the limit of their ability to
scale down a silicon transistor crucial to the technology revolution, The
New York Times reported Saturday.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/19991010/tc/tech_chips_4.html
*Fluorescent Multilayer Disks.A possible new storage medium in which
information is stored and retrieved using fluorescence of the media instead
of reflection. The projected capacity is up to 140 GB on a 10-layer regular
size 120 mm disk and up to 10 GB on a 20-layer credit-card sized carrier.
(You know the one) With pictures of the principle scheme of the drive.
http://www.c-3d.net/tech.htm
*Large DNA Molecules Move Faster Than Small Ones. On a steeplechase track
about half the width of a human hair, Cornell University researchers are
racing individual DNA molecules to learn how they move through tiny spaces.
One of the surprising results: large DNA molecules squeeze through certain
small spaces faster than small ones.
http://unisci.com/stories/19994/1011991.htm
*World's Scientists To Seek Big Picture Of World's Carbon Budget. To make
sense of a complex picture, sometimes it helps to take a step back and get
the long view. But when it comes to seeing the complex picture of the
world's carbon budget---where human activity releases greenhouse gases, and
where the Earth's natural systems gobble them back up again---that long view
is fraught with technical problems: How do you measure something as small as
an atom of carbon in an area as large as the entire world?
http://www.umich.edu/~newsinfo/Releases/1999/Oct99/r100799.html
*A team led by investigators from Stanford University and the Department of
Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has gathered surprising
information about the electronic structure of the "stripe phase," a new
electronic state of solids. Their report, in the journal Science, may help
resolve an apparent paradox between different theories of superconductivity
and may explain how copper-oxide ceramics can become superconducting at high
temperatures.
http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/supercon-copper.html
*Galileo survives volcanic flyby - NASA's Galileo spacecraft has
successfully zipped past Jupiter's moon Io, the most volcanic body in our
solar system. This was the closest look at Io by any spacecraft, and
Galileo's cameras were poised to capture the brief encounter.
http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast11oct99_2.htm
*Graft under pressure. Between ten and 50% of all heart graft surgeries --
bypasses and angioplasties -- fail within ten years. Now heart grafts
genetically engineered outside the body before being implanted could make
this expensive and traumatic surgery far more successful.
http://helix.nature.com/nsu/991014/991014-8.html
*Light Sneaks through Small Holes. According to textbooks, light is not
supposed to pass through a hole smaller than its wavelength, but in the past
two years, physicists have done just that: An array of small holes in a thin
layer of metal transmits certain wavelengths surprisingly well.
http://focus.aps.org/v4/st18.html
*The brain bank. You’d never guess that the rolling parkland of Belmont, a
leafy Boston suburb, is home to shelf upon shelf of pickled and frozen
brains.
The story:
http://helix.nature.com/nsu/991014/991014-6.html
Their link
http://www.brainbank.mclean.org:8080/
Gina "Nanogirl" Miller
Nanotechnology Industries
http://www.nanoindustries.com
Personal web:
http://www.homestead.com/nanotechind/nothingatall.html
nanogirl@halcyon.com