X-Message-Number: 20650 From: "Gina Miller" <> References: <> Subject: The Nanogirl News~ Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 11:12:27 -0800 The Nanogirl News December 18, 2002 Fractal Magnets May Fracture Old Technologies. Scientists have announced a precocious new offspring of magnets and plastic -- conveniently embedded in every card with a magnetic strip -- that could reinvent smart card technology and yield a dazzling new array of high-tech gadgets. Plastic magnets, surrounded by unusual magnetic fields shaped like branches and snowflakes, may one day be the heart of computer hard drives small enough to power the denizens of nanotechnology: ultra-small surgical robots or tapes no larger than a molecule that house vast information libraries. (Yahoo news 12/13/02) http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=75&ncid=75&e=3&u=/nf/200212 13/tc_nf/20248 (CD-ROM) 'What Is Nanotechnology?' Now available , this 1-hour CD-ROM production - 'What Is Nanotechnology?' presents developments in key areas heavily influenced by nanotechnology, including: novel foods, smart clothing, renewable energy, revolutions in medicine, advanced techniques in security & crime detection, new approaches to tissue engineering and medical implants, the latest in sunscreens and cosmetics, as well as nanotechnologies in space travel and exploration.-Limited amount- (Institute of Nanotechnology UK) http://www.nano.org.uk/cd.htm Trouble in nanoland. Plagued by both pessimism and hype, can nanotechnology grow up? "HUMANITY, get down on your knees", scream the billboards advertising "Prey", the latest novel by Michael Crichton, author of "Jurassic Park". The horrible beasties threatening humanity in this new thriller are not giant dinosaurs, but swarms of minute "nanobots" that can invade and take control of human bodies. Nanobots are putative machines with working parts that are smaller than 100 nanometres (billionths of a metre). A film is, inevitably, in the offing. And to increase the impending nano-horror, the chief scientist at Sun Microsystems, Bill Joy, is due next autumn to publish a book fleshing out his own nano-Luddite views. (Economist 12/5/02) http://www.economist.com/science/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1477445 (Related to above) How much nano-danger can fit on the head of a pin? The writer is a public policy scholar at the Smithsonian Institution's Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. This commentary first appeared in the Los Angeles Times. It's official. The nanotechnology debate is under way. Michael Crichton's alarmist novel, Prey, with menacing swarms of molecule-sized robots, hit bookstores last week, with a Hollywood spectacular soon to follow. Nongovernmental groups, scientists and industry are lining up for a major public relations battle over the good and evils of nanotechnology. One side says nanotech will fill the world with self-replicating microscopic ``nanobots'' -- 1,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair -- that will wipe out humanity. The other calls nano a silver bullet that promises a cure for cancer, an end to crop shortages and the solution to cleaning up pollution. (The Beacon Journal 12/9/02) http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/editorial/4699072.htm Nanotubes line up to make photonic crystals. A team of scientists has produced photonic crystals by growing aligned carbon nanotubes onto an array of nickel dots formed by self-assembly nanosphere lithography. The researchers, from the US Army Soldier Systems Center (Natick), Boston College, NanoLab and University of Massachusetts, Boston in the US and the Hahn-Meitner Institute in Germany, reckon the crystals could have applications in optoelectronics and telecoms. (nanotechweb.org 12/4/02) http://nanotechweb.org/articles/news/1/12/3/1 New Center for Nanoscience Innovation for Defense transfers knowledge from universities to industry. The Center for Nanoscience Innovation for Defense (CNID) has been created to facilitate the rapid transition of research innovation in the nanosciences into applications for the defense sector. U.S. government allocations of $13.5 million are being shared equally by three University of California institutions: Santa Barbara (UCSB), Los Angeles (UCLA), and Riverside (UCR), and a second increment is anticipated that will ultimately bring total funding to more than $20 million over three years. (EurekAlert! 12/10/02) http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-12/uocs-ncf121002.php IEDM: Intel, IBM joust at 90-nm. Intel and IBM each came to the 2002 International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) claiming logic performance leadership at the 90-nm. But the two companies take much different technology paths: IBM uses partially depleted silicon on insulator, while Intel has adopted strained silicon technology for its 90-nm process. And the two companies emphasize different metrics. IBM claims it has the fastest ring oscillator reported in 90-nm CMOS, while Intel, which said it does not report ring oscillator results because each company has a different method of benchmarking that circuit, claims it has the fastest drive currents seen to date for 90-nm silicon. (EE Times 12/10/02) http://www.eetimes.com/semi/news/OEG20021210S0049 NRC, Helmholtz of Germany Fund $9M in New Science and Technology Research Projects. Canada's National Research Council (NRC) and the Hermann von Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Deutscher Forschungszentren e.V. of Germany have recently announced the joint funding of eleven collaborative science and technology (S&T) research projects worth $9 million over the next 3 years...The eleven projects approved for funding vary in scope from nanotechnology to genomics and aeronautics research. They are intended to develop new international science and technology (S&T) alliances that will benefit partners in both countries, as well as encourage scientific exchanges between Canadian and German researchers. (NRC 12/10/02) http://www.nrc.ca/corporate/english/media/news/helmholz02_e.html Biology aiding nanotech researchers. The latest avenue in nanotechnology, the science of manipulating matter at the atomic or molecular scale, involves harnessing biological structures and processes, scientists said Wednesday at a conference. The National Science Foundation sponsored the event at its headquarters to highlight ongoing nanotech research the agency is funding. The work occurs at the nanometer scale -- a nanometer is to an inch what an inch is to 400 miles. One project, run by the University of Texas at Austin, looks to improve on natural nanoscale processes such as those that build seashells out of calcium carbonate, said Angela Belcher, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the university. (UPI 12/11/02) http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20021211-043234-2067r Also view the report on the National Science Foundation sponsored conference "Education key part of nano research". (UPI 12/12/02) http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20021212-042358-9709r Nanoparticles could aid biohazard detection, computer industry. Nanotechnology could make life easier for computer manufacturers and tougher for terrorists, reports a Purdue University research team. A group led by Jillian Buriak has found a rapid and cost-effective method of forming tiny particles of high-purity metals on the surface of advanced semiconductor materials such as gallium arsenide. While the economic benefits alone of such a discovery would be good news to chip manufacturers, who face the problem of connecting increasingly tiny computer chips with macro-sized components, the group has taken their research a step further. (Cosmiverse 12/11/02) http://www.cosmiverse.com/news/tech/1202/tech12110202.html Nanotech. journal credits N.Y. with top breakthroughs. The December issue of a journal on nanotechnology co-published by Forbes credits researchers in New York state with three of the top five breakthroughs in nanotechnology in 2002, according to Gov. George Pataki's office. The journal, the Forbes/Wolfe Nanotech Report, surveyed more than 30 researchers and industry experts to compile the list. (The Business Review 12/23/02) http://www.bizjournals.com/albany/stories/2002/12/09/daily63.html The Nanodrive Project. Inventing a nanotechnology device for mass production and consumer use is trickier than it sounds. Many engineers have had the thrill of designing a novel product that then enters mass production and pops up all over the world. We hope-- in fact, we would lay better than 50- 50 odds on it-- that within three years we will experience the rarer pleasure of having launched an entirely new class of machine. (Scientific American January 2003 issue) http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&articleID=000CCFEC-C4F4-1DF7-9 733809EC588EEDF AMD discovers a flash nanowire structure. A novel nanoelectronic structure has startled researchers at AMD with a sudden show of promise for future flash memory devices. The structure, called a polysilicon nanowire, was under investigation as a possible method for fabricating flash cells in processes below 65 nm. But it caught the attention of researchers by demonstrating an entirely unanticipated - and quite possible quantum electronic behavior. AMD believes it can probably scale the existing stacked-gate flash cell to the 65 nm process node, according to vice president of technology Craig Sander. But the company is searching for novel structures that can be fabricated below that level. (EETimes 12/12/02) http://www.eet.com/semi/news/OEG20021211S0001 Taming The Machine. Too many technologies waste our time rather than improve it. But next year will see technology get closer to serving man - by anticipating what we need...Nanotechnology, the science of the super-small, is also expected to help streamline production, improving the economics of everything from refining petrochemicals to manufacturing sources of alternative energy, says Tim Harper, founder of Madrid-based CMP Cientifica. And nanotechnology is fighting bioterrorism. Dendrimers - tree-shaped synthetic molecules - have the ability to capture smaller molecules in their cavities, making them perfect to deal with biological and chemical contaminants. The U.S. Army hopes to use them to clean up after bioterror attacks. James Baker, head of the University of Michigan School of Medicine's Center for Biologic Nanotechnology, wants to use dendrimers to do everything from zap cancer cells to protect astronauts from radiation. (TIME Europe Magazine 12/16/02 paper issue-Forecast 2003) http://www.time.com/time/europe/forecast2003/html/tech.html MEMS For Masses: Design Centre For Nanotech-based Products On Cards. The National Programme for Smart Materials (NPSM) is working towards setting up a industrial centre for design, manufacture and marketing of products based on micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) and nanotechnology devices. Speaking to eFE, scientific advisor to the defense minister, secretary- department of defense research and development and NPSM chairman VK Atre said the plan was to have a corpus fund of Rs 150-200 crore for the public-private partnership. (Financial Express 12/13/02) http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=23709 Dialogue between Ray Kurzweil and Eric Drexler. By Ray Kurzweil and K. Eric Drexler. What it would take to achieve successful cryonics reanimation of a fully functioning human brain, with memories intact? A conversation at the recent Alcor Conference on Extreme Life Extension between Ray Kurzweil and Eric Drexler sparked an email discussion of this question. They agreed that despite the challenges, the brain's functions and memories can be represented surprisingly compactly, suggesting that successful reanimation of the brain may be achievable. (Kurzweilai.net 12/3/02) http://www.kurzweilai.net/meme/frame.html?main=/articles/art0533.html (Non-nano) Primitive Housing: Potential Homes for Earth's First Life Found in Space Rock. Organic bubbles that could serve as dwellings for primitive life have been discovered inside a space rock that fell to Earth nearly three years ago. The frozen chunk of stone and metal was recovered in the Yukon Territory after eyewitnesses saw it's dramatic breakup in the sky. Inside the so-called Tagish Lake meteorite, frozen and well preserved, researchers have now found what they call organic hydrocarbon globules...The new finding, accomplished after months of investigation with electron microscopes, does not mean life exists in space rocks. The hydrocarbon globules are seen as the sort of thing which, once delivered Earth, could have helped jumpstart life. (Space.com 12/13/02) http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/tagish_organics_021213.html PopSci's Brilliant 10. Popular Science first annual celebration of scientists who are shaking up their fields and whose work will touch your life. Spend a day with- Charles Lieber (Nanotech, Harvard University): A big player in the world of the super-small turns gold into nanowire. 2 pages. See the right to click to the other top nine. (Popular Science) http://www.popsci.com/popsci/science/article/0,12543,364572,00.html A Nanotech Company That's so Clean, you Could Eat Off It. Consider what you could do with something that disinfects as thoroughly as chlorine bleach but is not poisonous. Factories that process cold food such as lunch meat could constantly clean equipment without risking the safety or taste of the finished product. Apple cider could stay fresh and cold from the press to your refrigerator, since the mill would no longer have to boil the juice to eliminate the chance of botulism. That's the promise of a range of disinfecting creams, tonics and sprays being developed by NanoBio Corp. in Ann Arbor, Mich. (Smalltimes 12/13/02) http://www.smalltimes.com/document_display.cfm?document_id=5187 In the World of the Very Small, Companies Make Big Plans. This may be remembered as the "Alice in Wonderland" decade for new technology. More and more businesses are moving into the world of nanotechnology, where particles of common materials are shrunk to such a minuscule size that they behave in unexpected - and often useful - ways. Entrepreneurs and multinationals alike are building on research from the 1980's and 1990's that led to relatively simple ways to fashion silicon, metals, plastics and even workaday substances like clay into particles of no more than a few molecules apiece. (The New York Times 12/16/02) http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/16/business/businessspecial/16NANO.html?ex=10 40706000&en=ebcdf9eef42ae3d7&ei=5040&partner=MOREOVER Researchers Control Love-Hate Relationship Between Atoms. Research that makes ultra-cold atoms extremely attractive to one another may help test current theories of how all matter behaves - a breakthrough that might lead to advanced transportation systems, more efficient energy sources and new tests of astrophysical theories. The experiment was conducted by a team led by Dr. John Thomas, a physics professor at Duke University, Durham, N.C., under a grant from NASA's Biological and Physical Research Program through the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. (JPL News Release 12/11/02) http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/releases/2002/226.cfm BioForce Nanosciences wins breast-cancer research grant. BioForce Nanosciences, US, has won a grant to develop a nanoscale protein-array platform that will help researchers to study changes in cellular signaling pathways that accompany the progression of breast cancer. The cash came from the US department of defense. (nanotechweb.org 12/12/02) http://www.nanotechweb.org/articles/news/1/12/7/1 Artificial nanopore spots DNA molecules. Scientists at Princeton University, US, have produced an artificial nanopore by micromoulding poly(dimethylsiloxane) - (PDMS) - elastomer. The on-chip electronic sensor was able to detect single DNA molecules. "With our fabrication and measurement techniques - micromoulding and four-point measurement of the electrical current - we have shown our ability to easily and reproducibly create artificial pores that can sense single molecules of lambda DNA," said Princeton researcher Lydia Sohn. (nanotechweb.org 12/11/02) http://www.nanotechweb.org/articles/news/1/12/6/1 Nanotech discussion at Slashdot. "Nanotech Assembly One Step Closer". -scroll all the way down, past the white space to see the responses. (Slashdot.org 12/4-6) http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/12/05/0325253&mode=thread&tid= 134 Loomis tapped to help nanotech group. The Austin office of San Francisco-based communications agency The Loomis Group Inc. will provide public relations for New Jersey's new Nanotechnology Consortium. (Austin Business Journal 12/17/02) http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2002/12/16/daily23.html Thinking Big. Teen's nanotechnology project wins $50,000. Apparently Madelyn Ho is blessed from head to toe. Ho, a cheerful 16-year-old from Sugar Land, is both a skilled ballerina and one of America's most brilliant young scientists. But it is her mental pirouettes, so to speak, in the nanotechnology laboratory (where incredibly small, molecular-sized things at least 10 to the negative ninth meters in size are studied) that recently proved quite profitable. (Houston Chronicle 12/18/02) http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/metropolitan/1706520 Morristown scientist works on smart paint. The job: Zafar Iqbal is a research professor of chemistry at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Joined faculty in 2001. Also teaches graduate and undergraduate courses. "I like the interaction with the students. Teaching freshens your mind . and provide you with new insights." Nanotechnology research: At NJIT, developed a new course related to nanotechnology, which is "the fabrication of devices at the scale of nanometers." (A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter.) Still in its "early stages," practical applications of nanotechnology are sensors that could detect anthrax or smallpox and the fabrication of "extremely strong" composites. (Daily Record Business 12/18/02) http://www.dailyrecord.com/business/02/12/18/business4-doss.htm "Merry, Merry, and Nano, Nano!" Gina "Nanogirl" Miller Nanotechnology Industries http://www.nanoindustries.com Personal: http://www.nanogirl.com Foresight Senior Associate 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=20650