[extropy-chat] The Nanogirl News~

[Gina Miller]

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: nanogirl at halcyon.com
"Nanotechnology: Solutions for the future."

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