X-Message-Number: 21030 From: "Gina Miller" <> Subject: The Nanogirl News~ Date: Sat, 1 Feb 2003 02:41:35 -0800 The Nanogirl News February 1, 2003 London's little idea. Nanotechnology may be the science of the small, but it is surely destined for bigger things. The new London Centre for Nanotechnology (LCN), due to open in 2004, is a joint venture between University College London and Imperial College, designed to put British science at the centre of this emerging field. Based in a new building with purpose-built clean rooms and laboratories, the centre is funded by a 13.65m higher education grant under the Science Research Infrastructure Fund. (BBC 1/27/03) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2698649.stm Jefferson Lab's Free-Electron Laser explores promise of carbon nanotubes. A research team led by Brian Holloway, an assistant professor at the College of William & Mary's Department of Applied Science, used Jefferson Lab's Free-Electron Laser to explore the fundamental science of how and why nanotubes form, paying close attention to the atomic and molecular details. Already, in experiments, the William & Mary/NASA Langley collaboration has produced tubes better than those at other laboratories or in industry. (EurekAlert 1/27/03) http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-01/djna-jlf012703.php Nanotech can be tragedy or triumph, says new group. A new non-profit organization has been formed to advance the safe use of molecular nanotechnology. The Center for Responsible Nanotechnology (CRN) was founded by Chris Phoenix and Mike Treder in December 2002. The vision of CRN is a world in which nanotechnology is widely used for productive and beneficial purposes, and where malicious uses are limited by effective administration of the technology. (Center for Responsible Nanotechnology 1/17/03) http://www.CRNano.org Very small solutions. One of the biggest names in the field of teensy science was a huge hit with students at Dutch Hill Elementary School Tuesday morning. Viola Vogel, director of the Center for Nanotechnology at the University of Washington, wowed a roomful of curious students with her expertise in the revolutionary field of nanotechnology. "We were so lucky she came," said sixth-grader Anna Boll. "She knows the most, and it's going to help us sound smarter in the competition." Boll and her classmates are working to qualify for a state problem-solving competition. This year's topic is nanotechnology. (Herald Net 1/29/03) http://www.heraldnet.com/Stories/03/1/29/16433363.cfm Watchdogs say stop nanotech, start worldwide dialogue. An advocacy group that helped quash efforts to introduce genetically modified products in Europe, Africa and elsewhere intensified the spotlight on nanotechnology Wednesday with a report recommending a halt to some nanotech activities. Nanotechnology officials and observers said the report raises important questions, but is flawed and its recommendations are misguided.-ETC Group- (Small Times 1/31/03) http://www.smalltimes.com/document_display.cfm?document_id=5417 Nanowires form nanoelectronic devices. Scientists from Lund University in Sweden have created one-dimensional heterostructure electronic devices based on nanowires. They made the resonant tunneling diodes by bottom-up assembly of different III/V semiconductor materials. (nanotechweb.org 1/21/03) http://nanotechweb.org/articles/news/2/1/12/1 Nanotechnology, Coming Soon. There is currently a race in progress to commercialize nanotechnology disk drives. The companies involved are IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Philips, Seagate and Nanochip, and possibly others. Disk technology based on a moving head that hovers over a spinning disk is reaching its physical limits and if greater density of storage is to be achieved then a different mechanism is required. Research in nanotechnology has unearthed a mechanism that fits the bill. (IT-Director 1/27/03) http://www.it-director.com/article.php?id=3501 Devil in the details? The molecule-size machines long promised by nanotechnology now seem menacing to some. Nanotechnology, touted as promising supermaterials and molecule-size robots, is starting to know sin-or at least some bad PR. In his new techno-thriller, Prey, author Michael Crichton presents supersmall, supersmart nanobots as itsy-bitsy baddies. And in some corners of the real world, environmental groups and arms control advocates are raising questions about possible health effects of nanotech's tiny particles and the weapons potential of its tiny machines. Sean Howard, a British political scientist and editor of Disarmament Diplomacy, believes it threatens "some very dangerous developments, some globally shattering things" and favors an "inner space" version of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty banning weapons of mass destruction there. (U.S. News 1/27/03) http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/030127/misc/27nano.htm Bucky Diamonds In The Rough. Nanometer-size diamonds could have a buckyball-like shape, prompting researchers to coin a new term: "bucky diamonds." Both diamonds and the soccer ball-shaped cage molecules called buckyballs are made of pure carbon, and according to the 24 January print issue of PRL, nanoscale diamonds could surround themselves with buckyball shells. But several experts in the field are not convinced by the data. If the work is confirmed, this new family of carbon clusters may provide new insights for the development of optoelectronics--futuristic devices that process both light and electrical signals. (Physical Review Focus 1/30/03) http://focus.aps.org/story/v11/st4 (Join the discussion at Geek.com) The nascent field of nanotechnology is attracting increasing attention from electrical engineers. The field of nanotechnology, which at this point is really only nanoscience, has only recently gained legitimacy. All signs indicate, however, that it is poised for robust growth during the coming decade. One of the problems with this subject, however, is that there is little agreement on what constitutes "nanotechnology." Some (including Intel) refer to nanotechnology as any technology that utilizes components smaller than 100 nanometers. Others have more radical visions of nanotechnology. These proponents foresee molecular assemblers building computers that are millions of times faster than current computers. User discussion: what jobs are there, Crichton's book Prey, and education. (Geek.com 1/28/03) http://www.geek.com/news/geeknews/2003Jan/bch20030128018378.htm Ultra-High-Density Data Storage May Become Practical with Breakthrough in Nanoscale Magnetic Sensors. A simpler and more reliable manufacturing method has allowed two materials researchers to produce nanoscale magnetic sensors that could increase the storage capacity of hard disk drives by a factor of a thousand. Building on results reported last summer, the new sensors are up to 100 times more sensitive than any current alternative technology. Susan Hua and Harsh Deep Chopra, both professors at the State University of New York at Buffalo, report in the February issue of Physical Review B on their latest experiments with nanoscale sensors that produce, at room temperature, unusually large electrical resistance changes in the presence of small magnetic fields. (NSF 1/30/03) http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/03/pr0316.htm Rice University Announces Nanotechnology Research Agreement with IBM. CBEN Supercomputer Helps Decipher Quantum Phenomena of Carbon Nanotubes. Rice University today announced a research agreement with IBM that will provide nanotechnology researchers at Rice's Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology (CBEN) with a supercomputer powerful enough to decipher the quantum phenomena of carbon nanotubes and other nanomaterials. CBEN researchers plan to use the supercomputer to find new ways to use nanomaterials to treat and diagnose disease and to clean pollutants from the environment. (Rice University 1/29/03) http://www.rice.edu/projects/reno/Newsrel/2003/20030129_cbenibm.shtml Disruptive technologies. Now is the time to prepare for two coming disruptors: open-source software and nanotechnology. Two potentially disruptive technologies watched closely by integrators today are open-source software and nanotechnology. Each holds the promise of radically changing the landscape of information technology. The concept of open-source software, for example, challenges many notions about how software should be created and sold. Linux, developed under the open-source license, is already provoking turmoil in the market for operating systems. "If you are an entrenched proprietary software vendor, this paradigm shift can be alarming," said John Weathersby, chairman of the Oxford, Miss.-based Open Source Software Institute. However, integrators and vendors that exploit the growing open-software movement in government can crack new markets, especially in the Department of Defense, where numerous offices are using open-source solutions as low-cost alternatives to commercial software. The same holds true for nanotechnology. Although still a few years out, nanotechnology can greatly expand the role of integrators as small, cheap computational devices are placed in everything from shoes to unmanned aerial vehicles. (Washington Technology 1/27/03) http://www.washingtontechnology.com/news/17_20/cover-stories/19859-1.html (Event) Announcing the World Nanotechnology Summit 2003. Emerging Technologies Limited is proud to announce that it will hold the first World Nanotechnology Summit (WNS2003) in New York on April 7-10, 2003...bringing together leading executives, investors and advisors from around the world to discuss the next 3-5 years of opportunity. It is a major opportunity to hear about the latest developments worldwide and to make important new contacts. http://www.nanotechsummit.com/ Tiny particles, enormous future. Government, industry rally to turn Bay Area into nanotechnology center. The Bay Area staked its claim to the hot new high-tech arena of nanotechnology Thursday as two dozen movers and shakers in industry, government and finance converged for a combination networking session and pep rally in San Francisco. The same killer combination of research universities, early-stage investors and pioneer companies that put the Bay Area ahead of the pack in biotechnology and the computer revolution could also make it a nanotechnology front-runner, said Scott Mize, co-founder of San Francisco's AngstroVision Inc., which creates 3-D imaging devices in the nanometer range. (San Francisco Chronicle 1/31/03) http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/01/31 /BU52571.DTL&type=business Fighting hazards from a computer. If we are attacked with nerve gas or anthrax, we'll need to know what's coming our way as quickly as possible. Nanotechnologists are working on new sensors that are both small and sensitive enough to work anywhere that we are threatened with biological or chemical weapons. At Purdue University, chemist Jillian Buriak has come up with a detection lab on a chip. She uses extremely tiny pieces of gold that can connect from a computer to natural sensors found in living cells to pick up traces of biochemical agents. This article includes a video, to the right. (ScienCentral 1/29/03) http://www.sciencentral.com/news/articles/view.php3?language=english&type=ar ticle&article_id=218391873 Also on the above website is an article and video from January 16, 2003. Nanodesigner video, Silicon chips have made everything electronic smaller, faster, and cheaper. As this ScienCentral News video reports, scientists are working hard to make circuits so small, we won't see them at all. (ScienCentral 1/19/03) http://www.sciencentral.com/news/articles/view.php3?language=english&type=ar ticle&article_id=218391865 Campus Research Review. The color of cancer: nanoparticles offer new detection method. Associate professor Shuming Nie is trying to dramatically improve clinical diagnostic tests for the detection of cancer through the use of quantum dots, a type of nanoparticle. Quantum dots glow and act as markers on cells and genes, thereby allowing scientists to rapidly analyze biopsy tissue from cancer patients. (Georgia Tech 1/31/03) http://nique.net/issues/spring2003/2003-01-31/19.html Scientists See Progress in Untangling Nanotubes. Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania claim they have made progress toward a solution for one of the biggest obstacles against implementing carbon nanotubes in electronics, materials and healthcare applications. Carbon nanotubes have frustrated researchers in every field with their stubborn and unhelpful tendency to clump together in solution. According to the Penn scientists, a readily available chemical, a surfactant called sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (NaDDBS), disperses nanotubes in water with remarkable efficiency. The discovery is described in a paper published this month in the journal Nanoletters. "Scientists have suggested many possible applications for carbon nanotubes, but tube aggregation in solution has obstructed progress," said lead author Mohammad Islam, a postdoctoral researcher in Penn's Department of Physics and Astronomy. "This new approach improves our ability to manipulate single tubes. Single nanotubes can now participate in controlled self-assembly, form fibers and composites, and serve as microfluidic sensors in water." (Nanotech Planet 1/30/03) http://www.nanoelectronicsplanet.com/nanochannels/research/article/0,4028,10 497_1576841,00.html Braille-like system shrinks storage. A team of European scientists is experimenting with a molecular-scale storage device that can be read like Braille and could lead to systems that hold nearly 100 gigabits of data per square inch. The researchers from the chemistry departments at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and the University of Bologna in Italy said they have discovered a class of materials that when gently nudged, form bumps in a predictable pattern that could be used to encode data. (MSNBC 1/23/03) http://www.msnbc.com/news/863373.asp Nanoscale waveguides provide view of single molecules. A group of researchers at Cornell University here perforated the top layer of a chip with two million "holes" that serve as nanoscale waveguides for a 488-nanometer laser, allowing them to film individual molecules during chemical reactions. Professor Watt Webb's group put 40-nanometer holes in the aluminum top layer of a 25 millimeter square chip. "Conventional wisdom would tell you that this is not a single- or multimode waveguide, since its size is ten times smaller than the light going through it. Rather, we call it a zero-mode waveguide," said postdoctoral fellow Michael Levene. (EETimes 1/31/03) http://www.eetimes.com/at/news/OEG20030131S0022 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=21030