X-Message-Number: 23209 From: "Gina Miller" <> Subject: The Nanogirl News~ Date: Fri, 2 Jan 2004 15:43:45 -0800 The Nanogirl News January 2, 2004 Homeland Security Gets Small. How Nanotechnology May Aid Anti-Terrorism. Ultimately, fighting the war on terrorism may have less to do with giant aircraft carriers and more to do with atomic-scale detection and prevention systems. Nanotechnology, which is expected to transform everything from computer processors to drug delivery systems, may also be the key to homeland security, argues a new book. In Nanotechnology and Homeland Security: New Weapons for New Wars, Mark A. Ratner, a professor of chemistry at Northwestern University and a noted expert in molecular electronics, and his son Daniel Ratner, a high-tech entrepreneur, claim that current research in nanotechnology will lead to intelligent sensors, smart materials, and other methods for thwarting biological and chemical attacks. (ABC News 12/29/03) http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/ZDM/nanotech_security_pcmag_031229.ht ml The National Science Foundation has awarded to a 13-university consortium the designation as the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network and at least $70 million to share their facilities with qualified users for a five-year period. Sandip Tiwari, director of the Cornell Nanoscale Facility, will lead NNIN. (Cornell 12/22/03) http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/Dec03/Nano.net.hrs.html Hitachi Set to Plant It's Own 'Nanostamp' on the Medical Market. Hitachi's Advanced Research Laboratory (ARL) is getting ready to commercialize a low-cost "nanostamp" technology for medical applications. Hitachi's process creates "nanopillars" with extremely high aspect ratios (narrow relative to height), a feature that the company believes will prove useful for biochips and other applications, according to Akihiro Miyauchi, a senior researcher at Hitachi. The technology uses a silicon "stamp" that presses onto a polystyrene-based polymer film, producing nanopillars that are extremely long and thin, about 3 microns in height. (Smalltimes 12/30/03) http://www.smalltimes.com/document_display.cfm?documen t_id=7147 Entering the Nano-Age? By Glenn Reynolds. Last week, I wrote about the EPA Science Advisory Board meeting where nanotechnology was discussed. I learned a lot of interesting things there, but one of the things that I learned is that, even for people like me who try to keep up, the pace of nanotechnology research is moving much too fast to catch everything. One of the documents distributed at that meeting was a supplement to the President's 2004 budget request, entitled National Nanotechnology Initiative: Research and Development Supporting the Next Industrial Revolution. I expected it to be the usual bureaucratic pap, but in fact, it turned out to contain a lot of actual useful information, including reports of several nanotechnology developments that I had missed. The most interesting, to me, was the report of "peptide nanotubes that kill bacteria by punching holes in the bacteria's membrane." You might think of these as a sort of mechanical antibiotic. (TechCentral Station 12/23/03) http://www.techcentralstation.com/122303C.html Through thick and thin. Pair's Work has made HP a Leader in Nanotechnology...Williams and his team of 30 work in a building that houses the preserved offices of HP founders Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard. In these hallowed halls they are researching ways to make computer chips at the atomic level, smaller than a bacteria or a virus. If they succeed in their mission, HP could begin deploying a new manufacturing technique within the next three to five years. This technique allows an entire wafer of circuits to be stamped out quickly and cheaply from a master mold. (San Jose Mercury News 12/29/03) http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/business/7563605.htm Nanowire a Superior Disease Detector. A wire thinner than a human hair has proven to be 1,000 times more sensitive at detecting disease, producing results in minutes rather than days. Charles Lieber of Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts and colleagues developed and tested the silicon nanowire in what they say is the first example of direct electrical detection of DNA using nanotechnology. "This tiny sensor could represent a new future for medical diagnostics," says Lieber, a professor of chemistry at Harvard and a cofounder of nanotechnology company NanoSys. (Betterhumans 12/18/03) http://www.betterhumans.com/News/news.aspx?articleID=2003-12-18-3 The next high-tech frontier? For Donn Tice, the path to the new world of nanotechnology leads through the old world of apparel manufacturing. Nano-Tex's chief executive officer has traveled the globe this year selling his Emeryville, Calif., company's nanotechnology chemical formula that makes fabrics stain-resistant...Nano-Tex's Nano-Care product is more than just a coating that repels stains. It changes the fabric itself on a molecular level, embedding it with tiny, floppy, hair-like fibers that themselves are attached to a common spine. Just as hair keeps rain from penetrating a dog's coat, the "nano whiskers" in Nano-Care's chemical mix keeps stains from soaking into clothing. Spill a glass of Merlot on a white blouse made with Nano-Care and the wine beads up into harmless blobs. (Rutland Herald 12/29/03) http://rutlandherald.nybor.com/Business/Story/76515.html Tiny nanotube antennas may yield better signals in cell phones, televisions. In the future, your cell phone calls and television pictures could become a lot clearer thanks to tiny antennas thousands of times smaller than the width of a human hair. At least that's the speculation of a University of Southern California scientist who has been investigating nanotube transistors. The researcher has demonstrated for the first time that minuscule antennas, in the form of carbon nanotube transistors, can dramatically enhance the processing of electrical signals. (Eurekalert 12/30/03) http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-12/acs-na123003.php Can Art Make Nanotechnology Easier to Understand? The old adage "seeing is believing" hardly applies to nanoscience, which operates on a scale of atoms and molecules. So how do you make something so miniscule and abstract appear real to the ordinary eye? Why not through art? A new exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, called "nano," merges the art and the atom. Through art-making exhibits, visitors can experience what it's like to move molecules and manipulate atoms one by one. (National Geographic 12/23/03) http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/12/1223_031223_nanotechnology.h tml#main Argonne researchers explore confinement of light with metal nanoparticles. Optical engineering has had a tremendous impact on our everyday lives, providing us with fiber optic communications and optical data storage. However, manipulating light on the nanoscale level can be a Herculean task, since the nanoscale level is so incredibly tiny - less than one tenth the wavelength of light. Researchers at Argonne National Laboratory are making strides towards understanding and manipulating light at the nanoscale by using the unusual optical properties of metal nanoparticles, opening the door to microscopic-sized devices such as optical circuits and switches. (Eurekalert 12/23/03) http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-12/dnl-are122303.php Extremely cold molecules created by Sandia and Columbia University researchers. Using a method usually more suitable to billiards than atomic physics, researchers from Sandia National Laboratories and Columbia University have created extremely cold molecules that could be used as the first step in creating Bose-Einstein molecular condensates. The work is published in the Dec. 12 Science. (Sandia 12/11/03) http://www.sandia.gov/news-center/news-releases/2003/physics-astron/cold.htm l Nanofabrication achieved on a biological substrate. Dip-pen nanolithography, a process being developed for ultrasmall feature definition on semiconductor ICs, may blaze new trails in medicine as well, if preliminary work reported at the fall meeting of the Materials Research Society can be turned into practical procedures. Albena Ivanisevic, a bioengineer at Purdue University's Bindley Bioscience Center (West Lafayette, Ind.), described a process in which amino acid-based nanostructures were assembled on retinal tissue. The structures might be useful to surgeons trying to correct blindness caused by macular degeneration. (EETimes 12/11/03) http://www.eet.com/at/n/news/OEG20031211S0028 Nanotechnology: What is there to fear from something so small? Next March, Mark Welland's laboratory at the University of Cambridge, UK, will gain an unusual member of staff. Welland's team works on nanometre-dimension wires and tubes that could form the future of electronics, but the new recruit won't be an engineer or a physicist - he or she will be a social scientist. The appointment - a two-year position that will include running regular meetings with everyone from industry representatives to green activists - acknowledges public fears about the possible effects of nanotechnology on human health and the environment. Although Welland may not subscribe to long-standing scare stories about a 'grey goo' of nanometre-sized robots taking over the planet, he realizes that scientists need to address this and other concerns head on. (Nature 12/18/03) http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v426/n6968/f ull/426750a_fs.html Israel's big plan for a tiny science...Now Shimon Peres, a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and a former prime minister, is trying to ensure Israel's place in nanotechnology, the emerging science of matter measured in one-billionth of a meter...With that goal in mind, Peres, who turned 80 in September, and his son, Chemi Peres, a venture capitalist, are aiming to raise $300 million from American Jewish donors to ensure that Israel can become a global nanotechnology developer. Right now the Israeli government has about $150 million invested in nanotechnology research, according to Einat Wilf, managing director of the Israeli Nanotechnology Trust. (ContraCostaTimes 12/26/03) http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/business/7574247.htm UW receives $5M grant to link nanotech, medicine. The University of Washington will get about $5 million to support nanotechnology research as part of a $70 million nationwide grant. The National Science Foundation grant will establish a National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network to assist research and education in nanoscale science, engineering and technology, said a UW statement. (Puget Sound Business journal 12/26/03) http://seattle.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2003/12/22/daily21.html (Computer Game) Review of Deus Ex: Invisible War for Xbox. The main character uses nanotechnology for special powers within the game plot.(GamePro.com) http://www.gamepro.com/microsoft/xbox/games/reviews/31870.shtml IBM's Millipede May Challenge Flash Memory. Some say The Information Age began with the invention of the PC. For others, it's the birth of the Internet, the development of the silicon chip or the global crisscrossing of fiber-optic cable that shifted our societal pivot from goods-production to information management. In a couple of years, IBM's Millipede data storage system might also enter the debate. (Forbes 12/24/03) http://www.forbes.com/2003/12/24/1224ibmpinnacor_ii.html?partner=my_yahoo&re ferrer= Viet Nam produces first nano material. Viet Nam has succeeded in making nano coal, the first material, based on nano technology, said Nguyen Chanh Khe, director of the Research and Development Center under the Saigon Hi-Tech Park (SHTP). (VietnamEconomy 1/3/04) http://www.vneconomy.com.vn/en_index.php?action=preview&cat=03&id=0312241032 55 Cardiff University is Creating Designer Molecules Against Cancer. Welsh researchers are working on developing ultrasmall nanoparticles to tackle breast and prostate cancers more effectively. It could allow higher doses of more toxic drugs to be used without fear that widespread damage to tissues will be caused. The work is being carried out by the recently established Centre for Polymer Therapeutics established within the Welsh school of Pharmacy at Cardiff under the direction of Professor Ruth Duncan. (Small Times 12/23/03) http://www.smalltimes.com/document_display.cfm?section_id=45&document_id=712 2 Zyvex Expands Nanomanipulation Product Line. Zyvex Corporation [profile] today announced the A100 Assembly System, a manipulation and assembly tool which can be used with either a scanning electron or optical microscope to assemble microscale components. "The A100 Assembly System represents a significant product line extension for Zyvex," said Robert Folaron, Director of Product Development at Zyvex. "Customers will not only benefit from Zyvex's industry leading nanomanipulation capabilities for assembling complex MEMS structures, but will also benefit from the microassembly techniques we've developed through our NIST-ATP program." (NanoInvestorNews 12/25/03) http://www.nanoinvestornews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2144 Light frozen in place. Researchers at Harvard University have trapped and held a light pulse still for a few hundredths of a millisecond. The experiment extends previous research that showed it is possible to store a light pulse by imprinting its characteristics into gas atoms, and to reconstitute the pulse using a second beam. The Harvard researchers went a step further by briefly holding the reconstituted light pulse in place. (TRN 12/31/03) http://www.trnmag.com/Stories/2003/123103/Light_frozen_in_place_123103.html Chemists Grow Nano Menagerie. Researchers from Sandia National Laboratories have found a simple way to make tiny, complicated shapes from zinc oxide, including arrays of vertically-aligned rods, flat disks, and columns that resemble stacks of coins. The researchers grew the structures, which are similar to those found in biomaterials, by seeding a solution with zinc oxide nanoparticles. They were able to produce different shapes by changing the amount of citrate in the solution at different points during particle growth. (Technology Review 12/24/03) http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/rnb_122403.asp TV series unravels the saga of 'DNA'. A half-century of science and all-too-human conflicts. James Watson, who rocked the human race a half-century ago by discovering the DNA molecule's double-helix structure, has only one complaint about "DNA," a documentary series in which he serves as the overarching presence. I wish they had shot it 20 years ago when I didn't look so old," the 75-year-old Watson says with a rueful laugh. "It's not the view I have of myself." Still, a big part of his view of himself - also clearly visible to the outside world - is that of someone who likes to rock the boat and create waves. And that part seems impervious to age. (MSNBC 12/31/03) http://msnbc.msn.com/Default.aspx?id=3848587&p1=0 2003: The Year of the Straw NanoMan. Ronald Bailey, in his very reasonable piece about the "growing peril" of a nanotechnology moratorium," asserts that anti-nano activists "cannot be lightly dismissed."I agree to a point, having made similar assertions myself, but after speaking and listening to a number of business and government leaders, I can't help but think that activists like Pat Mooney of the ETC Group might be the best thing that's happened to the nanotech industry. When it comes to the environmental debate, the handful of people who call for a moratorium on nano research conveniently play the role of the straw enemy of nanoprogress, since their pseudoscience can easily be attacked. That is what I was thinking as I listened to Phil Bond, the U.S. Commerce Department's undersecretary for technology, give an eloquent speech recently in Chicago. (Howard Lavoy's Nanobot 12/24/03) http://nanobot.blogspot.com/2003_12_21_nanobot_archive.html#1072287574695510 87 (Humor) Santa's speed? It must be gas. Scientists explain how Santa Claus zips around the world on Christmas Eve depositing presents without breaking the laws of physics. -Apparently Santa uses nanotechnology to turn cookies into toys!- (Herald 12/24/03) http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/7561195.htm Happy New Year! Gina "Nanogirl" Miller Nanotechnology Industries http://www.nanoindustries.com Personal: http://www.nanogirl.com Foresight Senior Associate http://www.foresight.org Nanotechnology Advisor Extropy Institute http://www.extropy.org Tech-Aid Advisor http://www.tech-aid.info/t/all-about.html "Nanotechnology: Solutions for the future." Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=23209