X-Message-Number: 24306
From: "Gina Miller" <>
Subject: The Nanogirl News~
Date: Mon, 28 Jun 2004 13:10:03 -0700

The Nanogirl News
June 28, 2004


Kerry pitches $30 billion tech investment...Kerry also said he would increase 
funding for the National Science Foundation, NASA, National Institutes of 
Health, Energy Department, and the National Institute of Standards and 
Technology, and devote more of defense R&D budgets to long-term research. Those 
funding increases could spur advances in manufacturing, nanotechnology, life 
sciences, clean energy, and IT research to make systems more dependable, 
reliable, and resistant to cyber-attacks. (EETimes 6/25/04) 
http://www.eetimes.com/sys/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=22102204


Nanoshells Burn Up Cancer in Animals Effectively destroy tumors in mice while 
leaving healthy tissue unharmed. A cancer treatment that uses a combination of 
gold nanoshells and near-infrared light to burn tumors while sparing healthy 
tissue has proven effective in mice. The approach, being developed by researcher
Jennifer West and colleagues at Rice University in Houston, Texas, could be a 
minimally invasive treatment for tumors in humans. (BetterHumans 6/22/04)
http://www.betterhumans.com/News/news.aspx?articleID=2004-06-22-3


Nanomedicine Roadmap Initiative. On May 4, 2004, the National Institutes of 
Health held a meeting to launch the Nanomedicine Roadmap Initiative, which will 
be a part of the overall NIH Roadmap. For more information, please visit 
Nanomedicine Roadmap Initiative: (NIH Roadmap) 
http://nihroadmap.nih.gov/nanomedicine/index.asp


Vanderbilt Engineering to lead new defense nanotechnology program. The 
Vanderbilt School of Engineering will lead a new $2.4 million 
multi-institutional nanotechnology program funded by the U.S. Army Research 
Laboratory to develop radically improved electronics, sensors, energy-conversion
devices and other critical defense systems. The Advanced Carbon Nanotechnology 
Research Program will explore various nanostructures of carbon, including 
diamond, at the molecular level to develop next-generation materials that can be
used in a wide range of defense devices and systems. The Army Research 
Laboratory funds will support the program's first year of operation. (Vanderbilt
News Service 6/24/04) http://www.vanderbilt.edu/news/releases?id=12731


Dancing lasers levitate carbon nanotubes. For the first time, carbon nanotubes 
have been picked up and moved with a laser beam. The trick may finally offer 
engineers who want to build microchips based on nanotube components a way to 
move the diminutive devices into place...The technique exploits the ability of a
laser beam to trap small particles, so that when the beam moves, the particles 
move with it. Biologists already use optical trapping to grab single cells - to 
separate out a single red blood cell for use in research on sickle cell anemia 
or malaria therapies, for instance. (New Scientist 6/4/04)


http://www.newscientist.com/hottopics/tech/article.jsp?id=99995065&sub=Nanotechnology


Scientist Sees Space Elevator in 15 Years. President Bush wants to return to the
moon and put a man on Mars. But scientist Bradley C. Edwards (Scientific 
Research in Fairmont, W.Va. NASA) has an idea that's really out of this world: 
an elevator that climbs 62,000 miles into space. Edwards thinks an initial 
version could be operating in 15 years, a year earlier than Bush's 2020 
timetable for a return to the moon. He pegs the cost at $10 billion, a pittance 
compared with other space endeavors...Edwards' elevator would climb on a cable 
made of nanotubes - tiny bundles of carbon atoms many times stronger than steel.
The cable would be about three feet wide and thinner than a piece of paper, but
capable of supporting a payload up to 13 tons. The cable would be attached to a
platform on the equator, off the Pacific coast of South America where winds are
calm, weather is good and commercial airplane flights are few. The platform 
would be mobile so the cable could be moved to get out of the path of orbiting 
satellites. (Yahoo 6/26/04)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/space_elevator


Wireless nanocrystals efficiently radiate visible light. A wireless nanodevice 
that functions like a fluorescent light - but potentially far more efficiently -
has been developed in a joint project between the National Nuclear Security 
Administration's Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories. The experimental 
success, reported in the June 10 issue of Nature, efficiently causes 
nanocrystals to emit light when placed on top of a nearby energy source, 
eliminating the need to put wires directly on the nanocrystals. (EurekAlert 
6/22/04) http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-06/dnl-wne062204.php


Lord of the molecular rings created. The Borromean ring, an icon of Nordic and 
Christian traditions, has been self-assembled at the molecular scale level for 
the first time. The new molecule, composed of three interlocking rings, provides
another new component for future nano-devices. (New Scientist 5/28/04) 
http://www.newscientist.com/hottopics/tech/article.jsp?id=99995050&sub=Nanotechnology


SIA sets national research initiative. The Semiconductor Industry Association 
has approved formation of the Nanoelectronics Research Initiative to develop 
exotic nanoscale devices. NRI, which is expected to begin operations as early as
next year, will reach annual funding levels of $100 million or more during the 
implementation phase, with engineers from industry working at several 
university-based centers. The institute will create "a road map for addressing 
challenges, focus nano research and eliminate redundancies," John E. Kelly III, 
the senior vice president in charge of IBM Corp.'s microelectronics operations, 
told the SIA board of directors at a meeting earlier this month. (EETimes 
6/25/04) http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=22102124


Indian doctor duo make DNA horoscopes at birth.  doctor duo from Trivandrum have
developed a technique to map the DNA sequencing of human beings so as to 
predict their future tendencies and also help fight diseases. Ajit Kumar and 
Arun Kumar, both genetic experts from the city's main state-run hospitals, have 
developed the "Nano Geneseq Chip", which analyses the entire future genetic 
proposition of a human at birth itself. In layman terms the computer can, to 
almost 100 percent accuracy, predict how a child will grow-right from its 
height, color and other physical attributes to his eating habits and even 
romantic tendencies. Named 'NANOGENESEQ', the chip analyses the DNA samples of 
newborns, taken either from blood, spinal cord or saliva, effectively making a 
'genetic horoscope' of the baby. (WebIndia 6/23/04) 
http://www.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=41431&cat=India


Oregon Team Uses DNA as Template for Organizing Nanoparticles. Researchers at 
the University of Oregon's Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute 
(ONAMI) are now able to control precisely the spacing between nanoparticles, a 
key advance in the genesis of a new class of nanoscale electronics and 
optics...Using DNA as a template, the UO team has hit upon a convenient and 
reliable method to organize small gold nanoparticles into linear chains with 
precisely controlled interparticle spacing over a range of 1.5 to 2.8 
nanometers. Controlling the magnitude and precision of the particle spacing is 
essential for creating electronic and optical applications of nanostructures. 
(Nanoelectronicsplanet.com 6/10/04) 


http://www.nanoelectronicsplanet.com/nanochannels/research/article/0,4028,10497_3366481,00.html


X-Rayed Movie. A research team has produced the fastest movies ever made of 
electron motion. Created by scattering x rays off of water, the movies show 
electrons sloshing in water molecules, and each frame lasts just 4 attoseconds 
(quintillionths of a second). The results, published in the 11 June PRL, could 
let researchers "watch" chemical reactions even faster than those viewable with 
today's "ultrafast" pulsed lasers. X rays can reveal atomic-scale spatial 
details in liquids and solids because their wavelengths are as short as the 
distances between atoms. Experiments typically involve aiming an x-ray beam at a
sample and measuring the intensity of scattered x rays at each angle around the
sample. In so-called inelastic x-ray scattering, researchers also measure the 
energy of the scattered rays, since x rays sometimes lose energy as they 
ricochet off of electrons. In theory, the scattering angles lead to nanoscale 
still pictures, while the energy loss data tell researchers how the pictures 
change with time. (Physical Review Focus 6/26/04)
http://focus.aps.org/story/v13/st25


3-D Chemistry Builds Complex Micro-Structures. "We believe this technique 
provides a real competitive advantage for making complicated 3-D 
microstructures." That's Georgia Institute of Technology Researcher Seth Marder 
describing what he terms "a disruptive platform technology that we believe will 
provide broad new capabilities." Marder, also a professor at Georgia Tech's 
School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, says the technique could compete with 
existing processes for fabricating many microfluidic devices. He also cites such
things as photonic bandgap structures, optical storage devices, photonic 
switches and couplers, sensors, actuators, micromachines -- even scaffolds for 
growing living tissues...Also demonstrated: the fabrication of tiny silver wires
from patterns written in materials containing silver nanoparticles and ions. 
(SmallTimes 6/23/04)
http://www.smalltimes.com/document_display.cfm?document_id=8095


NASA Lockheed Martin Form Nanotechnology Partnership. NASA Ames Research Center,
Moffett Field, Calif., and the Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center, Palo
Alto, Calif., are launching a new collaborative effort to pursue innovative 
nanotechnology research to help achieve the nation's Vision for Space 
Exploration through development of advanced aerospace systems. Nanotechnology is
the ability to control or manipulate matter on the atomic scale, making it 
possible to create structures, devices and systems that have novel properties 
and functions because of their small size: 1/1000th the diameter of a human 
hair. "Nanoscience has the potential to both increase capability and decrease 
weight, which reduces cost," said NASA Ames Center Director G. Scott Hubbard. 
"Future developments could lead to improved thermal and radiation protection and
new sensors that could monitor the environment as well as detect the 
fingerprints of life."(NASA news 6/22/04) 
http://amesnews.arc.nasa.gov/releases/2004/04_60AR.html


BBC Radio Nanotech Series. Anonymous Coward writes "BBC Radio 4 is currently 
airing a series called "Small Worlds" which deals with a new nanotechnology 
issue each Wednesday at 9:00pm. All the programs are available for download at 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/smallworlds.shtml. Towards the end of the 
second program the "Sticky Fingers" argument is used by George Whitesides to 
dismiss the prospect of Nanoscale machines." (Nanodot.org 6/18/04) 
http://nanodot.org/article.pl?sid=04/06/18/2218203 


Nano Killers Aim at Mini Tumors. A company called Kereos is developing a pair of
nanotechnologies to identify tumors that measure just 1 mm in diameter, then 
kill them with a tiny but precise amount of a chemotherapy drug. The 
technologies, if approved by the Food and Drug Administration, would not only 
find cancers in their earliest stages before they can do damage or spread, but 
also deliver a small amount of a drug targeted directly at tumors, which would 
cause little or no side effects. The technologies are in the early stages of 
development. The diagnostic tool will enter human trials in 2005, and the 
therapeutic tool should follow six months behind, according to company 
officials. "What's really neat about this pair is they both track the same 
biomarker," said Al Beardsley, president and CEO of Kereos in St. Louis. "We're 
using it as a signpost to say, 'Hey there's a tumor over there.' And then as a 
therapeutic target." Wired 6/22/04)  
http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,63933,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_2
 

Scientists craft nano night goggles. Scientists craft nano night goggles Tiny 
pyramids of molecules commonly used in communications chips could potentially 
reduce the cost and increase the performance of night vision goggles, according 
to research results from the University of Southern California and the 
University of Texas. (CNet 6/16/04)

http://news.com.com/Scientists+craft+nano+night+goggles/2110-7337_3-5236742.html


Don Eigler A giant in the field of small things. Don Eigler is a study in 
contrasts. Those who know the pioneering IBM researcher describe him as a 
patient, methodical scientist -- and a daring risk-taker. A self-described 
tinkerer who spends hours alone with gizmos in his garage, he also speaks 
frequently in public about the interplay between nanotechnology and society. 
"He's both a hard-nosed scientist and a creative artist. A real renaissance 
man," said Steve Jurvetson of the Menlo Park venture capital firm Draper Fisher 
Jurvetson, which invests in nanotechnology companies...profile...(SFGate 
6/14/04)
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/06/14/BUG9974EUA1.DTL
 

Clothes launder own fabric. In the classic 1951 film, The Man in the White Suit,
Alec Guinness played a scientist who invents a fabric that never gets dirty or 
wears out. A chemist's pipe dream perhaps, but the prospect of self-cleaning 
clothes might be getting closer. Scientists have invented an efficient way to 
coat cotton cloth with tiny particles of titanium dioxide. These nanoparticles 
are catalysts that help to break down carbon-based molecules, and require only 
sunlight to trigger the reaction. The inventors believe that these fabrics could
be made into self-cleaning clothes that tackle dirt, environmental pollutants 
and harmful microorganisms. (Nature 6/14/04)
http://www.nature.com/nsu/040607/040607-9.html


New version of nanotechnololgy. In my previous column, I wrote about a NASA 
study that suggests self-replicating nanomachines are indeed possible. These 
bacteria-size robots, first envisioned by nanotechnology pioneer Eric Drexler, 
would be used to construct materials and products from the bottom up, one atom 
or molecule at a time...But in a new article in the journal Nanotechnology, 
Drexler and protege Chris Phoenix write that such nanobots are unnecessary for 
successful molecular manufacturing. I asked Phoenix what this updated version of
nanomanufacturing would look like... (USNews 6/15/04) 
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/tech/nextnews/archive/next040615.htm


Do the Nano-Locomotion. Like a futuristic submarine, a newly designed 
nanomachine would thrust itself through fluid using an unusual type of 
propulsion. In the June Physical Review E a research team proposes a simple, 
sphere-and-rod device that swims by changing its length along only one 
dimension. Its simplicity may make it attractive to engineers, who could use the
"swimmer" to move nano-cargo through liquid environments, such as water or a 
bloodstream. (PRF 6/25/04) http://focus.aps.org/story/v13/st27#videos


Gold-tipped Nanocrystals Developed By Hebrew University. "Nanodumbells" - 
gold-tipped nanocrystals which can be used as highly-efficient building blocks 
for devices in the emerging nanotechnology revolution - have been developed by 
researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The technology, developed by 
a research group headed by Prof. Uri Banin of the Department of Physical 
Chemistry and the Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology of the Hebrew 
University, is described in an article in the current issue of Science magazine.
(Science Daily 6/2/04) 
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/06/040621073848.htm


Silicon carbide nanoflowers bloom. Researchers at the University of Cambridge, 
UK, have grown unusual silicon carbide nanostructures. The team's 
vapour-liquid-solid process produced nanoflowers, nanotrees and nanobouquets of 
the material. "The unique structures will have a range of exciting 
applications," said Mark Welland of Cambridge University. "Two that are 
currently being explored are their use as water-repellent coatings and as a base
for a new type of solar cell." 
(nanotechweb 6/24/04) http://nanotechweb.org/articles/news/3/6/11/1

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
Email: 
"Nanotechnology: Solutions for the future."



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