<div dir="ltr"><div>This paper I just stumbled on recently - the <a href="http://www.catenane.net/pdfs/articles/Leigh%20Sequential%20Peptide%20Synthesis%20Science%202013.pdf">full paper is here</a>. And on the Leigh Group <a href="http://www.catenane.net/">website</a> they state "Over the last decade we have developed some of the first examples—all be
they primitive by biological standards—of functional synthetic
molecular level machines and motors"<br><br>From someone who does not have a strong background in physics and chemistry let alone nanotechnology, what they are doing at<a href="http://www.catenane.net/"> the Leigh group</a> looks interesting, but I wonder if my enthusiasm for nanotech is coloring my assessment. <br>
Has anyone here spoken to David A. Leigh about this work? Or done any serious investigation?<br><br></div><div>What some people seem to take away from the Drexler/Smalley debate is that molecular manufacturing is science fiction (might be possible in a few centuries), and that molecular assemblers are fantasy (might be possible in another universe or in VR). More moderate skeptics may suggest that molecular manufacturing beyond biology is folly. I get this impression from the lecturers of the coursera 'Nanotechnology' MOOC.<br>
<br>Does Leigh's example of a synthetic molecular machine make one more optimistic about the possibility of molecular manufacturing? <br><br></div><div>Does it support Drexler's vision of nanotechnology?<br></div>
<div><br></div><div>Are there any other research or engineering projects that show promise for molecular manufacturing?<br></div><div><br></div><div>p.s. Apologies for all the questions, but this looks pretty interesting.<br>
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<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Jan 15, 2013 at 6:59 PM, Eugen Leitl <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:eugen@leitl.org" target="_blank">eugen@leitl.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div class="im">On Mon, Jan 14, 2013 at 11:45:18AM -0800, spike wrote:<br>
<br>
> Gene, is not this an example of a nano-machine creating a covalent bond?<br>
<br>
</div>Creating or breaking bond is not scale-dependant.<br>
<div class="im"><br>
> Is not a nano-machine creating a covalent bond exactly the mega-holy nano-grail the nay-saying crowd insists cannot be done?<br>
<br>
</div>I don't recall that particular objection.<br>
<br>
Smalley mentioned the 'fat finger' problem, which<br>
is real for soft, floppy enzyme-like systems,<br>
but not relevant for rigid cages depositing<br>
highly reactive moieties, which work<br>
pretty much like today's numerically controlled<br>
rapid prototyping.<br>
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