The Nanogirl News~

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Date: 8 Oct 2004 00:34:31 GMT

The Nanogirl News
October 7, 2004

NSF funds nano-related coursework for grades 7-12. The National Science
Foundation (NSF) has awarded a first-of-its-kind grant to a Northwestern
University-led team to train teachers in nanotechnology and help them
develop programs for middle and high schools. "This is different from
previous (NSF-funded) centers, which focus on research but have also done
part-time outreach activity," said Mike Roco, senior nanotech adviser at NSF
and an architect of the National Nanotechnology Initiative. NSF this week is
expected to officially announce the five-year, $15-million award to Robert
Chang, a professor in Northwestern's Department of Materials Science and
Engineering. (/27/04)
http://www.smalltimes.com/document_display.cfm?document_id=8326

Autonomous Atom Assembly. The ability to use an STM to move and position
atoms with lattice site precision provides us with a quantum workbench to
study the effects of quantum confinement and the electronic structure of
perfect nanostructures. So far, atomic manipulation has been performed
manually, or with rudimentary computer assistance. We are working to extend
this capability significantly by developing an Autonomous Atom Assembler
(AAA). An autonomous atom assembler is an instrument capable of assembling a
desired nanostructure from an unknown random collection of atoms without
human intervention. (NIST 8/04)
http://physics.nist.gov/Divisions/Div841/Gp3/Projects/STM/aaa_proj.html

(Event) Foresight Institute Conference Tackles Nanotechnology Applications
and Public Policy. Foresight Institute, the leading nanotechnology education
and public policy think tank, is sponsoring the 1st Conference on Advanced
Nanotechnology: Research, Applications, and Policy, October 22-24, 2004 at
the Crystal City Marriott Hotel, Washington DC area. This conference focuses
on molecular nanotechnology and what it will mean for the environment, water
purification, clean energy, medicine, national security, space exploration,
international competitiveness, zero-waste manufacturing and overall societal
impacts and other areas. (TMCnet 10/7/04)
http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2004/Oct/1080749.htm

High-tech tweezers enable nano-assembly lines. "This technique makes
possible nano-assembly lines," said Chicago entrepreneur Lewis Gruber. "You
can use it to put things together, twist them, rotate them, fix things in
locations at the microscopic or atomic level. It makes possible, for the
first time, a factory floor under the microscope capable of manufacturing
components and assembling them into products at high throughput, just as is
done in the industrial world." (Chicago Sun Times 10/5/04)
http://www.suntimes.com/output/business/cst-fin-cia05arryx.html

Buckyballs at Bat: Toxic nanomaterials get a tune-up. Over the past decade,
the development of nanomaterials has progressed rapidly toward their
eventual use in products ranging from solar cells to medicines. However,
tests of possible toxic effects of these substances on human health and the
environment have been slow to get under way. Recently, an experiment raised
concern about the soccer-ball-shaped carbon molecules commonly known as
buckyballs. Now, other chemists confirm that finding and report an
innovation that might disarm potentially toxic buckyballs.
(Sciencenews 10/2/04) http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20041002/fob1.asp

Nano AIDS shield given a boost. What could be the world's first
nanotechnology-based protection against HIV has just been given a huge
boost. The Australian biotechnology company Starpharma announced today it
had been granted US$5.4 million (A$7.5 million) from the US National
Institutes of Health (NIH) for its research on an anti-microbial gel which
prevents HIV infection of cells.
(ABCnet 9/30/04) http://abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s1210693.htm

In Search of a Biosensing Biocide. Simple compound is eyed as a lead to a
chemical/biological counteragent. Imagine this: a simple lipid molecule
forms a bilayer, the bilayers curl up to form nanotubes, and bunches of
nanotubes assemble into a "nanocarpet." Furthermore, the nanotubes respond
to different substances by changing color, and they kill bacteria to boot!
No need to imagine all this--such a molecule has been synthesized, and its
remarkable capabilities have been explored by a team at the University of
Pittsburgh led by Alan J. Russell, a professor of surgery and of chemical
and bioengineering [J. Am. Chem. Soc., published online Sept. 24. (C&E News
10/4/04) http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/8240/8240notw2.html

Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory, the University of Arizona and
Cornell University, all in the US, have made a superhard phase of carbon by
applying pressure to carbon nanotubes. The material was at least as hard as
cubic diamond and retained its properties at room temperature even when the
pressure was removed. (nanotechweb 8/23/04)
http://nanotechweb.org/articles/news/3/9/14/1

Nanotubes work like radio antennas to convert light into electricity. Radio
aerials have been around for over a century, and routinely receive
information carried by radio waves into our homes. Now, finally, scientists
have built an aerial that can do the same for light waves. The tiny antennas
could be used in solar cells, or 'optical computers' that would move data
round as light beams. (Nature news 8/20/04)
http://www.nature.com/news/2004/040920/full/040920-1.html

National Cancer Institute Symposium to be Part of NANO Week. The National
Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH),
will present a symposium on the role of nanotechnology in the diagnosis and
treatment of cancer Oct. 27 as part of NANO Week. The program, "Overcoming
Barriers to Collaboration," will be held at the InterContinental Hotel and
MBNA Conference Center on The Cleveland Clinic Foundation campus. It is free
to attend, but space is limited to 200 registrants. (Yahoo 9/21/04)
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040921/cltu089_1.html

Physicists Create Artificial Molecule On A Chip. Using integrated circuit
fabrication techniques, a team of researchers from Yale University has bound
a single photon to a superconducting device engineered to behave like a
single atom, forming an artificial molecule. It's the first experimental
result in a field Yale professors Robert Schoelkopf and Steven Girvin have
dubbed circuit quantum electrodynamics. (photonics 8/24/04)
http://www.photonics.com/XQ/ASP/url.readarticle/artid.251/QX/readart.htm

Researchers demonstrate nanoscale self-assembly. A new processing technique
developed by Cornell University researchers promises to usher in
lithographic-like self-assembly into single and multidimensional nanoscale
structures. The technique enabled 10-nm precision lithography.
One-, two- and three-dimensional nanoscale structures self-assembled by
combining a block copolymer with a "cascade molecule" called a dendrimer in
which atoms are arrayed along a carbon backbone, the researchers said.
(EETimes 9/9/04)
http://www.eetimes.com/at/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleId=47101871

Magic clusters double up. Theoretical physicists in Italy and France have
discovered a new family of "magic" clusters using computer simulations. The
clusters, which consist of a nickel or copper core surrounded by silver
atoms, display high levels of structural, thermodynamic and electronic
stability. The silver-nickel structures are also magnetic (G Rossi et al.
2004 Phys. Rev. Lett. 93 105503). (Physicsweb 8/7/04)
http://physicsweb.org/articles/news/8/9/4/1

Good Vibrations in the Nanoworld. Local defects tune the vibrational modes
of carbon nanotubes. Accessing vibrational modes of molecular chains at the
site of a specific atom in molecules is no longer a dream. Using a scanning
tunneling microscopy technique, the vibrational modes of carbon nanotubes
have been mapped with sub-nanometer spatial resolution. This allows the
study of the role of local defects and demonstrates the crucial importance
of nanotubes for the electronic and mechanical properties of nanotubes. (Max
Planck Society 8/27/04)
http://www.mpg.de/english/illustrationsDocumentation/documentation/pressReleases/2004/pressRelease20040924/index.html

Nanotechnology research funding list now live at Sandia/LANL CINT website.
Shortcut to funding sources now available. Nanotech researchers can shorten
their search for funding by visiting the Center for Integrated
Nanotechnologies (CINT) Internet site (www.sandia.gov/cint or
www.lanl.gov/cint). There, a searchable database of federal government
nanotechnology funding sources is supplied as a service to the nanoscience
community by CINT, a joint project of Sandia and Los Alamos national
laboratories supported by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.
(Sandia 9/30/04)
http://www.sandia.gov/news-center/news-releases/2004/micro-nano/database.html

Get set for nanotech. Nanotechnology is being called many things: A massive
investment opportunity; an incredibly promising next generation electronics
technology, and even a threat to humanity. For the electronics sector,
fabrication of chips with nanoscale (nm) features is becoming routine. Yet
while semiconductor manufacturing is dealing in nanometres, it too is still
to be affected by true nanotechnology - or more accurately "molecular
nanotechnology". Molecular nanotechnology (referred to as nanotechnology for
the rest of this article) means constructing materials and devices virtually
one atom at a time. (Ferret 9/27/04)
http://www.ferret.com.au/articles/ba/0c0278ba.asp

(ETC again) Nanotech 'threatens markets for poor nations' goods'. The
introduction of nanotechnologies could threaten markets for goods from
developing countries, according to a presentation made yesterday at the 4th
World Conference of Science Journalists in Montreal, Canada.
The claim was made by Pat Mooney, executive director of the ETC Group, a
Canadian organization that researches the socio-economic impacts of new
technologies. Highlighting the lack of regulation for emerging technologies,
Mooney called for a United Nations convention to evaluate their impacts, not
only on health and the environment but also on society at large. (SciDev
10/7/04)
http://www.scidev.net/news/index.cfm?fuseaction=readnews&itemid=1647&language=1

Kurzweil's Quest For Eternal Youth Sets Group Abuzz. Inventor Ray Kurzweil
takes 250 nutritional supplements a day in his quest to live long enough to
reap the benefits he expects from biotechnology. He says he's trying to
reprogram his body, as he would his computer...And health is a theme
Kurzweil returned to repeatedly; it is the subject of his latest book,
"Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever," co-authored with
medical doctor Terry Grossman. But it was his broader vision of how biology,
nanotechnology and information science are merging that set the backdrop for
the conference, which brought together nearly 1,000 scientists and
executives from various disciplines to peer into the future. (Washington
Post 10/7/04)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11564-2004Oct6.html

$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) http://www.news-medical.net/?id=5380

Rice Finds 'On-Off Switch' For Buckyball Toxicity. Researchers at Rice
University's Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology (CBEN)
have demonstrated a simple way to reduce the toxicity of water-soluble
buckyballs by a factor of more than ten million. The research will appear in
an upcoming issue of the journal Nano Letters, published by the American
Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society. One of the first
toxicological studies of buckyballs, the research was published online by
the journal on Sept. 11. (Sciencedaily 10/6/04)
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/10/041006083717.htm

Carbon Nanotechnologies Inc. -- CNI -- Announces the Issue of a U.S. Patent
for Composites Containing Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes. Carbon
Nanotechnologies, Inc (CNI) announced today the issue of U.S. Patent
6,790,425 B1 for both pure and composite materials containing derivitized
single-wall carbon nanotubes in substantial alignment with one another. This
patent paves the way for commercial products with superior performance
characteristics, such as plastics with electrical conductivity, improved
fibers for bullet-proof vests, plastic parts that are stronger and longer
lasting, and flat panel TVs and displays which are brighter, longer lasting,
and consume less energy. This technology is part of the intellectual
property developed by Nobel-Prize winning scientist Dr. Richard Smalley and
licensed exclusively to CNI by Rice University in 2001.
(BusinessWire 9/5/04)
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20041005006176&newsLang=en

Nanomaterials break out of laboratory into marketplace. Miniature medical
machines that can bring sight to the blind and computers that work at the
speed of light are no longer the stuff of futuristic novels. Argonne
National Laboratory researchers are creating nanomaterials and
nanotechnology to make these and other innovations possible, and
collaborating with industry to bring new technologies to the marketplace.
(nanotechwire 10/4/04) http://nanotechwire.com/news.asp?nid=1166

Gates Backs Education for Tech Growth. Microsoft mogul Bill Gates told
hundreds of engineering students Friday that the future of technology could
open the door for much more innovative applications than those of the past
decade, but the key to further advancements lies in the strength of higher
education. In Zellerbach Hall, Gates said that while the last 20 years have
seen vast advances in personal computing and communications technology, we
can expect to see more developments intertwined with other fields in the
future, such as biotechnology and nanotechnology. (The Daily Californian
10/4/04) http://www.dailycal.org/article.php?id=16337

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 several 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) http://www.physicstoday.org/vol-57/iss-10/p28.html

Tiny battlefield in the war on disease Devices as small as genes detect,
fight illnesses. To the incredibly tiny gold particles doctors send to
search a blood sample for signs of illness, human cells would seem as big as
mountains. But the particles' mission is to hunt down something more their
size: prostate specific antigen, or PSA, a signal that prostate cancer may
be on its way to returning - long before it actually does. Welcome to the
new frontier of nanotechnology, where scientists are learning how to make
super-small devices - as small as genes and proteins - to diagnose diseases
that remain unseen with present equipment and to provide treatments tailored
to affect individual cells. "The particles go into a blood sample, and if
there are as few as 10 molecules of PSA present they will find them," said
Chad Mirkin, director of Northwestern University's Institute for
Nanotechnology. "The current test would need 10 million molecules of PSA to
record a positive reading." (Monterey Herald 10/1/04)
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/nation/9809270.htm

Gina "Nanogirl" Miller
Nanotechnology Industries
http://www.nanoindustries.com
Personal: http://www.nanogirl.com/index2.html
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@halcyon.com
"Nanotechnology: Solutions for the future."

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