DuPont Becomes Founding Sponsor of International Council on Nanotechnology. The Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology (CBEN) at Rice University in Houston, Texas, recently announced the formation of the International Council on Nanotechnology (ICON). The ICON is a collaboration among academic, industry, regulatory and non-governmental interest groups that will work to assess, communicate, and reduce potential environmental and health risks associated with nanotechnology. A2Znano 10/29/04

$10 million to establish a multidisciplinary research program in cancer nanotechnology. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded scientists from Emory University and the Georgia Institute of Technology two new collaborative research grants, totaling nearly $10 million, to establish a multidisciplinary research program in cancer nanotechnology and to develop a new class of nanoparticles for molecular and cellular imaging.
News-Medical.net 10/6/04

Presidential Candidates Speak Out on Science Policies. With the exception of the debate over stem-cell research, science remains a background topic in the current campaign. Democratic candidate John Kerry has occasionally highlighted US science policy and used it against President Bush, charging that the administration has put politics and ideology ahead of science. "Let scientists do science again," a headline on the Kerry election website says. Bush has responded, primarily through his science adviser, John Marburger, by pointing to the 44% increase in federal R&D since fiscal year 2001 and the record $132 billion in the administration's FY 2005 R&D budget. "Kerry ignores President Bush's record science investments," reads a headline on the Bush reelection website. Kerry answers by noting that most of the R&D money is going for weapons systems and defense spending related to the war in Iraq, not basic science programs. Marburger and other administration officials point to s everal R&D initiatives, including new nanotechnology centers, the Moon/Mars space initiative, and the program to develop hydrogen fuel technology. Physics Today 10/3/04

Big Minds Gather to Discuss Ultra-Small Technology at NASA. Experts from NASA, academia and industry will meet this week to learn the latest developments in nanotechnology and provide input to guide the fledgling industry. The National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) Grand Challenge workshop, hosted by NASA Ames Research Center, located in California's Silicon Valley, will be held Aug. 24-26, 2004 at Rickey's Hyatt Hotel in Palo Alto, Calif. The workshop will focus on six themes: nanomaterials, microcraft, nanorobots, nano-micro-macro integration, nanosensors and instrumentation and astronaut health management. During the workshop, participants will attend a series of 'breakout' sessions with guest experts. SpaceRef 8/24/04

How to Build a Biobot. Synthetic-biology researchers are creating a tool kit to build biobots, autonomous, special-purpose nanorobots the size of cells, with applications in medicine, national security, environmental protection, and many other fields. Too simple to replicate, biobots will be put together like Legos from a catalogue of biological and artificial parts. ScienceBeat 8/27/04

Hope for Alzheimer's patients: Virus that cures. Scientists here have found method which uses virus to deliver DNA to damaged brain cells and help mend them in patients. Researchers at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) are relying on the prowess of viruses to get into cells and deliver healthy genes in order to reverse the effects of these debilitating diseases. StraitsTimes 8/28/04

Charles Accused over Science Warnings. The Prince of Wales was accused today of raising unfounded scientific scares following his latest warnings about the new science of nanotechnology. Eminent fertility expert Lord Winston said it was “very unfortunate” that Charles had used a newspaper article yesterday to raise the spectre of a thalidomide-style disaster. Instead of fostering a mature debate on the pros and cons of the emerging technology, Charles is feeding a growing suspicion of science in society, said Lord Winston.
News.Scotsman 7/12/04
Also see the original Sunday article in the Independent.
Download the BBC news coverage video via RealPlayer.

Despite House’s okay, little time left to pass nanotech bill this year. With little time left on the congressional legislative calendar, the prospects this year for new legislation recently introduced by Rep. Mike Honda, D-Calif., aimed at helping to bring nanotechnology advances to market appear dim. The bill (H.R. 4656) would create a public-private partnership aimed at investing in nanomanufacturing. The measure calls for the establishment of a new program, the Nanomanufacturing Investment Partnership, within the Department of Commerce that would provide direct investments, which must be matched by private sector partners, in "pre-commercial nanomanufacturing research and development projects." SmallTimes 7/12/04

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.

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.

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.

Chemists make molecular interlocked rings. UCLA chemists have devised an elegant solution to an intricate problem at the nanoscale that stumped scientists for many years: They have made a mechanically interlocked compound whose molecules have the topology of the beloved interlocked Borromean rings. In the May 28 issue of the journal Science, the team reports nanoscience that could be described as art. The UCLA group is the first to achieve this goal in total chemical synthesis, which research groups worldwide have been pursuing EurekAlert 5/27/04.

DNA Robot Takes Its First Steps. A MICROSCOPIC biped with legs just 10 nanometres long and fashioned from fragments of DNA has taken its first steps. The nanowalker is being hailed as a major breakthrough by nanotechnologists. The biped's inventors, chemists Nadrian Seeman and William Sherman of New York University, say that while many scientists have been trying to build nanoscale devices capable of bipedal motion, theirs is the first to succeed. "It's an advance on everything that has gone before," says Bernard Yurke of Bell Labs in New Jersey, part of the team that made one of the best-known molecular machines to date: a pair of "tweezers" also constructed from DNA strands New Scientist, 12 August 2000, p 23. bio.com 5/6/04.

Nanotechnology in Fire Protection can save Life and secure Health...Many applications to secure life and health would not be possible without nanotechnology and molecular science. New sensors, glass, electronics, optics, absorbents, concrete additives, coatings, fire retardancy materials, smart fire resistant clothes and new building materials are only some of today's applications. In total there are 48 applications today in fire protection . For the Olympics 2008 in Beijing the state of science in fire protection technologies was defined. Nanochina is a market development that leads several segments in nanotechnology materials and electronics from Chinese companies and technologies innovations report 5/17/04.

China Sunday successfully sent into space Nano-satellite I, the first nanotechnology-based satellite ever developed by the country, Xinhua reports. The successful launch made China the world's fourth country capable of launching nano-satellites after Russia, the US and Britain, Chinese space experts said.
India Kerala News 4/18/04

Pentagon official says nanotechnology a high priority. The U.S. military expects advances in nanotechnology to impact every major weapons system and is spending hundreds of millions of dollars annually on various research programs, a senior military science adviser said Thursday at a meeting of nanotechnology specialists. "Nanotechnology is one of the highest priority science and technology programs in the Defense Department," said Clifford Lau, the senior science adviser in the Pentagon's office of basic research. Lau, who also serves as president of the nanotechnology council at the engineering group IEEE, said research is being coordinated across the military branches, and plans are in place to transition the technology from basic research to deployment. GovExec 4/19/04 .

Eric Drexler (author of Engines of Creation and Nanosystems) has provided us with a website full of crucial nanotechnology information and images. http://www.e-drexler.com
Nanotech's Chemotherapy Cure (Josh Wolfe). In the world of modern medicine there are few more imprecise and drastic measures than chemotherapy as a treatment for cancer. In most cases the process involves poisoning a patient's system with toxic chemicals in an effort to kill malignant cancer cells. Anyone who has personally suffered through chemo or seen a loved one suffer can attest to its destructive and debilitating side effects. Unfortunately, one of the causes of these severe side effects comes not from the anti-cancer drugs themselves, but from the solutions used to dissolve them. When a drug won't dissolve in water, another solvent is often used in its place; occasionally the side effects of the solvent cause more discomfort than the cancer-killing agent. Scientific researchers working with nanoparticles, 1/100th the size of a red blood cell, may have discovered a solution to chemo's "solution" problem. Forbes 4/15/04

Nanoscale Elevator Raises the Bar. Complex device demonstrates progress in designing and building molecular machines. complex nanoscale machine that can shuttle molecules like a tiny elevator has been designed, built and operated. Developed by Italian and American researchers, the tiny, chemically driven machine consists of a platform with three rings, each of which is attached to the leg of a tripod-like structure. At just 2.5 nanometers high and 3.5 nanometers in diameter, the elevator represents a big advance for the construction of molecular machines, experts say. Betterhumans 3/18/04 Also see Chemical & Engineering News.

Triton's nanotechnology designed to take on tumors. CEO looks to raise $18M second round to get it to clinical trials. Samuel Straface is betting that nanotechnology originally designed to repair military vehicles can be successfully used for something far different: to kill cancer tumors. Straface is president and CEO of Triton BioSystems Inc. in Chelmsford, a 3-year-old biotechnology/medical device company hybrid. And he believes the company's system will essentially fry a tumor without significant side effects, ultimately helping to treat patients in lieu of toxic chemotherapy or radiation. Boston Business Journal 3/12/04.

Yarn spun from nanotubes. Tiny tubes may yield ultrastrong fibres. Scientists have spun long, rope-like fibres from nanotubes. Their environmentally friendly method could be tweaked to make high-strength threads for use in engineering. The long ropes could even lead to futuristic applications such as a space elevator. Alan Windle and colleagues at the University of Cambridge, UK, made their tiny twisted ropes by winding freshly made nanotubes onto spinning rods as they came out of a furnace. The nanotubes are hollow strands of carbon just 30 millionths of a millimetre or so wide — around 5,000 times thinner than a human hair. Nature 3/12/04.

Penn Researchers Introduce A New Nanotube-laced Gel, Create New Means Of Aligning Nanotubes. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have devised a new method for aligning isolated single wall carbon nanotubes and, in the process, have created a new kind of material with liquid crystal-like properties, which they call nematic nanotube gels. The gels could potentially serve as sensors in complex fluids, where changes in local chemical environment, such as acidity or solvent quality, can lead to visible changes in the gel's shape. The researchers describe their findings in the current issue of Physical Review Letters. ScienceDaily 3/2/04

Nanotechnology is already a billion-dollar industry, and it's barely out of the lab. The U.S. government plans to plow nearly $1 billion into nanotech research during fiscal 2004, and it'll add $3.7 billion more between fiscal 2005 and 2008, said Clayton Teague, director of the National Nanotechnology Coordinator Office, a government department that facilitates cooperation between academic researchers, corporations and other government offices. "Our federal government is committed to the promise of nanotechnology...without compromises to the public health," Teague said during a speech Monday at the Nano Science and Technology Institute's Nanotech 2004 trade show here. "With all that support, (the government and lawmakers) are really looking to this field to be a major contributor to our economy over the coming years." ZDNet 3/8/04

Holograms to sort, steer nanotubes, cells. Scientists have found a simple way to use light to manipulate one of the most important building blocks of future technologies: carbon nanotubes. Experts said the technique could lead to the mass manufacture of a new generation of novel devices."It's like having hands in the microscopic world," said researcher David Grier, a physicist at New York University, one of the participating institutions. "It's a new platform for doing things on small materials on a large scale." The Washington Times 3/3/04

Chelmsford, Mass.-Area Firm to Unveil Cancer-Fighting Nanotechnology. A local company working with UMass Lowell is getting ready for clinical trials on a nanotechnology-based cancer treatment for prostate and breast cancer. "We're getting a little too big for our incubator. We're about to pop out of our shell," said Dr. Samuel Straface, CEO of Triton BioSystems, which collaborated with UMass Lowell to develop the treatment. Representatives from Triton and UMass Lowell, as well as U.S. Rep. Marty Meehan were scheduled to unveil details during a press conference Wednesday at Triton's Turnpike Road headquarters. Miami Herald 2/18/04

Nanotubes Go with the Flow. Researchers have assembled carbon nanotubes into arrays of loops, lassos, and hooks, according to the 13 February PRL. Physicists hope to use these several-nanometer-diameter tubes to build tiny mechanical and electronic devices, and the unexpected bending shows that they are more versatile than had been assumed. As one example, these bent tubes might lead to more sensitive sensors to detect fluid flow. Physical Review Focus 2/13/04

Nano-Origami: Scientists Create Single, Clonable Strand of DNA That Folds into an Octahedron. A group of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has designed, constructed, and imaged a single strand of DNA that spontaneously folds into a highly rigid, nanoscale octahedron that is several million times smaller than the length of a standard ruler and about the size of several other common biological structures, such as a small virus or a cellular ribosome. Scripps Research Institute Issue 6 / Feb.23-04

New pollution eating paint will clean the air. A new form of paint that can absorb some of the noxious gases from vehicle exhausts goes on sale across Europe next month. Its manufacturers hope it will give architects and town planners a new weapon in the fight against pollution, an article in New Scientist reports. The new product, Ecopaint, is designed to absorb nitrogen oxides, one of the causes of respiratory problems and smog production. Dr Robert McIntyre, of Millenium Chemicals who developed the paint, says a typical 0.3 millimetre layer would be enough to last five years in a heavily polluted city. edie 2/6/04

Paper warns of 'Nano-divide' between have and have-not countries. The chasm between have and have-not countries will grow even wider if nanotechnology research is upended by the unbalanced positions of high-profile opponents like Prince Charles, warns a new analysis from a leading global medical ethics think-tank. Nanotechnology is the building of working devices, systems and materials molecule by molecule by manipulating matter measured in billionths of a meter. The research seeks to exploit the unique and powerful electrical, physical and chemical properties found at an infinitesimally small scale. While legitimate risks and issues have been flagged, they can and should be addressed without a crippling moratorium being called for on budding research that promises vast improvement in the lives of five billion people in developing countries, according to medical ethics experts at the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics. nanotechwire 1/28/04

The Center for Responsible Nanotechnology 'Plans Ahead'. On Jan. 21-26, 2004, the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology (CRN) posted a six-page article entitled "Responsible Nanotechnology."The article describes eight scenarios for the future of mankind in connection with molecular nanotechnology, including molecular nano assemblers, capable of destroying enemy means of nuclear retaliation and thus circumventing Mutual Assured Destruction, on which the peace between the three nuclear powers (the USA, Russia and China) has rested. NewsMax 2/6/04

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

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

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

President Bush Signs Nanotechnology Research and Development Act. Today (Dec.3) at the White House, the President signed into law the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act, which authorizes funding for nanotechnology research and development (R&D) over four years, starting in FY 2005. This legislation puts into law programs and activities supported by the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), one of the President's highest multi-agency R&D priorities. THE WHITEHOUSE 12/3/03 .
-Here is the Presidents statement on this action The White House 12/03 .
-Also see: Signed, Sealed, Delivered: Nano is President's Prefix of the day. Here you can download the PDF file of the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act. SmallTimes 12/3/03 .

Experts debate the future of nanotechnology. Two giants in the field of nanotechnology face off in an exclusive point-counterpoint debate about the future of this burgeoning field of science in the Dec. 1 issue of Chemical & Engineering News available online here , the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society. K. Eric Drexler, Ph.D., cofounder of the Foresight Institute in Palo Alto, Calif., and the person who coined the term "nanotechnology," and Richard E. Smalley, Ph.D., a professor at Rice University and winner of the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, debate a fundamental question of nanotechnology: Are "molecular assemblers" - devices capable of positioning atoms and molecules for precisely defined reactions in almost any environment - physically possible? Eurekalert 12/2/03

Also see an Analysis of the above exchange written by Chris Phoenix, Director of Center for Responsible Nanotechnology (CRN).

DuPont-led Scientists Unveil Key Nanotechnology Discovery with Use of DNA. Sorting Carbon Nanotubes Provides Significant Step in Advancing Nano-Electronics Applications. A collaborative group of DuPont-led scientists have discovered an innovative way to advance electronics applications through the use of DNA that sorts carbon nanotubes. This research in the emerging field of nanotechnology appears in the current issue of the journal Science, which is published by the AAAS - the world's largest general scientific organization. The research paper is titled "
Structure-Based Carbon Nanotube Sorting by Sequence-Dependent DNA Assembly." DuPont 12/2/03 .

Intel Funds Nanotechnology Project For Early Disease Detection. Intel Funds Nanotechnology Project For Early Disease Detection. Intel Corporation and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center today announced a collaborative research effort to apply Intel's expertise in nanotechnology to develop improved methods of studying, diagnosing and preventing cancer. The announcement was made at the BioSilico Seminar, held at Stanford University. SpaceDaily 10/24/03

A nanotechnology report attached to a Bush administration supplemental budget request touts the technology as the next big thing in areas like data storage, sensors and manufacturing. The Bush administration requested $849 million for nanotechnology research in its fiscal 2004 budget request. The total includes about 14 government agencies participating in the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI). EETimes 10/17/03

Nanomedicine Vital to Finding a Cancer Cure. The new science of nanomedicine is advancing faster than even experts had expected and many predict the technology will play a vital role in achieving the federal government's stated goal of eliminating suffering and death from cancer by 2015. "Basically, without nanotechnology, it would be impossible to address this issue," Mihail C. Roco, senior advisor for nanotechnology at the National Science Foundation, told United Press International. Roco also serves as chair of the National Science and Technology Council's subcommittee on Nanoscale Science, Engineering and Technology. The SmallTimes 10/10/03

DNA tiling assembles nanostructures. Scientists at Duke University, US, have used DNA nanostructures as templates to build silver nanowires and arrays of
proteins. The nanostructures could have applications in preparing logical molecular devices. nanotechweb 10/7/03

China's nanotechnology patent applications rank third in world. Patent application cases concerning nanotechnology have grown rapidly in China over
recent years, with the number following the United States and Japan to take the world 's third place. Chinadaily 10/3/03

Nanotechnology and Nanoscience. In June 2003 the UK Government commissioned the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering to carry out an independent study of likely developments and whether nanotechnology raises or is likely to raise new ethical, health and safety or social issues which
are not covered by current regulation. For more information please visit: www.nanotec.org.uk, a second progress report, was produced on 30 September
2003. The Royal Society

Contruction to Begin on Canada's Quietest Space. Building to House Research into the Very, Very, Very Small. A ceremonial groundbreaking tomorrow, Saturday, October 4, 2003, will mark the beginning of the building phase for the permanent home of the National Research Council's (NRC) new National
Institute for Nanotechnology (NINT). The new building will be one of the world's most technologically advanced research facilities and will house laboratory space that will be the quietest in Canada. In order to provide the optimal conditions for tiny nano-scale research, "quiet" lab space is absolutely critical. In the scientific realm, "quiet space" refers to lab space with ultra-low vibration and minimal acoustical noise or
electro-magnetic interference. CNRC 10/3/03

Nanotech Congress Paints Broad Swath. Business, government attendees cover wide-ranging topics at inaugural event. We can use smallness to become great," Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Shimon Peres told attendees at the first World Nano-Economic Congress held in Washington, D.C., last week. The former Israeli prime minister is championing science and technology, particularly nanotechnology, to promote peace and prosperity. "Nanotechnology has the greatest promise for all of us," Peres continued. "That's why I appreciate what you are doing and how we will be helped by your knowledge and potential in serving humanity," he told attendees. C&E 9/15/03

Chemists Urge More Cooperation to Deal with Attacks. U.S. chemists on Thursday called for more collaboration between universities, the government and companies to develop better sensors to detect contamination from any chemical attacks. On the two-year anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center, chemists addressed the state of the country's preparedness and ways to deal with potential threats from chemical weapons...Future robots could carry sensors to detect heat, survivors or chemical and biological agents. But their development, he said, needed the cooperation of chemists and engineers. Advances in atom-scale technology could also help to detect toxic agents like Sarin or anthrax, said Sailor, a chemistry and biology professor at University of California, San Diego. So-called nano-devices -- nanos are 1/80,000 the width of a human hair -- are potentially cheap and easy to disperse over a wide area to help red-flag danger, he said. Reuters 9/11/03

Nanothermometer Withstands Heat. Researchers need to be able to sense conditions in microscopic environments in order to explore nanotechnology's potential to produce useful machines at the scale of atoms and molecules. Researchers from the Japanese National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) have fashioned nano thermometers from a magnesium oxide nanotubes filled with liquid gallium. The tiny thermometers are between 20 and 60 nanometers thick, or about one hundredth the diameter of a red blood cell. Technology Review 9/9/03

Drexler speaks! - "Or at least writes! In this week's issue of the magazine, I wrote a story about some of the hype over nanotechnology-particularly estimates of how big of a market various nanoproducts might someday have. But it's hard to talk about nanotech without mentioning the guy who invented the term: Eric Drexler, author of the 1986 book Engines of Creation. (Drexler and everyone else in the field credit the founding vision behind nanotech to a 1959 talk by Caltech physicist Richard Feynman). In researching my article, I had a fascinating E-mail chat with Drexler. Here is some of that exchange:.." By By James M. Pethokoukis USNews 9/4/02.

"As promised in CRN's initial response to the recent Greenpeace report on nanotechnology, we have prepared a detailed technical analysis and commentary on their report. For more information, The release is available online at http://CRNano.org/PR-Commentary.htm.
Also see the coverage at SmallTimes here.

The world's smallest buckets. In a typical chemistry lab, the smallest containers hold just two millilitres of liquid. But despite their size, these tiny glass tubes still contain billions of atoms. Now, there are "nano test tubes" so small they hold just a few hundred atoms. Such containers, with a diameter equivalent to about 20 atoms, have been manufactured by experts at the University of Nottingham BBC News 9/5/03.

Greenpeace issues major report on nanotechnology. It was reported today [Greenpeace Wades Into Nano Debate With Report That Calls For Caution, by Douglas Brown, Small Times Correspondent] that Greenpeace issued a 72-page report, published in the magazine New Scientist, calling on government and industry to do much more to stay on top of the environmental, medical and ethical challenges posed by nanotechnology. The report does not appear to be available on the New Scientist web site as of this writing, but it has already drawn comments as described in the Small Times article and in the following submissions from two Nanodot readers. Nanodot 7/24/03
Also see- The Center for Responsible Nanotechnology today announced its conditional support of the Greenpeace report, "Future technologies, today's choices", about the risks, benefits, and current status of nanotechnology. "We've heard from extremists on both sides," said Mike Treder, Executive Director of CRN. "Now it's time for sober discussion and serious research. This report clearly is a step forward." CRN 7/30/03

Physicists Build World's Smallest Motor Using Nanotubes And Etched Silicon. Only 15 years after University of California, Berkeley, engineers built the first micro-scale motor, a UC Berkeley physicist has created the first nano-scale motor - a gold rotor on a nanotube shaft that could ride on the back of a virus. "It's the smallest synthetic motor that's ever been made," said Alex Zettl, professor of physics at UC Berkeley and faculty scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. "Nature is still a little bit ahead of us - there are biological motors that are equal or slightly smaller in size - but we are catching up." ScienceDaily 7/24/03  Image Downloads

(Video 1min. 35 secs.Quicktime or Realmedia) Shirts That Stop Bullets. What if you could wear lightweight armor that kept you warm-and let you phone home? As this ScienCentral News video reports, nanotechnologists have come up with a super strong, flexible fiber that can conduct heat and electricity. It could be light as a cotton shirt, but bulletproof. ScienCentral 7/24/03

Renaissance potters were nanotechnologists. Artisans glazing pots in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Umbria were practicing an early form of nanotechnology. Italian researchers have now revealed the full sophistication of this process. Nature Science Update 6/30/03

Site includes VIDEO 1min. 17 sec Quicktime or Realmedia) Gripping Stuff. How'd you like to have shoes or gloves that let you cling to skyscrapers, just like Spider-Man? As this ScienCentral News video reports, nanotechnologists are working on adhesive that could help you match Spidey's feats. Stick-to-it-iveness. At the University of Manchester in England, physicist Andre Geim was looking for a scientific demonstration that would intrigue schoolchildren. He and his research team at the new Centre for Mesoscience and Nanotechnology had read about the work of biologists Robert Full at the University of California Berkeley and Kellar Autumn at Lewis and Clark College. Full, Autumn and their colleagues have been studying geckos, swift and agile lizards that defy gravity with their ability to race up smooth, slippery walls and cling upside down by a single toe. ScienCentral 7/10/03

New Way to Control the Motion of Tiny Particles. Nanotechnology researchers may soon be able to design new types of tiny shuttles or conveyor belts which could be used to deliver medications to specific cells or to replace wires in molecular-sized electronic devices. An international team of investigators, including a physicist from the University of Michigan, has devised a method that could help researchers with one of the most challenging problems in nanotechnology: controlling the motion of tiny particles, both in artificial nanodevices and biological systems such as ion channels in cell membranes. Newswise 6/19/03

DNA Works As Nanotube Sorter. You think it's hard keeping your tube socks organized? Try sorting carbon nanotubes, those remarkable molecules whose electrical properties make them potential building blocks for everything from ultrasensitive diagnostic devices to transistors 100 times smaller than those in today's fastest microchips. Trouble is, when nanotubes are fabricated, they're a mixed bag; some are electricity conductors, while others are semiconductors. Since a number of practical electronics applications demand nanotubes of uniform conductivity, sorting technologies are needed. Researchers at DuPont in Wilmington, DE, say they're beginning to solve the problem using another remarkable molecule: DNA. The results are literally visible. A pink-colored vial of nanotubes in solution contains highly conducting nanotubes; other vials, with greenish hues, hold semiconducting ones. SmallTimes 7/10/03

Toward closure: An Open Letter From K. Eric Drexler to Prof. Richard Smalley - Part II. Nanotechnology Now 7/2/03

Holey Fullerene Opens Wide for H2. Open-cage derivative is first to provide H2-encapsulated complex in 100% yield. Japanese chemists for the first time have prepared an open-cage fullerene derivative with an orifice large enough to allow a hydrogen molecule to be inserted into the cage in 100% yield [J. Am. Chem. Soc., 125, 7152 (2003)]. "I think it is an important advance for this field, since I can see this type of system being used for H2 storage once C60 becomes cheaper," comments Yves Rubin, a chemistry professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. Scientists are looking for efficient methods for stuffing fullerene cages with metal atoms or gases to make new types of functional materials. C&E 6/16/03

Quantum Dot Advances. Studies show that nanoparticles have potential biological applications. The semiconductor nanoparticles known as quantum dots have moved closer to biological applications, according to two recent reports. In one paper, scientists at Cornell University, collaborating with Quantum Dot Corp. in Hayward, Calif., use quantum dots as a label for multiphoton imaging in live animals. In the other report, Japanese researchers use chaperone proteins to encapsulate and protect quantum dots, preventing them from aggregating and losing their size-dependent properties. C&E 6/19/03

Rage Against the (Green) Machine. First came the concerns about nuclear power. Then, the fears about genetically modified foods. Now, European and C anadian environmentalists have a new, lab-made monstrosity to rail against: nanotechnology. Last week, at the Brussels headquarters of the European Parliament, Greenpeace, GeneWatch U.K., the ETC Group and others held a teach-in, of sorts. The goal was to highlight the potential dangers that could arise when scientists start manipulating matter at the nano -- billionth of a meter -- level. Nano-sized bits are so small that they can penetrate your skin, get into your lungs, and travel through your body unmolested by the immune system, argues ETC program manager Jim Thomas. Research, he claims, shows that matter gets more toxic when it's shrunk to the super-small -- no matter what the material is. -What?- Wired 6/19/03

Don't miss this webcast of Christine Peterson and Ray Kurzweil nanotech testimonies at the House Science Committee. Full Science Committee Hearing on The Societal Implications of Nanotechnology. House Committee on Science

The government (UK) today launched an independent study into the benefits and risks of nanotechnology, the science of manipulating ultra-small particles. The Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering have been commissioned to look at this emerging area of science, engineering and technology to see how it should be regulated as it develops. The Guardian 6/11/03

(Event) UC Riverside Hosts Frontiers in Nanotechnology and Engineering Programs. Summer Program Designed for Students and Teachers, Grades 8-12. Twenty teachers and 50 students will meet at the University of California, Riverside to explore the big ideas behind the smallest things at the “Frontiers in Nanotechnology and Engineering” program, scheduled June 23 though July 4. Nanotechnology, an emerging field representing the future frontier in miniaturization, is likely to have a profound effect on numerous areas such as manufacturing processes, medical devices and delivery of medications, and space exploration. UCR 6/10/03

Nanotube Network to Simulate Brain Structures. NASA researchers have developed a way to grow miniscule networks of carbon nanotubes that are similar to brain synapses, in the hope of building smarter and more reliable computers. The lead scientist for the project, Deepak Srivastava, used computer simulation to build a network of carbon nanotubes that look and behave like the small spaces between nerve cells called synapses through which nerve impulses travel. Betterhumans 5/21/03

U.S. House approves $2.4 billion for nanotech research. The U.S. House of Representatives gave a big boost to a tiny technology on Wednesday, voting to increase research funding that could lead to molecule-sized computers and medical robots that travel the human bloodstream. By a vote of 405-19, the House earmarked $2.36 billion over three years to fund research in nanotechnology, the science of manipulating individual atoms to create new materials. Yahoo 5/8/03

How to Grab an Atom. Like a diner spearing a morsel of food with the tine of a fork, researchers have used the tip of a microscopic needle to lift a single atom from a surface and then replace it. The experiment, reported in the 2 May PRL, marks the first time single atoms have been manipulated using a purely mechanical technique, rather than one involving electric current. The new method could allow researchers to maneuver single atoms of
nonconductive as well as conductive materials, perhaps for nanoscale circuits of the future. Physical Review Focus 5/3/03

Brave new world or miniature menace? Why Charles (yes, that Charles) fears grey goo nightmare. Royal Society asked to look at risks of nanotechnology. The scenario is a familiar one: scientists open Pandora's box, awaken Frankenstein's monster, or maybe just play God. But this time the menace on the laboratory bench is undetectable with any conceivable optical microscope. Guardian Unlimited 4/29/03

$1 billion places U.S. on nanoroad. The race for the high ground in nanotechnology development and applications is heating as U.S. government efforts gain momentum, funding and direction. Legislation promoting nanotechnology development in electronics, energy and medicine has been introduced in both the House and Senate. At the same time, government science and technology agencies are working to funnel federal funds to the right programs, as industry and universities gear up to move promising technologies like carbon nanotubes from the laboratory to market. Congress approved $849 million for nanotechnology research and development in fiscal 2003. "We're rapidly heading toward a $1 billion program," said Richard Russell of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. "Now's the time to shape the program." EETimes 3/27/03

Scientists 'cast' single-crystal nanotubes. Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the US have developed an "epitaxial casting" technique to grow single-crystal nanotubes of gallium nitride (GaN). The method employs zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires as templates. nanotechweb.org 4/10/03

Nanotechnology: Congress Thinks Big About Small Tech. Nanotechnology experts told Congress Wednesday that pending legislation in the House and the Senate is a "significant step" in overcoming the current obstacles facing the fledgling industry. Bills in both houses would dedicate more than $2 billion over three years for nanotechnology research and development programs...The House legislation is expected to be reported to the House floor as early as next month while Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R.-Ariz.) has put the legislation on the fast track. Internet News 3/20/03

Nanotechnology Could Block Viruses from Entering Cells. Researchers hope to stop viruses such as HIV from entering cells by using nanotechnology to create tiny particles that interfere with the proteins to which viruses attach. "The idea is to make decoys for the virus," says Jacquelyn Gervay Hague, professor of chemistry at University of California Davis School of Medicine. HIV attaches itself to host cells through a protein called gp120 on the virus's surface. Better Humans 3/20/03

Nature inspires DNA/protein. A new generation of nanoscale devices are being developed based on inspiration found in nature. Grazyna Sroga, a postdoctoral researcher at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, is using DNA and related proteins to construct microscopic structures that may one day conduct electricity, deliver drugs, boost computer memory, or sense the presence or absence of chemicals. She is working in the laboratory of Jonathan S. Dordick, the Howard P. Isermann '42 professor of chemical engineering. Eurekalert 3/24/03

Interview with Christine Peterson. Questions by Sander Olson, NanoApex Corp...Christine Peterson has been investigating and promoting the concept of molecular nanotechnology for the past two decades. She wrote, along with Eric Drexler and Gayle Pergamit, Unbounding the Future in 1991. She is currently the President of the Foresight institute. Interview at nanomagazine.com 3/2/03

Indian scientist makes breakthrough in nanotechnology. It is a major step forward for nanotechnology--the science of manipulating individual molecules and atoms to build structures of complex atomic specifications. An Indian scientist and his team at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, have demonstrated that nanotubes--cylindrical carbon rolls no thicker than an atom -- may make good batteries for tiny devices or even power pacemakers, thereby dispensing with cumbersome power packs. Economic Times/IndiaTimes 3/11/03

(Essay by by Sharon Smith, Director, Technology, Systems Integration Business Area, Lockheed Martin Corporation) The Defense Industry's 'Fantastic Voyage' into the World of Nanotechnology...To meet the needs of its military customers, Lockheed Martin Corporation is dedicated to incorporating advanced, proven technologies into our defense systems, giving our armed forces the best technological advantage possible. Our current areas of focus include military space products, precision munitions, information superiority, air and missile defense products, and combat, air mobility, and special mission/reconnaissance aircraft. As part of our on-going efforts to keep our defense systems the best in the world, we are very interested in nanotechnology. Eurekalert

NNI Gets 9.5 Percent Increase in Proposed Budget. The budget for fiscal year 2004 presented by President George W. Bush provides $847 million for the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), a 9.5 percent increase over the 2003 budget. View the chart of the proposed budget here: Nanotech Planet 2/5/03
Or view the PDF from the National Nanotechnology Initiative website.

Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Sheffield report in the Feb. 21 issue of Science that they have created tree-like molecules that assemble themselves into precisely structured building blocks of a quarter-million atoms. Such building blocks may be precursors to designing nanostructures for molecular electronics or photonics materials, which "steer" light in the same way computer chips steer electrons. Newswise/Scinews 2/21/03

Nanotechnology: The Shape of Tomorrow... Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Dave Geohegan, Alex Puretzky and Ilia Ivanov are using laser ablation and vapor deposition techniques to grow nanotubes up to millimeters long. They also are developing ways to align them in polymers for new generations of materials. The challenge now is to gain a better understanding of the tubes' chemistry and how they grow so scientists can optimize the process.Oak Ridge National Laboratory Feb. 2003

Nanotechnology could save the ozone layer. Whilst experimenting with nanospheres and perfluorodecalin, a liquid used in the production of synthetic blood, researchers at Germany's University of Ulm have stumbled across a phenomenon that could ultimately help remove ozone-harming chemicals from the atmosphere. The perfluorodecalin, against all expectations, was taken up by a water-based suspension of 60 nm diameter polystyrene particles. nanotechweb 1/30/03

Twenty Years until Anti-aging Nanotech: Zyvex Head. Stick around 20 years and you could live to see medical nanotechnology battle aging, says the head of a company that's making it happen. "I think nanomedicine has such promise for humanity that I have taken a small portion of my net worth and hired Rob to write a book and to give us some ideas about what might be possible," Texan millionaire Jim Von Her said in Wellington, New Zealand, while attending a nanotechnology conference. "We can't build any of the devices he has designed yet because we don't have atomic precision. But in 20 years we are going to be able to make little devices to go in your body and actually fight diseases and cure some of the aging problems in cells. "The "Rob" Von Ehr refers to is Robert A. Freitas Jr., who is writing the books on nanomedicine, called, appropriately, Nanomedicine. He has currently produced two volumes. Betterhumans 2/14/03

After Columbia: Small Tech Can Help Make Space Travel Safer...Ryne Raffaelle, a physics professor and director of the NanoPower Research Laboratory at the Rochester Institute of Technology, is working on several nanotechnology projects at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. He said that weight, power and volume are at a tremendous premium in space. The sort of diagnostic devices NASA currently use are much heavier than MEMS sensors. The current crop of diagnostic devices NASA uses are too heavy and require too much power, Raffaelle said. Small Times 2/14/03

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.

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.

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.

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.

Nanotech oversight bill reintroduced. Legislation establishing a government advisory board to oversee a U.S. nanotechnology initiative was reintroduced this week in the House of Representatives. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Mike Honda, D-Calif., calls for industry and university experts to serve on an advisory panel that would advise the Bush administration and Congress on research investments and goals for the U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative. Similar legislation was introduced in October by Honda, a member of the House Science Committee. The bill calls for the formation of an advisory panel that would develop short-, medium- and long-range objectives for nanotechnology development over the next decade and beyond. EE Times 1/10/03

Purdue leads NASA project to create tiny, super smart computers. Purdue University scientists are teaming up with NASA on a nanotechnology institute devoted to creating tiny computers with enough brainpower to allow future space probes to think for themselves. The goal of the new NASA Institute for Nanoelectronics and Computing is to design miniature supercomputers that can make unmanned probes autonomous enough to react quickly when unexpected problems arise far from Earth. But the same technology would also lead to tiny, lightweight and energy-efficient sensors, and communication, navigation and propulsion systems for spacecraft, said Supriyo Datta, the new institute's director. Indystar 1/15/03

Nanoshells offer sensor for single molecules. Rice University researchers have come up with a way of tailoring the local electromagnetic field around metal nanoshells. The scientists claim this could enable chemical screening for single molecules using the surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) effect. "This is the first time that anyone has designed and engineered a nanosensor specifically for obtaining chemical information," said Naomi Halas of Rice University. nanotechweb.org 1/14/03

Nanomechanic devices warn of heart attacks. A team of scientists from the University of Basel and IBM Zurich Research Laboratory, Switzerland, has developed a cantilever-based device that can detect two cardiac biomarker proteins in the bloodstream. The proteins can act as an early warning system for heart attacks. nanotechweb.org 1/7/03

K. Eric Drexler responds to the question: "What are the pressing scientific issues for the nation and the world, and what is your advice on how I can begin to deal with them?". Advanced nanotechnologies, based on molecular manufacturing, will enable the
production of computer systems a billion times more powerful than today's, aerospace vehicles with 98% less structural mass, and medical tools enabling molecular repair of cells, tissues, and organs. These and related technologies will be economically and strategically decisive. Read Mr. Drexler's letter at: The Edge: The World Question Center 2003

Tuning Carbon Nanotube Resonance Frequencies. Tuning carbon nanotube resonance frequencies can be achieved by varying a static voltage applied between the nanotubes and a counter electrode. This was demonstrated for several nanotubes (NT) grown on a nickel support tip. The natural resonant NT frequencies are those where the NT oscillates with a large amplitude, a motion that can be monitored directly by watching the pattern of electrons spraying out the end of the tubes (like water spraying out of a wiggling
garden hose). Physics News Update 12/23/02

(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

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

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

Guinness calls Japanese thermometer world's smallest. The Guinness World Records book has named a thermometer using a carbon nano tube as the world's smallest thermometer, its developer, the National Institute for Materials Science, said Tuesday...The device, a tube formed by carbon atoms, measures about 85 nanometers in diameter and several thousand nanometers in length. One nanometer is one-millionth of a millimeter. Japan Today 12/3/02

Digital image stored in single molecule. An image composed of over 1000 bits of information can be stored in the atoms of a single molecule, US researchers have shown. Bing Fung and colleagues at the University of Oklahoma found that the 19 hydrogen atoms in a lone liquid crystal molecule can store at least 1024 bits of information. The data are stored in the complex interaction of the protons' magnetic moments. Fung hopes the technique, dubbed "molecular photography", could one day be used to pack massive amounts of digital information into a tiny space but admits that the process is currently experimental. "It's a very, very first step towards using nuclear spins for molecular information processing," he told New Scientist. New Scientist 12/2/02

Boulder firm uses nanotechnology to improve tennis game. A European company with U.S. operations based in Boulder is marketing a line of tennis rackets constructed with nanotechnology. These high-tech rackets aren't for the pros, however; they're made for the amateurs, or "club players," among us. "Players who don't have a nice full swing need a stiff racket to get speed into the ball," said Jean-Louis Boyre, president of Babolat VS North American Inc. "By using nanotechnology, we increase the resistance of a racket."
The Denver Business Journal 12/2/02

Nanotechnology News TV. Finally, someone with vision has stepped to the fore and is launching a revolutionary news service all about Nanotechnology. I would like to direct you to the new streaming video news program website that is just about to launch - see Take a look at the short video segments, located under "Nano in the AM" - the password for the demonstration segments is "nano". As reported by Rocky Rawstern of Nanotechnology Now 11/6/02.

Molecular wheel gets a brake. Switch turns microscopic motor on and off. Scientists have redesigned one of nature's molecular machines to make the world's smallest switchable motor. The rotating machine can be turned on and off like a pocket fan - but it is only about 14 millionths of a millimetre across. The invention brings mechanical devices made from single molecules a
step closer. Such machines might form part of electronic circuits, carry out delicate surgery on cells or gather solar energy. (Nature Science Update 11/2/02.

Scientists Use Microscope to View Magnetism at Atomic Level. Scientists and engineers build the transistors that run televisions, radios and similar electronic devices based on the moving electric charges of electrons. But the electron also has another key property: a magnetic "spin" that scientists believe could be exploited to develop faster, smaller and more efficient devices. The first step is to determine the magnetic properties of materials that could be used to create futuristic nanoscale devices, a task
that has escaped scientists until now.Ohio university 11/6/02.

Nanotechs called to duty at Picatinny. Several nanotechnology companies will be aiding in the development of smaller - but just as lethal - weapons at Picatinny Arsenal, officials said Friday. The military base reached six partnership agreements - two with businesses, the other four with universities - to help launch a Manufacturing, Research, Development and Education Center for Nanotechnologies, said Picatinny officials, who have dubbed the center "Nano Valley." The center is being funded by $9.5 million in federal grants received over the past two years. It will be spread out among several of the 1,000 buildings at the 6,500-acre arsenal. Daily Record News 10/26/02

The Simplest Pump. Researchers have created a nanoscale ion pump by punching a tiny hole in a plastic sheet and applying an oscillating electric field. Their modeling indicates that the single conical pore works like a ratchet, according to the 4 November print issue of PRL. The group hopes that the device will eventually help explain ion pumps and channels in biological cells, the inspirations for their work. Micron-sized beads have already been pushed "uphill," against electrochemical forces, through specially shaped small holes. Zuzanna Siwy of the Institute for Heavy Ion Research (GSI) in Darmstadt, Germany, and Andrzej Fulinski of Jagellonian University in Krakow wanted to take the next step and pump single ions through nanosized pores. Physical Review Focus 10/23/02- to appear in the Nov. 4 02, paper issue.

IBM builds circuit with carbon monoxide modules. The smallest circuit yet could mean big advances for processing power Just as a falling apple spurred Isaac Newton's discovery of gravity, toppling dominoes have inspired researchers to build the world's smallest computer circuits. Scientists at IBM's Almaden Research Centre in San Jose, California, have built and operated working computer circuits at a nanoscale using an innovative approach in which individual molecules stream across an atomic surface like toppling dominoes. CNN Report.

Inventor Foresees Implanted Sensors Aiding Brain Functions. Using deliberately provocative predictions, speech-recognition pioneer Ray Kurzweil said that by 2030 nanosensors could be injected into the human bloodstream, implanted microchips could amplify or supplant some brain functions, and individuals could share memories and inner experiences by "beaming" them electronically to others. EETimes 9/26/02

GaN nanowire laser emits first light. Researchers develop the first GaN nanowire laser and report their findings in a recent issue of Nature Materials. US researchers have observed lasing in gallium nitride (GaN) nanowires for the first time. The team from the University of California says that its tiny UV-emitting lasers may find uses in lab-on-a-chip systems and in high-density data storage. Nanotechweb 9/24/02

9-11 drives advances in nanotechnology. Demand increases for devices that monitor water, air. The events of Sept. 11 have focused awareness, increased funding and accelerated the commercialization of micro- and nanotechnology devices that can sense minute traces of chemical, biological and nuclear agents in the air or water, according to business leaders and researchers. Homeland security will not be viable unless without microsystems. Microsystems will enable homeland security," said Marion Scott, director of microsystems, science, technology and components at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M. "We're really looking at
the commercial sector to provide the large volumes we need." Detroit news 9/27/02

Nanotubes could reduce CO2 emissions. A team led by scientists at Carnegie Mellon University said Monday that carbon nanotubes, which are straw-like structures with walls a single atom thick, could filter gases much more quickly than current systems. The atoms of carbon nanotubes are arranged so that they offer practically no friction to passing gas molecules, said David Sholl, a professor of chemical engineering at Carnegie Mellon. Such smooth surfaces mean the tubes theoretically can transport gas through a membrane
at rates that are orders of magnitude greater than current microporous substances used in gas separation, Sholl told United Press International. UPI 9/16/02

Researchers Create Rare, Large Symmetrical Crystals Accident Leads to Important Discovery. Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., have created large symmetrical crystals that rarely occur in nature. These crystals could be harder than conventional engineering materials. The accidental discovery was made during attempts to make superconducting nanostructures with a simple technique used to create carbon nanotubes. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 9/16/02

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

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

'Nanoantennas' could bring sensitive detectors, optical circuits. Researchers have shown how tiny wires and metallic spheres might be arranged in various shapes to form "nanoantennas" that dramatically increase the precision of medical diagnostic imaging and devices that detect chemical and biological warfare agents. Engineers from Purdue University have demonstrated through mathematical simulations that nanometer-scale antennas with certain geometric shapes should be able to make possible new sensors capable of detecting a single molecule of a chemical or biological agent. Such an innovation could result in detectors that are, in some cases, millions of times more sensitive than current technology. Purdue News 8/21/02

Stamps and glue make circuits. Rubber stamps, ink and glue -- tools of choice for grade school art projects -- are the inspirations for a printing technique that could rapidly and cheaply produce integrated circuits at least as small as those in today's computer chips. Researchers at Lucent Technologies' Bell Laboratories have developed a way of stamping microscopic circuits onto surfaces such as plastic and silicon. The method calls for etching circuit patterns into a stamp and using glue to transfer gold from the stamp to a surface. The circuit patterns can contain features 10 times smaller than a bacterium. The nanotransfer printing process could eventually be used to make circuits and connectors for plastic electronics, an emerging technology used to make electronic paper and flexible displays. TRN News 8/21/02

A Nanobridge Too Far? Future nanoscale devices will likely incorporate structural features that are either partially or completely self-assembled. One of the most fundamental structures necessary for electronic and other devices will be a “bridge” that can link structures. Organic molecules with hydrophilic and hydrophobic portions (amphiphiles) are known to self-assemble into sphere or tubelike structures depending on experimental conditions of solvent, pH, and temperature. Usually, either spheres or tubes form, but not both. Chemistry.org 8/14/02

Intel Corp. on Tuesday announced plans to use a technology that stretches the atoms apart in a silicon wafer, a process that mass-produces the world's smallest transistors.
The Santa Clara, Calif., chip maker's big leap into the nanotechnology era extends on the "strained silicon" technique first adopted by competitor IBM Corp but Intel would be the first to use it in large scale production. By stretching the atoms, Intel said the new technology would allow electrical current to flow faster, boosting computing performance and, more importantly, reduce chip-making costs in a tough market for the semiconductor group. Zwire 8/13/02

IBM, Nion create highest resolution electron microscope. IBM and Nion Co. researchers have developed innovative technology to peer deep inside materials and view atoms interacting in different environments at a resolution never before possible. The new technique significantly extends the capabilities of the electron microscope -- a scientific instrument that uses magnetic lenses to focus electrons into very small beams to look at small, atomic-scale details in thin slices of materials. IBM.com 8/02

X-ray diffraction reveals nanoscale secrets. Scientists from the US Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory and Michigan State University, US, have developed an X-ray diffraction technique that can analyse nanocrystals. They used the method to examine a silicon-oxide zeolite that had caesium ions trapped inside its nano-sized pores. Nanotechweb.org 7/31/02

Nanotechnology backers see trillion-dollar industry. Government, industry, and academic leaders announced Wednesday that a consortium of private and state interests have come together to form New Jersey Nanotechnology Laboratory, a facility based in Lucent Technologies' Bell Labs that supporters say will make the state a center in a growing technology worth trillions. North Jersey News 8/1/02

Nanotech Runs Behind Semiconductors, MEMS in Optical IC Market. The market for integrated circuits (ICs) used in optical switches will be worth more than $5 billion in 2006, according to a report by Pioneer Consulting, and nanotechnology is one of three chip technologies vying for a piece of the pie. The report, "Optical Chips: Enabling Technologies and Markets from Semiconductors to MEMS, Nano-Optics and Photonic Crystals," predicts that total worldwide optical IC sales will increase from $654.3 million in 2002 to $5.4 billion in 2006. The report used a fairly broad definition of optical ICs, encompassing all chips, regardless of manufacture, used in optical switches. Internetnews.com 7/27/02

A team of German researchers has built a highly sensitive charge detector from the combination of a quantum dot with a nanomechanical device. Robert Blick, group leader and assistant professor at the Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich, said: “This system allows for ultra-sensitive displacement detection, which is quite important for any scanning probe application.” EETimes 7/23/02

Synthesis of nanoparticles coming into focus. Scientists are fast gaining control over the building of tiny particles, accomplishing nanoparticle synthesis in both inorganic and organic chemistries. University of Arkansas researchers have devised a "green" chemical process that offers tight control over the size of nanoparticles and eliminates toxic by-products. EETimes 7/16/02

Nanocontacts could make hard drives go 'ballistic'. By applying atomic-dimension "nanocontacts" to magnetic media, an experiment at the State University of New York here has revealed the potential of an effect known as "ballistic magnetoresistance." The tiny metal contacts showed a 3,000 percent change in magnetoresistance at low switching fields of a few hundred oersted. EETimes 7/12/02

Tune your radios to Seattle's KEXP 90.3FM Saturday morning 7am Pac-daylight time. James Lewis is interviewed on the subject of nanotechnology. If you are not in the Seattle area, you can also listen to the airing via their website where ever you are located.

Nanotech leading to diagnoses by handheld. Everyone knows the agony of waiting days for test results from the doctor's office. Technology will soon change that. Though medical professionals a re far from the day when a spaceship doctor can wave a tri-corder to make an instant diagnosis, the next best thing is in the works. It's a handheld device based on
nanoparticles, and it's being developed at Northwestern University's Institute for Nanotechnology in collaboration with Nanosphere Inc. SunTimes 7/10/02

The Next Wave. Forget all the futuristic hype about subatomic robots. Nanotechnology is already here, and Burlington CEO George Henderson is using it to save the U.S. textile industry from extinction (and your pants from Beaujolais). Business 2.0 July issue

U-M scientists to develop nanosensors for astronauts. Tiny devices will fit inside cells; monitor signs of radiation damage or infection. Along with space suits, freeze-dried food and barf bags, tomorrow's astronauts may travel with nanomolecular devices inside their white blood cells to detect early signs of damage from dangerous radiation or infection.

Splitting Up Cooper Pairs Carbon nanotubes might be used to separate the entangled electron pairs in superconductors. The usual way of separating a pair from the pack is to force it to tunnel across an insulating barrier, but getting the electrons to tunnel into a pair of metallic leads won't break the pairs apart. The electronic structure of carbon nanotubes--sheets of pure carbon rolled into thin, micron-long cylinders--offers just the right incentive for Cooper pairs to split, according to Smitha Vishveshwara and coworkers at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB).
Physical Review Focus 7/1/02

Selective Nanofilters For Proteins, DNA. A new type of nanotechnology-based filter that can separate out mixtures of biological molecules has been developed by researchers at the University of California, Davis. The technology could potentially be used, for example, to build small-scale devices for research in genomics by sorting mixtures of different proteins or DNA molecules. Science Daily 7/5/02

Carbon nanotubes put X-rays in the picture. Researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, US, and Applied Nanotechnologies, US, have used carbon nanotubes as the basis of a cold-cathode X-ray device. The team used its system to image a fish and a human hand. Nanotechweb 7/3/02

July 1, 2002 at 10:00 p.m. on TLC (check local listings) will be airing 'Science at the Edge.'A new documentary series of up and coming future technologies. Episode 1: Beating the Odds. Robert A. Freitas Jr., Research Scientist, Zyvex Corporation; Author of "Nanomedicine." Ralph Merkle, Ph.D., Nanotechnology Theorist, Zyvex Corporation. Repeats TLC Tuesday, July 2, 2002 at 1:00 a.m. ET/PT

Sailors often took several clocks with them on voyages to try to minimize the error from any individual timepiece. Clocks are pretty reliable these days, but soon we may have to worry about defective microscopic machines. In the 8 July print issue of PRL, researchers take the first steps toward a plan for optimizing the performance of wildly uneven nanotech components, using statistical physics techniques. They find that defective parts can add up to perfectly good devices, with little or no waste. Physical Review Focus 6/24/02

U.S. Nanotech Funding Heads for $1 Billion Horizon. With its request for US $710.2 million in nanotechnology research funding for the 2003 fiscal year, the U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), the umbrella program coordinating nanotechnology research for 10 government agencies, is accelerating its R&D efforts at an extraordinary rate. The program has grown more than five-fold since its formal inception in 1997, and in the President’s budget, the NNI is requesting a 17 percent increase over fiscal year 2002. IEEE 6/27/02

Chemists make first boron nanowhiskers; 'Little shavers' could prove key in nanoelectronics. They're boron nanowhiskers, the world's first such crystalline nanowires, made by chemists at Washington University in St. Louis. Washington University professor of chemistry, and their collaborators report that they have made boron nanowhiskers by chemical vapor deposition. The particles have diameters in the range of 20 to 200 nanometers and the whiskers (also called nanowires) are semiconducting and show properties of elemental boron.

Nanomagnetics Boosts Magnetic Storage Density. Company has used nanoparticulate magnetic films to produce a data-recording density of roughly 6 Gbit/square inch. UK start-up NanoMagnetics has used nanoparticulate magnetic films to produce a data-recording density of roughly 6 Gbit/square inch. The company claims that this figure is a record. June 18, 2002 Nanotechweb

Scientists Create Single-Atom Transistor by Implanting Molecule Between Wires, Enabling "Virtual Dance of Electrons"
Researchers have created a single-atom transistor by implanting a "designer" molecule between two gold electrodes, or wires, to create a circuit. June 12, 2002 Cornell.

Magnetic NOT Gate A nanometre-scale logic gate that works at room
temperature and is made entirely from metal has been developed.
(Nanotechweb 06/13/2002) 

Nanowires Get Their Stripes Nanowires composed of two different
semiconductors that could function as transistors, light-emitting diodes,
biochemical sensors, thermoelectric heat may hasten the arrival of silicon
chips packed with billions of electronic devices.
(Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 06/06/2002)

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