X-Message-Number: 18938 From: "Gina Miller" <> Subject: Nanogirl News~ Date: Fri, 19 Apr 2002 01:21:06 -0700 Nanogirl News April 18, 2002 Nanotube-laced epoxy: three times harder, far better at conducting heat. One of nanotechnology's longstanding promises has become a reality: University of Pennsylvania scientists have determined that adding a relatively small number of carbon nanotubes to epoxy yields a compound three-and-a-half times as hard and far better at heat conductance than the product found in hardware stores. (EurekAlert 4/15/02) http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-04/uop-net041502.php CVD process tames carbon nanotube growth. A chemical-vapor deposition technique has been applied to carbon nanotubes to give them unusual electronic properties, according to researchers here at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The treated nanotubes could be used by chip makers to interconnect single-electron transistors with high-efficiency wires. The group aims to build a nanotube architecture that will exhibit near-superconducting speeds at room temperature, plus the ability to pack devices tighter and control quantum effects. (EE Times 4/16/02) http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20020416S0014 Molecular Conductivity Takes Shape. Mind the gap. By breaking a tiny gold bridge (shown in false color), researchers make electrodes for driving current through a single molecule. Now they have shown a specific way in which the molecule's shape affects its conductivity. Tomorrow's electronics could consist of networks of individual molecules carrying tiny electrical currents--if researchers can determine precisely how a single complex molecule conducts electricity. In the 29 April print issue of PRL, a German team shows that an asymmetrically shaped molecule conducts differently depending on which direction the current flows. That means molecules differ from wires in the everyday world, which conduct equally well forward or backward, regardless of their shape. (Physical Review Focus 4/10/02) http://focus.aps.org/v9/st18.html ZettaCore's Goal: Memory Powered by Molecules. By making today's computer memory chips obsolete, molecular memory is considered by many to be the key enabling technology for the next generation of high-powered, portable information devices. Such devices will make the ubiquitous access to information and entertainment as easy as using an ATM card is today. (Nanotech Planet 4/18/02) http://www.nanotech-planet.com/features/article/0,4028,6571_1011881,00.html My, What Magnetic Eyes You Have. The Virginia Polytechnic Institute team believes its new but controversial technique to repair torn retinas could prevent blindness in thousands. The procedure consists of injecting magnetized nanoparticles set in silicone directly into the affected eyeball. Once the silicone is in place, the ophthalmologist will use external magnets to position the fluid to the exact location of the tear to seal off any holes in the retina. (Wired 4/10/02) http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,51545,00.html Nanobiotech Makes the Diagnosis. Electronic components the size of molecules could test for diseases and provide personal DNA profiles on demand. Gazing at an electrical meter, Yi Cui, a graduate student in the Harvard University lab of chemist Charles Lieber, waits for evidence of a remarkable feat in simple, ultrasensitive diagnostics. His target is prostate cancer. His new tool is a microchip bearing 10 silicon wires, each just 10 nanometers (billionths of a meter) wide. (Technology Review May, 02) http://www.techreview.com/articles/stikeman0502.asp?p=0 Fantastic Voyage -- Filled buckeyball now a step closer to becoming a drug-delivery device. Virginia Tech Ph.D. student Erick B. Iezzi has developed the first organic derivative of a metallofullerene. He has figured out how to make the metal-filled buckeyballs soluble, bringing them a step closer to biological applications, such as the delivery of medicine or radioactive material to a disease site. Iezzi is working with chemistry professor Harry Dorn, known for having developed a method for inserting metal atoms inside of fullerenes, creating a novel family of molecules and the architecture for a new field of chemistry. These filled fullerenes (metallofullerenes) are now being developed as improved MRI reagents, and other non-medical applications. (EurekAlert! 4/9/02) http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-04/vt-fv-032902.php Also see: Take Three Buckyballs Before meals. (Space Daily 4/10/02) http://www.spacedaily.com/news/carbon-02e.html Drexler audiofile online. From: December 18, 2001 American Association for the Advancement of Science Washington, DC. The War on Terrorism: What Does it Mean for Science? K. Eric Drexler is a researcher concerned with emerging technologies and their consequences for the future. In the mid 1980s, he introduced the term 'nanotechnology' to describe atomically precise molecular manufacturing systems and their products. Advanced nanotechnologies will make possible many dreams (and nightmares) first articulated in the literature of science fiction. http://www.aaas.org/spp/scifree/terrorism/bios.htm (Found on Nanodot 4/10/02) http://nanodot.org/article.pl?sid=02/04/10/1843236&mode=thread&threshold= Obeying the law. Chip makers are finding ways to extend Gordon Moore's prediction. Gordon Moore couldn't have been more right. Since 1965, when he first predicted that the number of transistors on a chip would double every 18 months, the chip industry has kept pace with his forecast. Intel's original microprocessor, introduced in 1971, had 2,300 transistors; its upcoming McKinley chip, to be released this year, has more than 220 million. -nanotech mention- (Red Herring 4/10/02) http://www.redherring.com/insider/2002/0410/2206.html NanoOpto Secures Additional $4 Million in Venture Financing. Funding Will Be Used to Accelerate Next Generation Optical Components to the Market. NanoOpto Corp., which is applying proprietary nano-optics and nano-manufacturing technology to design and manufacture components for optical networking, announced today that it has closed on an additional $4 million completing its Series "A"round of venture financing. The new financing comes from two funds within the Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) network, DFJ New England and DFJ Gotham, and the Harris & Harris Group, as well as matching investments from the existing equity partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Morgenthaler Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, and U.S. Trust's Excelsior Venture Partners III, LLC. This additional $4 million brings the total financing raised by NanoOpto to date to $20M. (NanoOpto 4/16/02) http://www.nanoopto.com/news/pr_4_16_02.html How does government keep up with radical new technologies such as nanotechnology and genetic engineering? Very poorly, say two experts scheduled to speak at the Foresight Senior Associate Gathering: "Exploring the Edges" conference, April 26-28 in Palo Alto. (KurzweilAI.net 4/17/02) http://www.kurzweilai.net/news/news_single.html?id=912 Also on KurzweilAI.net: Researcher (Robert A. Freitas) proposes nanorobotic platelets and phagocytes. (April 15) http://www.kurzweilai.net/meme/frame.html?main=memelist.html?m=18%23460 New European Association Will Try To Move Nano From The Lab To Market. The European Nanobusiness Association, a group meant to advance Europe's role in nanotechnology, was launched today. The Brussels-based organization hopes to spur the large-scale meeting of minds needed to drive the emerging nanotech economy in Europe. http://www.smalltimes.com/document_display.cfm?document_id=3493 (SmallTimes 4/17/02) Hydrogel-Based Nanoparticles Make Photonic Crystals. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a family of hydrogel-based nanoparticles that can be used to form photonic crystals whose optical properties can be precisely tuned by thermally adjusting the particles' water content. (UniSci 4/18/02) http://unisci.com/stories/20022/0418022.htm Two exceptional undergraduate students in UCLA's College of Letters and Science are among 68 college students selected nationally by the Council on Undergraduate Research to present their original research on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on April 18. The UCLA students are Elena W.Y. Hsieh, a senior whose research focuses on how a mutant receptor may lead to a rare form of leukemia, and Gilmer Youn, a senior who conducts research in organic chemistry and nanotechnology, designing and synthesizing chemical compounds that function as molecular machines on the nano scale. (Northern Light 4/17/02) http://library.northernlight.com/FF20020417350000022.html?cb=0&dx=1006&sc=0# doc Microscopy turning Nanoscopy. Max Planck researchers demonstrate a 15-fold increase in axial resolution in fluorescence 3-D light microscopy - the first breakthrough of optical focusing microscopy into the nanometer range. (Max Planck Society 4/10/02) http://www.mpg.de/news02/news0207.htm Conference: Paving The Road To Nanotechnology. NanoBusiness Spring 2002 produced jointly by Penton Media and the NanoBusiness Alliance, is taking place May 19-21 at The Roosevelt Hotel, New York City. http://www.nanobusiness-spring.com/ Other: Cell transplants used to ward off Parkinson's symptoms. Doctors report they have had long-term success implanting cells into the brains of Parkinson's disease patients by passing a needle through the skull.Dr. Ray Watts, professor of neurology at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, told the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology on Wednesday that patients had improved motor function - movement of their arms and legs - by up to 50 percent using this procedure.(NandoTimes 4/17/02) http://nandotimes.com/healthscience/v-text/story/366069p-2957913c.html Journey to the Farthest Planet. Scientists are finally preparing to send a spacecraft to Pluto, the last unexplored world in the solar system. (Scientific American Current Feature) http://www.sciam.com/2002/0502issue/0502stern.html Supercomputer smashes world speed record. A Japanese supercomputer has recorded the fastest "floating point" calculation speed of any computer on the planet. The feat is reported in the latest edition of the Linpack report, a ranking of supercomputer performance. The Earth Simulator at the Marine Science and Technology Center in Kanagawa, notched up 35.61 teraflops - that is over 35 trillion "floating point" calculations per second. (NewScientist.com 4/18/02) http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992184 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 "Nanotechnology: Solutions for the future." 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