X-Message-Number: 19951 From: "Gina Miller" <> References: <> Subject: The Nanogirl News~ Date: Sat, 31 Aug 2002 00:27:00 -0700 The Nanogirl News August 30, 2002 Charting the future of nanogeoscience. How does a tiny sulfide particle travel from a Chinese factory to California? And how does it react when it gets there? Scientists don't know precisely, which is one of many reasons Berkeley Lab researchers are helping to shape the future of a new field called nanogeoscience. As the name implies, it's the study of geological processes involving particles no larger than 100 nanometers, meaning in some cases as small as a few atoms across. Such particles play critical roles in carbon sequestration, air pollution, and even the removal of toxins from soil. (Berkeley Lab Science Beat 8/26/02) http://enews.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/ESD-nanogeoscience.html Unnatural optics create precise photonic lens. Optical experiments using arrays of nanowires are demonstrating that the concept of a negative refractive index could be realized in practical systems. The work, done at Purdue University, attempts to reproduce results similar to those shown last year at the University of California at San Diego using microwave radiation. A negative refractive index, which is not found in nature, would allow scientists to construct new types of microscopes with unprecedented resolution and could allow the creation of novel photonic devices. (EETimes 8/27/02) http://www.eetimes.com/at/news/OEG20020826S0041 Scientists get to grips with what makes geckos stick. Geckos, those tiny lizards Britons most often see scurrying up walls in rural Provence, have taught engineers a thing or two about getting a grip...The answer lies in an evolutionary masterpiece of nanotechnology. Dr Autumn and colleagues from California report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that gecko feet are covered in hairs called setae. Each hair is 100 millionths of a metre long. It has 1,000 pads at the tip, and these pads, or spatulae, are 200 billionths of a metre wide... The discovery could lead to a dry, self-cleaning adhesive that works under water, or in the vacuum of space. The team is working with a robotics firm to design tiny automata that could climb even when upside down... (Guardian Unlimited 8/27/02) http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,781031,00.html Scientists creating radiation sensors so small, they fit inside blood cells. Researchers are creating "Star Trek"-like radiation sensors that are so small, they could be absorbed into the white blood cells of astronauts and could someday be used to treat and diagnose illnesses. Astronauts constantly are exposed to radiation, and radiation-induced illness is a serious concern in space travel. The sensors would continuously monitor for early signs of damage, said Dr. James Baker Jr., a University of Michigan scientist who is directing the project. With the nano-molecular devices in their white blood cells, astronauts would feel no more intrusion than when they fly with regular staples, such as freeze-dried food. (HindustanTimes.com 8/22/02) http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_44174,00030003.htm nPoint Announces New 3-Axis Nanopositioner for Optical and Scanning Probe. PiezoMAX Product Line Offers the Fastest and Most Precise Nanoscale Motion And Control -- Bringing a New Level of Microscopy Performance to R&D Applications. nPoint, Inc., the global leader in ultra-precision motion and control nanopositioners for nanoscale research and manufacturing, has announced a new member of its PiezoMAXT product line. The N-XYZ100B is used for microscopy applications that require transmitted light through the sample, such as the traditional inverted optical microscope, confocal microscope, and near-field scanning optical microscope (NSOM). The aperture enables a light beam to pass through the sample, while the nanopositioner allows the sample to be moved and controlled within nanometer range. (Hoover's Online 8/27/02) http://hoovnews.hoovers.com/fp.asp?layout=displaynews&doc_id=NR200208271680. 2_3d33000e49379fcd An Exciting New State For Excitons. Researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), in collaboration with a scientist at the University of California's Santa Barbara campus, have reported the observation of excitons that display a macroscopically ordered electronic state which indicates they have formed a new exciton condensate. The observation also holds potential for ultrafast digital logic elements and quantum computing devices...The observations were made by shining laser light on specially designed nano-sized structures called quantum wells which were grown at the interface between the two semiconductors. (Science Daily 8/27/02) http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/08/020826071235.htm Nanoscience: Big Interest in Studying the Very Small. Nobody knows what the Incredible Shrinking Man saw when he disappeared from view, but the U.S. Department of Energy wants to find out. The agency is building five nanoscience facilities across the country that will study the science of the very small. Nanoscience investigates interactions, reactions, and construction of materials the size of atoms and molecules. And, it turns out, the Incredible Shrinking Man-made famous in a 1957 science-fiction film-would have been quite surprised by what that tiny world looks like. "Materials behave very differently on a nano scale," said Don Parkin, associate director of the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, which will be operated by Sandia and Los Alamos national laboratories in New Mexico. (National Geographic from Scripps Howard news service 8/22/02) http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/08/0822_020822_nanoscience.html No fairy tale: Researchers spin straw into gold. Grains contain gold in forms that seem tailor-made for industrial use...Rumpelstiltskin, the fairy-tale rogue who spun straw into gold, has nothing on Miguel Yacaman and Jorge Gardea-Torresdey. The two University of Texas researchers have developed a way to draw gold from wheat, alfalfa, or - best of all - oats...The work represents the first time researchers have reported that living plants form these gold micro-nuggets, opening "exciting new ways to fabricate nanoparticles," according to Dr. Gardea-Torresdey, who heads the chemistry department at the University of Texas at El Paso. He notes that current approaches to making gold nanoparticles, now used as tags for studying cellular processes in biology and coveted for use as electrical contacts in nanoelectronic circuits, are expensive and involve chemical processes that generate pollution. The use of plants, he holds, "is both cost-effective and environmentally friendly." (CSMonitor.com 8/29/02) http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0829/p02s02-usgn.html (Interview with Timothy Weihs Reactive NanoTechnologies Inc.) A better bond. Hopkins scientists have come up with an easier way to join diverse materials like ceramic armor onto metal tanks; Will their nanotech discovery become a macro-economic success? With a foil made up of incredibly thin layers of simple elements, two professors at the Johns Hopkins University say they have discovered a better way to bond metal and ceramic components. Don't let your eyes glaze yet: This nanotech solution could tap into a $10 billion market. You recently received $2 million in venture funding for your bonding foil. How does it work?... (Sunspot.net 8/23/02) http://www.sunspot.net/business/bal-weihs082602.htmlstory?coll=bal%2Dbusines s%2Dheadlines Cambridge University Spinoff Devises Array for Swift, Cheap Resequencing. A small British company said it is close to unveiling a prototype of a novel single-molecule array that can resequence an individual human genome with single-base resolution at a fraction of the time and cost of currently used methods. The technology being developed by the company, Solexa, is an unaddressed and monodispersed high-density array designed to deliver base-by-base sequencing without the need for DNA amplification, the company said. There are two principle components to the technology, said Nick McCooke, the company's CEO: The actual nanotechnology-based single-molecule array platform, currently in the pre-prototype stage, and a sequencing chemistry, which is expected to appear early next year. (Genomeweb.com 8/23/02) http://www.genomeweb.com/articles/view-article.asp?Article=200282393037 Hope for nano-scale delivery of medicine using a light beam to move liquid through tiny tubes. Medical researchers would like to use nano-scale tubes to push very tiny amounts of drugs dissolved in water to exactly where they are needed in the human body. The roadblock to putting this theory into practical use has been the challenge of building pumps small enough to do the job. In addition to the engineering challenge of building a nano-scale pump, there is the added complication of clogging by any biological molecule that can occur in valves small enough to fit a channel the size of bacteria. The solution - discovered by researchers at Arizona State University - is to create a system that does not rely on mechanical parts. The ASU team of scientists and engineers reports in the American Chemical Society journal Langmuir (Thursday, August 29, 2002) on a technique they developed to pull water up a tube tinier than a straw by shining a beam of light on the surface of the tube. (Eurekalert 8/28/02) http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-08/asu-hfn082802.php Manufacturing now a high-tech business. you weren't thinking about nanotechnology in the context of manufacturing, think again. When the 75th International Manufacturing Technology Show 2002 kicks off next week at McCormick Place, you will be able to see "the world's most accurate machine" on display by Moore Nanotechnology Systems of New Hampshire. "In our industry, nanotechnology has particular importance in areas like optics," notes Charlie Carter, vice president of technology for the Association for Manufacturing Technology. (Sun Times 8/26/02) http://www.suntimes.com/output/evon/cst-fin-darcy26.html Nano research challenges storage limit. The computer hard-drive industry might get an unexpected research boost from a study about how densely magnetic bits can be packed, which was debated Monday at a nanotechnology conference. Most of the research at the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers event, which focuses on developments in the science of manipulating matter at the atomic or molecular levels, look several years into the future. The nanomagnetics work of Larry Bennett, a research faculty member at George Washington University's Ashburn, Va., campus, and Ed Della Torre of the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Metallurgy Division in Gaithersburg, Md., could affect today's hard-drive designers, however. (UPI 8/26.02) http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20020826-053408-7471r (An anti-nanotechnology article by the environmentalist group ETC Group) No Small Matter! Nanotech Particles Penetrate Living Cells and Accumulate in Animal Organs. Issue: At a mid-March fact-finding meeting at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), researchers reported that nanoparticles are showing up in the livers of research animals, can seep into living cells, and perhaps piggyback on bacteria to enter the food chain. The commercial use of nanoscale carbon was likened to either "the next best thing to sliced bread or the next asbestos." Despite these revelations, there is no regulatory body (and no plans for one) dedicated to overseeing this potent and powerfully invasive new technology. (etcgroup.org 7/23/02) http://www.etcgroup.org/article.asp?newsid=356 The New York Times on 8/19/02 covers the ETCs request for banning, discussing both sides of this issue. See: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/19/technology/19NECO.html UCI gold chain study gets to heart of matter. Discovery reveals smallest size molecules form functional structures; nanotechnology, research implications may be significant. While it may not make much of an anniversary present, a gold chain built atom by atom by UC Irvine physicist Wilson Ho offers an answer to one of the basic questions of nanotechnology-how small can you go? In the first study of its kind, Ho and his colleagues have discovered the molecular phase when a cluster of atoms develops into a solid structure, a finding that can have a significant impact in the future development of metal structures built at the molecular scale. (UCI news release 8/28/02) http://today.uci.edu/releases/126tv02.html Beyond Alchemy & the Wright Brothers: Nanosecrets of Everyday Things...For 15 years, ever since K. Eric Drexler's Engines of Creation launched the nanocraze, the field has been plagued by sci-fi notions of tiny robotic "molecular assemblers" running around shoving atoms together. But as buckyball pioneer Richard Smalley remarks, molecular assemblers have long existed: "We call them catalysts." Catalysts are "helper" substances that promote chemical reactions without themselves being consumed. Nature's catalysts, enzymes, assemble only specific end products. Industrial catalysts are rarely so precise. Gabor Somorjai of Berkeley Lab's Materials Sciences Division, a professor of chemistry at UC Berkeley, notes that "you can increase the octane rating of gasoline remarkably" by catalyzing its hydrocarbon precursor over platinum, "but there are at least seven or eight directions the reaction can go." (ICA Syndicate 8/02) http://www.icasyndicate.com/html_reports/ica_nano_tech_0802.html Out of their minds. Here we go again . . . pundits can't stop hyping the business opportunities of artificial intelligence. In 1983, artificial intelligence appeared on the mainstream business radar. That was the year a book entitled The Fifth Generation (Addison Wesley) slammed onto the best-seller lists. In it, authors Edward Feigenbaum and Pamela McCorduck described how the Japanese government was investing billions of dollars to create machines that could think. "In Japan, a vast government-backed project is developing the next stage of computers," read the jacket copy. "Giant machines, programmed to perform logical functions approaching human reasoning, will make our present computers look like children's toys." There is some Ray Kurzweil bashing in this article. (Red Herring 8/23/02) http://www.redherring.com/insider/2002/08/ai082302.html (Cover Story) Drug Delivery. Materials scientists look for new materials and ways to manipulate existing ones in order to fulfill unmet needs. Scaffold Highly branched dendrimers, depicted here among cells shown in green, may one day deliver drug molecules (Center for Biological Nanotechnology, University of Michigan)..."We envision long-circulating nanoscopic drug depots that may produce controlled levels of free drug in blood over time and perhaps drug release solely at disease tissue," Kwon told C&EN. 3 Pages. (C&E 8/26/02) http://pubs.acs.org/cen/coverstory/8034/8034drugdelivery.html Nanomedicine and the Future of Healthcare. As the phrase nanotechnology slowly enters the household vocabulary scientists in a wide range of industries is looking for potential applications. This article will examine the consequences nanotechnology will have in the medical industry and subsequently the healthcare industry in general. Mentions; Transhumanists, stemcells and cloning, artificial blood, medical nanosensors, DNA chips, The International Necronautical Society and references. (Plausible Futures Newsletter 12/08/02) http://www.plausiblefutures.com/text/nanomed.htm Researchers Say "Frustrated Magnets" Hint At Broader Organizing Principle In Nature. When "frustrated" by their arrangement, magnetic atoms surrender their individuality, stop competing with their neighbors and then practice a group version of spin control -- acting collectively to achieve local magnetic order -- according to scientists from the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology, Johns Hopkins University and Rutgers University writing in the Aug. 22, 2002, issue of the journal Nature. The unexpected composite behavior detected in experiments done at the NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR) accounts for the range of surprising ---and, heretofore, unexplainable ---properties of so-called geometrically frustrated magnets, the subject of intensifying research efforts that may lead to new types of matter. (ScienceDaily Magazine 8/28/02) http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/08/020828063106.htm America's Might: A Comic Tale. According to Radix's comic book creators Ray and Ben Lai, MIT used an image from the first issue without permission. The image, a drawing of heroin Valerie Fiores was submitted with a MIT grant proposal to the Army's Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies. The grant which was for super next generation of soldiers' battlefield armor was approved and awarded to MIT in the sum of $50 million dollars. "In the MIT proposal, the picture was credited to an "H. Thomas." MIT professor Ned Thomas, who heads the 150-person nanotechnology institute, told News.com that his daughter had drawn it...If the Lais are mulling a lawsuit, they may not have much luck, according to copyright experts. (Wired 8/28/02) http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,54815,00.html Tiny ventures. Circuits made of molecules will supplant silicon...eventually. But for now, the smart money is starting small. The discovery came as a shock to chip engineers who had spent their careers worrying about how to etch ever smaller circuits on to silicon wafers. Their articles in technical reviews would anxiously express the need for circuits to get smaller while conceding that it takes millions of molecules to make a transistor or any other kind of switch. It was a formidable limit. In 1998, however, their worries were eased by the discovery of molecular electronics--the use of individual molecules or small groups of molecules as circuit elements--by Mark Reed of Yale University and James Tour of Rice University. (Red Herring 8/26/02) http://www.redherring.com/insider/2002/08/tinyventures082602.html Convergent technologies: Is your company ready for the future? The convergence of nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, and cognitive science will have a substantial impact on companies and markets in the future. Though technology convergence is still only a concept, it is already beginning to define the global marketplace. Technologies such as connections between the brain and machines, wearable health monitors, smart houses made of environment-sensitive materials are not science fiction anymore, but are scientifically feasible. (Eurekalert 8/27/02) http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-08/ti-cti082702.php Researchers develop 'fingerprinting' for biological agents. Northwestern University scientists have developed a new method for detecting infectious diseases, including those associated with many bioterrorism and warfare threats such as anthrax, smallpox and HIV. The technique could enable researchers to create thousands of DNA detection probes made of gold nanoparticles with individual molecules attached. Much like human fingerprints, these molecules act as unique signals for the presence of biological agents. The method can easily distinguish smallpox's distinct "fingerprint" from that of HIV. (Eurekalert 8/29/02) http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-08/nu-rd082802.php Nano, Nano! - Part 2. (interview with Nanomix's Jeff Wyatt w/ text and audio) Nano-grapes are actually spherical molecules of boron seen under an electron microscope. Nanomix is investigating this material for its hydrogen storage properties. If mankind is ever going to transition away from our over-dependence on fossil fuels - - and not to do so expeditiously invites global disaster - - we have to come up with a clean, renewable energy substitute and at present, hydrogen is the best candidate. But hydrogen, which is an energy carrier, has to be stored in concentrations sufficient enough to produce useful amounts of energy. This is especially true in the case of the modern automobile...Nanotube technology is of great interest because it might offer a relatively inexpensive medium in which to store sufficient quantities of pure, gaseous hydrogen safely to give a motor vehicle useful working range or a laptop computer useful working time. (EV World 8/24/02) http://www.evworld.com/databases/storybuilder.cfm?storyid=400 To read part 1: http://www.evworld.com/databases/storybuilder.cfm?storyid=397 Walking on nano-eggshells. By depositing metal films on to microscopic beads, researchers have made metal half-shells with interesting properties such as superhydrophobicity. (Nature 8/29/02) http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/gateway.taf?g=3&file=/materials/nanozone/news/ articles/m020829-6.html Nanoscale patterns boost magnetic density. Increasing magnetic recording density has become an important goal for many in the hard-disk-drive industry. But recording on a continuous film at higher densities generally means decreasing the grain size, and that can cause the magnetization of the grains to become thermally unstable. Now, a team of scientists from IBM has developed a film-patterning technique that could overcome this issue and suit large-scale manufacturing. (Nanotechweb.org 8/29/02) http://nanotechweb.org/articles/news/1/8/21/1 Gina "Nanogirl" Miller Nanotechnology Industries http://www.nanoindustries.com Personal: http://www.nanogirl.com Foresight Senior Associate member http://www.foresight.org Extropy member http://www.extropy.org "Nanotechnology: Solutions for the future." Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=19951